▪ I. ante-
L. prep. and adv., used in composition with vbs., as antecēdere to go before; vbl. ns., as antecēssor a foregoer; other ns. and adjs. derived from phrases, as antecēnium (from ante cēnam), antetemplum, antemeridiānus (f. ante meridiem), antepænultimus (f. ante pænultimum). Examples of all these have been adopted in Eng. directly or through Fr., and have, since 1600, served as models for the formation of others, especially of the last class, from which, as in ante-temple, ante-nuptial, ante- has acquired a separable character, and is prefixed to other words, as ante-room, ante-Cuvierian, ante-date. Adjectives of this type are formed at will, either with or without adj. endings, as ante-baptismal, ante-Norman, ante-reformational; and ante-communion, ante-reformation, ante-war. The latter are really attributive phrases, similar to the native after-dinner oration, before-breakfast lesson, out-of-doors employment, up-stairs room. The former, though formally compounds of ante + adjective, are in sense adj. formations on a phrase, as ante-mundane, logically (antemund)um + ane; cf. (old-woman)ish. Some of the more obvious of these combinations of ante- are grouped together here, as not needing separate treatment.
A. ns. (Main stress on ˈante-: ˈantechapel.)
1. Of position: in which ante- usually = A smaller introductory ―; as ante-cavern, -closet, -garden, -hall, -porch, -portico, -stomach; also ante-bath, an apartment opening into the bath; ante-church = ante-chapel; ante-nave, the western part of a divided nave; ante-number, the preceding number. These begin after 1600.
| 1817 Edin. Rev. XXVIII. 331 The bathers first enter a vault or *antebath. |
| Ibid., The Georgian ladies employ the *ante-caverns as dressing rooms. |
| 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Ch. §27 If there is an *antechurch, they should be placed there. |
| 1705 Phil. Trans. XXV. 2109 Its Entrance, first and second Galleries, *Anticlosets. |
| 1861 Gard. Chron. 6 July 621/3 The spectator is supposed to stand in the *ante-garden. |
| 1848 Lytton Harold iv. 148 A low forlorn *ante-hall. |
| 1829 Southey All for Love iv. Wks. VII. 173 Now before the Holy Door In the *Ante-nave they stand. |
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §106 Whatsoever Vertue is in Numbers, for Conducing to Concent of Notes, is rather to be ascribed to the *Ante-number than to the Entire Number. |
| 1624 Wotton Archit. (1672) 28 An Atrium Græcum (we may translate it an *Anti-Porch, after the Greek manner). |
| 1838 Britton Dict. Arch. 13 Antica..a door, a porch, or *ante-portico. |
| 1691 Ray Creation (1714) 28 Swallowed into the crop..or at least into a kind of *Ante-stomach. |
2. Of time or order: in which
ante = A previous or anticipatory ―,
or A something previous or anticipatory to ―; as
ante-dawn,
-disposition,
-luminary,
-occupation,
-predicament,
-spring,
-taste; also
ante-eternity, the quality of having existed from all eternity;
ante-noon, the fore-noon. These begin after 1600.
| 1841 Blackw. Mag. XLIX. 287 That mysterious *ante-dawn—that prelibation of the full daylight..the Zodiacal light. |
| 1611 Florio, Antidispositione, an *antidisposition, or precedent inclination. |
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. 141 He..maintained..the Worlds *Ante-Eternity and Incorruptibility. |
| 1684 Charnock Attrib. God (1834) I. 367 The promise of eternal life is as ancient as God himself..as it hath an *ante-eternity, so it hath a post-eternity. |
| 1686 Goad Celest. Bod. i. xv. 96 At other hours of the *Ante-Noon. |
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., *Anteoccupation, a preventing or seising first. |
| 1706 Phillips, *Antepredicaments (in Logick) things necessary to be known before-hand, for the better understanding of the Predicaments; as Definitions of Terms, etc. |
| 1881 G. Milner Country Pleas. (ed. 2) 2 Our *antespring—our premonitory awakening. |
| 1861 Sheppard Fall of Rome iv. 165 An *antetaste of those dire and bloody struggles. |
B. adjs. (Main stress not on
ante:
ante-ˈnuptial,
ante-ˈwar. Mostly of 19th and 20th c.)
