foretime, n. and adv.
(ˈfɔətaɪm)
[f. fore- prefix + time n.]
Former time; a former time. † a. In advb. phrase, in foretime(s = aforetimes.
| c 1540 tr. Pol. Verg. Eng. Hist. (Camden) I. 98 If there were in foretimes enie hatred on their partes towards the Romaines. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 507 It was called in foretime Norton Dany. |
b. The time gone by, the past; also, the early days (of a city or state).
| 1853 Grote Greece ii. lxxxvii. XI. 380 That conception of Athens in her foretime which he [Thucydides] is perpetually impressing on his countrymen. 1868 Gladstone Juv. Mundi v. (1869) 124 The single great Achaian voyage of the traditionary fore-time, that of the ship Argo to the Euxine. |
c. attrib. (quasi-adj.)
| 1894 F. S. Ellis Reynard 116 He who thought the world to win, His foretime poverty was in. 1896 C. Harrison in Daily News 8 Jan. 6/3 For though You now have passed away from us The foretime Dedication still holds good. |
† B. adv. = aforetime. Obs.—1
| c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon ix. 128 Lest thou dost lose what foretime thou didst gain. |