preterite, -it, a. (n.)
(ˈprɛtərɪt)
Forms: 4–7, 9 preterit, 5 -yte, 8–9 præterit(e, 5– preterite.
[= F. prétérit (13th c. in Littré), ad. L. præterit-us gone by, past, pa. pple. of præterīre, f. præter, preter- + īre to go.]
1. Of or pertaining to bygone time; occurring or existing previously; past, bygone, former; = past a. 2.
| 1340 Ayenb. 59 On is preterit, þet is to zigge, of þinge ypased..þe oþer is of present, þet is to zigge, of nou. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love iii. iv. (Skeat) l. 56 In..heven..There is nothing preterit ne passed, there is nothing future ne comming; but al thinges togider in that place ben present everlasting, without any meving. 1490 Caxton Eneydos vi. 26 The swete mayntene and semblaunce of the sayd Sychee, her preteryte husbonde. c 1500 Kennedy Poems (Schipper) ii. 10 Þroch ignorance and foly youþ My preterit tyme I wald nevir spair. 1657 M. Hawke Killing is M. 25 Compare the store and cheapnesse of our present Commodities, with the Scarcenesse and dearnesse of the preterit times. a 1693 Urquhart's Rabelais iii. xiii. 102 What is preterit, and gone. 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. (1812) I. 266 To return to the preterite gala-days of Lady Luxmore. 1854 Lowell Cambridge Thirty Y. Ago Prose Wks. 1890 I. 52 You shall go back with me thirty years, which will bring you among things and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa. |
2. Gram. Expressing past action or state; past; as preterite tense [L. præteritum tempus (Quint.)], preterite participle; = past a. 4.
| 1388 Wyclif Prol. 57 A participle of a present tens either preterit, of actif vois eithir passif, mai be resoluid into a verbe..and a coniunccioun copulatif. 1530 Palsgr. 86 The participle preterit after the tenses of je ay remayneth for the most part unchanged. 1562 Pilkington Expos. Abdyas 42 Al the prophets use to speake by the preterit temps. 1728 Pope Dunc. iii. 337 note, Wks. 1736 IV. 225 In the style of other prophets, [he] hath used the future tense for the preterit. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. iii. (1872) VIII. 131 Friedrich finds that Loudon was there last night—preterite tense, alas. |
b. So preterite perfect = preterperfect.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 42 The preterit parfyte tens of the infynityve mode. |
B. n. [ellipt. use of the adj.]
† 1. Past time, the past (= past n. 1); also pl. past times or events. Obs. rare.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. v. pr. vi. 133 (Camb. MS.) It..procedith fro preteritz in to futuris, þat is to seyn fro tyme passed in to tyme comynge. Ibid. 134 Thilke thing..to whom ther nis nawht of þe preterite escapyd nor I-passed. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5011 She wepeth the tyme that she hath wasted, Compleyning of the preterit. |
2. Gram. = Preterite tense: see A. 2.
| 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 37 The preterites and supines of suche verbes. 1661 Milton Accedence Wks. 1738 I. 613 The Preterit speaketh of the time past, and is distinguish'd by three degrees: the Preterimperfect, the Preterperfect, and the Preterpluperfect. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. ii. 13 It is an era in his education when he first begins to employ preterits and plurals and their like. |
3. Theol. One who is passed over or not elected by God; cf. preterition 4. rare—1.
| 1864 Fraser's Mag. May 533 The reprobates who are damned because they were always meant to be damned, and the preterites who are damned because they were never meant to be saved. |