erewhile, adv.
(ɛəˈhwaɪl)
Forms: see ere and while.
A while before, some time ago, formerly.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 20304 Me com tiþand arquil fra heuen. c 1305 St. Andrew 91 in E.E.P. (1862) 100 Ic iseo mie swete louerd: and erwhile ic iseȝ Þat abydeþ me til ic come. c 1440 Gesta Rom. iv. 10 (Harl. MS.) Sir, I seide to you erwhile, þat, etc. 1526 Tindale John ix. 27, I tolde you yerwhile, and ye did nott heare. 1595 Locrine ii. v. 154, I, that erewhile did scare mine enemies..Must now depart. a 1678 Marvell Wks. III. 522 The tree erewhile fore⁓shortned to our view. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) II. 129 Forth that foam'd and roar'd erewhile Glides calmly down. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. iii, Remember then thy hap erewhile. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 461 The faces weeping lay That erewhile laughed the loudest. |
So † ereˈwhiles, adv. [see whiles].
| 1584 R. Scot Disc. Witchcr. 550 The Pneumatomachi..did erwhiles ioine themselues to those that were sound of iudgement. 1598 Mucedorus in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 211 Erewhiles assaulted with an ugly bear: Fair Amadine in company all alone. 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banished Virgin 26 The very same you saw me with erewhiles. 1755 in Johnson. |