1. Of position: in which
ante = Before, in front of ―; as
ante-cæcal, before the
cæcum or ‘blind gut’;
anteconsonantal, preceding a consonant;
antecubital Anat., pertaining to the inner surface of the forearm;
ante-initial, before the beginning, prefatory;
ante-pectoral, in front of the breast.
| 1861 Hulme Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 44 The small intestine or *anticæcal. |
| 1909 Webster, *Anteconsonantal. 1927 Mod. Philology Nov. 226 OHG za- is the anteconsonantal form of zar-. 1937 C. E. Bazell in Jrnl. Eng. & Ger. Philol. Jan 6 Part of a plural system wherein j represented before a vowel the ante-consonantal i of the other cases. |
| 1893 Funk's Standard Dict., *Antecubital. 1908 Practitioner Sept. 486 The injection made into one of the large veins of the ante-cubital region. 1962 Lancet 29 Dec. 1372/2 In other cases an ante⁓cubital vein was used. |
| 1834 Southey Doctor (1862) 2 The chapters *ante-initial and post-initial. |
| 1826 Kirby & Spence Entomol. IV. xxxviii. 38 The *antepectoral pair of the mole-cricket. |
2. Of time or order: in which
ante = Occurring or existing in the time before (a fact or condition, implied in the following
adj., or definitely expressed by the following
n.); as
a. with
adj. ending:
ante-Babylonish,
-baptismal,
-Christian,
-ecclesiastical,
-Gothic,
-historic,
-human;
ante-jentacular, before breakfast;
ante-judiciary, taking place before judgement;
ante-Justinianian,
-metallic,
-mortal,
-Mosaical,
-Norman,
-nuptial;
ante-patriarchal, existing before the patriarchs;
ante-posthumous, posthumous (professedly), but written before;
ante-reformational,
-revolutional,
-revolutionary.
b. with
n., forming
attrib. phr.:
ante-bridal,
ante-communion,
ante-reformation,
ante-resurrection,
ante-sunrise,
ante-war.
Cf. the L.
ante-mortem, before-death. In this sense
ante- varies with
pre-.
| 1835 I. Taylor Spir. Desp. iii. 96 The *antebabylonish Jews. |
| 1850 C. Wordsw. Occas. Serm. Ser. i. 104 *Ante-baptismal regeneration. |
| 1847 L. Hunt Men, Wom., & Bks. II. x. 219 *Ante-bridal trepidation. |
| 1858 Sears Athan. iii. iii. 270 What was the *ante-Christian doctrine respecting the condition of the dead? |
| 1827 Gentl. Mag. XCVII. ii. 487 This part of the *Ante-Communion Service is now so commonly omitted on Sundays. |
| 1880 Gunther Fishes 16 Several of such *antecuvierian works must be mentioned. |
| 1829 Southey in Q. Rev. XXXIX. 361 Its *ante-ecclesiastical history. |
| 1834 H. Coleridge Grk. Class. Poets 99 This event..is involved in the same thick mist of *ante-historic antiquity. |
| 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. x. 214 Other languages also in an *ante-historical and embryonary state. |
| 1861 Tulloch Eng. Purit. ii. 264 He fills up the *ante-human space..by an array of spiritual machinery. |
| 1811 Knox & Jebb Corr. II. 44 This *ante-jentacular hour. |
| 1679 M. Prance Addit. Narr. 50 Purgatory, or *Antejudiciary and intermedial delivery of souls. |
| 1880 Muirhead Gaius Introd. 7 Any question of *Ante-Justinianian law. |
| 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 60 The Stone age..the *ante-metallic period. |
| 1827 Hare Guesses ii. (1873) 556 If a spirit..were to revisit this home of its *antemortal existence. |
| 1883 Standard 16 May 5/2 The *ante-mortem treatment of the brutes. |
| 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth I. 283, I look upon all other [books] that pretend to be *ante-Mosaical or patriarchal, as spurious and fabulous. |
| 1863 Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. iii. 11 As to the *ante-Norman councils. |
| 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages (1872) III. 75 To legitimate the duke of Lancaster's *ante-nuptial children. |
| 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. II. 328 Primeval sages or *ante-patriarchal Saracens. |
| 1855 Wiseman Fabiola 220 The old capsarius as he had had himself rattlingly called in his *ante-posthumous inscription. |
| 1852 S. R. Maitland Essays 165 They had never seen any *ante-reformation Waldenses. |
| 1861 A. Beresford-Hope Eng. Cathedr. 19th C. iii. 73 Bishop Osmond, the regulator of the *ante-reformational English ritual. |
| 1858 Sears Athan. iv. 25 The *ante-resurrection period. |
| 1839 W. Irving Wolfert's Roost (1855) 164 An old gentleman, whose dress was decidedly *ante-revolutional. |
| 1860 Mill Repres. Govt. (1865) 23/2 With Austria or *ante-revolutionary France. |
| 1842 Chamb. Jrnl. 30 July 231 The dim *ante-sunrise light. |
| 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 123 *Ante-war lightness of national taxation. |
▪ II. ante- in earlier spelling often put for
anti-.