beforehand, adv. (and a.)
(bɪˈfɔəhænd)
Also 3–4 biforen hond(e, 4–6 before hand(e, 4 bi-, by-, be-forhand, biforand.
[Originally two words, before hand, also before the hand, perhaps from the idea of one working before the hand of another, and so in anticipation of his action. But cf. L. præ manu, manibus, ‘at hand, in readiness, in hand,’ used in ME. as = ‘beforehand.’]
A. adv.
1. In anticipation of something so as to be ready for it; in advance.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 212 Heo beoð þe lesse te menen, þet heo biuoren hond leorneð hore meister to makien grimme chere. 1534 Tindale 2 Cor. ix. 5 To come before honde [Wyclif bifor] vnto you for to prepare youre good blessynge. 1551 Recorde Pathw. Knowl. Pref., He..was so skylfull in Astronomie, and coulde tell before hande of Eclipses. 1611 Bible Mark xiii. 11 Take no thought before hand what ye shall speake. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 86 ¶1, I thought it proper to acquaint you before-hand..that you might not be surpriz'd therewith. 1875 B. Taylor Faust I. iv. 78 Prepare beforehand for your part. |
b. spec. in reference to payment in advance.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iv. 301 [Ich halde hym ouer-hardy oþer elles nouht trewe, Þat pre manibus ys payed.] c 1450 Henryson Tale of Dog 88 Ane soume I payit haif befoir the hand. 1552 Huloet, Before handes, præ manibus. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 32 To pay a yeere or two yeeres rent before hande. 1755 Smollett Quix. (1803) IV. 129 He demanded two ducats for the job, and they paid him beforehand. Mod. maxim. There are two bad payers—he that pays beforehand, and he that never pays at all. |
c. to be beforehand with: to anticipate, to be earlier than; to outstrip or forestall in action. (In this and the next, often used adjectively.)
| 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 111 Let vs pay the time but needfull woe, Since it hath beene before hand with our greefes. a 1619 Daniel Coll. Hist. Eng. 30 Then was he before⁓hand with Pope Alexander..promising likewise to hold it..of the Apostolique Sea. 1701 W. Wootton Hist. Rome i. 203 If you are not before-hand with them, you will perish. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. ix. 222 Like Napoleon, he knew the value of being beforehand with an enemy. |
d. to be beforehand, to be beforehand with the world, to have something beforehand: to have more than sufficient to meet present demands; to have money in hand for future contingencies; to have the balance on the right side. So to bring beforehand, get beforehand. All arch.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 133 He wyll..labour diligently to brynge hym selfe beforehande agayn, & to recouer his losse. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (1857) 13 [They] regard not to lay up anything, or to haue it before hand. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) III. 9 Hee is the happy man who can square his mind to his means..he who is before hand with the world. 1651 Featly in Fuller's Abel Rediv. (1867) II. 228 He brought the college much before⁓hand, which before..was very much impoverished. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 450 ¶3 Having little or nothing before⁓hand, and living from Hand to Mouth. 1771 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 59, I now began to think of getting a little beforehand. c 1812 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. (1849) 25, I shall see how much I am beforehand with the world in the spring. |
† 2. Before this or that, previously. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3393 His sede suld multipli, als godd him had biforand hiht. Ibid. 6512 He tok him tablis of þe lay. As ȝe herd me bifor-hand say. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xxviii. 19 The cyte Bethel, that biforn hoond was clepid Luza. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. i. (1483) 58 This appel was hanged vpon this drye tree whiche that grewe before hand vpon this grene florisshynge tree. a 1520 Myrr. Our Ladye 186 As I haue sayde ofte before hande. |
† B. as adj. Ready, prepared. Obs. rare.
| a 1704 Lestrange (J.), What is a man's contending with insuperable difficulties but the rolling of Sisyphus's stone up the hill, which is soon beforehand to return upon him again? |