▪ I. yore, adv. (a.) arch.
(jɔə(r))
Forms: 1 ᵹeara, ᵹara, iara, ᵹeare, ᵹearo, 3 ȝar, ȝeare, ȝaure, 3–5 ȝare, 3–6 yare, ȝore, 4 yar, 5 yoore, 6 ȝoir, youre, 4– yore.
[OE. ᵹeára, also ᵹeáre, ᵹeáro, advb. formations of obscure origin.]
† 1. A long time ago; of old; freq. strengthened by full; also in collocation with ago, agone. Phr. it is (gone) yore (that{ddd}): long ago. Obs.
| Beowulf 2664 Swa ðu on ᵹeoᵹuðfeore ᵹeara ᵹecwæde. c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. ii. xiii, Ᵹeare ic þæt onᵹeat þæt ðæt nowiht wæs þæt we beeodan. Ibid. iii. xxii, Is se [sc. tun] be ðam wealle þe ᵹearo Romane Breotone ealonde begyrdon twelf milum fram eastsæ. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xi. 21 Olim, Iara. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. i. 1 Hit wæs ᵹeara iu ðætte Gotan eastan of Sciððia sceldas læddon. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 427/6 Iam, ᵹeara, oþþe ᵹeoᵹara. c 1205 Lay. 4650 Þe king him ȝef Delcan þe ȝare wes mi leouemon. a 1225 Ancr. R. 88 Ȝare hit is þet ich wuste herof. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 653 Nis noȝt ȝore þat i ne com And fond hire wiþ hordom. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas Prol. 19 (Harl. 7334) Other tale certes can I noon But of a rym I lerned ȝore agoon. c 1400 Gamelyn 257 Sithen I wrastelet first it is gone ȝore. c 1400 Destr. Troy 13968 Til a ȝer was full yore yarkit to end, And a halfe, er þat end happit to fare. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1008 All þe ȝeris of oure ȝouthe es ȝare syne passid. a 1425 Cursor M. 5672 (Trin.) Woltou me sle herfore As þou didest þe egipcian not ȝore? 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 5696 And for that skyle gon ful yore,..I callede the my paramour. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) xx. 27 He dyed on Rood, gone is not yore. 1513 Douglas æneis xiii. Pref. 3 Ȝoir ago, in myne ondantit ȝowth. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 927 Yare so, aincois ainsy. a 1542 Wyatt Poems, ‘Ryght true it is’, Ryght true it is, and said full yore agoo. a 1550 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 320 The Gret Forlore Of Babylon, that I full yore Espousit. 1613 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Yore, long agoe, before. |
† 2. In time past; formerly, before. Obs.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1180 Ich not ȝef þu were ȝaure prest. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1503 God..graunt ȝou ioye, For þe worchipe þat ȝe han wruȝt to me ȝore. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxiii. (vii Sleperis) 258 [He] lukyt vpe, & saw þare Þe sammyne takine he saw yare. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7597 Thus seide I now, and haue seid yore. c 1450 Cursor M. 2651 (Laud) Abraham hast þou yore by cald, That name no lengger shalt þou hald. ? a 1500 Chester Pl. (E.E.T.S.) xxiv. 513 Doe as thou hast yore behight. 1570 Levins Manip. 174/34 Yore, before, ante, prius. 1574 Mirr. Mag., Kimarus xii, A iust rewarde, for so vniust a life, No worse a death, then I deserued yore. |
† 3. For a long time (past, or rarely to come).
| c 1275 XI Pains of Hell 23 in O.E. Misc. 147 In helle ich habbe yare ibeo. a 1300 Vox & Wolf 169 in Hazl. E.P.P. I. 63 The wolf haueth hounger swithe gret, For he nedde ȝare i-ete. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 12 Thus in delit he lyueth and hath doon yoore. c 1430 Lydg. Chichevache & Bycorne in Dodsley O. Pl. (1827) XII. 304 And thus ye stonde and have don yore. 1522 World & Child C j, In englonde haue I dwelled yore. |
4. of yore: a. in advb. use: Of old, in time long past, anciently, formerly. Also † of yore ago(ne, † long yore: long ago.
| a 1375 Joseph Arim. 317 Werdes of Ebreu weren I-writen of ȝore. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 13 For that he say it nat of ȝore a-go. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas ix. xiv. (1554) 202 b/2 She was the same that of yore agon, Unworthelye sate in Peters place. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. July 116 The sayncts Which han be dead of yore [Gloss long agoe]. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. lxviii, To shew faulse Art what beauty was of yore. 1632 Milton Penseroso 23 Thee bright-hair'd Vesta long of yore, To solitary Saturn bore. 1784 Cowper Task ii. 591 A form, not now gymnastic as of yore. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe i, Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley. 1862 Kingsley in Life & Lett. (1877) I. 477, I have defended the right of combination among the work⁓men, in hope that they would become wiser than of yore. 1867 ‘Ouida’ Cecil Castlemaine's Gage 19 Proud Cecil Castlemaine was yet prouder than of yore. |
b. in adj. use: Belonging to time long past, ancient, former.
| 1598 Mucedorus iv. iii. 72 In time of yore. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. 338 His Bishoprick of yore. c 1705 Pope Jan. & May 514 Well sung sweet Ovid, in the days of yore. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend i. v. (1865) 134 This is altogether different from the village politics of yore. 1814 Wordsw. Excurs. ii. 1 In days of yore how fortunately fared The Minstrel! 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 80 (Rip van Winkle) The quiet little Dutch inn of yore. 1883 Whitelaw Sophocles, Philoct. 1151 For now I hold not in my hands The mighty shafts of yore. |
c. With other preps.: e.g. † for yore (obs.); in yore (pseudo-arch.). rare.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 586 Ȝet oþer þer werne..Þat swange & swat for long ȝore. c 1350 Will. Palerne 4174 Hire mi sone is founde þat sche for ȝore saide was sonk in þe see. 1876 Morris æneids v. 865 In yore agone. |
5. as adj. Of old time; ancient, former. arch. and dial. † yore while (advb. phr.), some time ago. Yore-flood (nonce-use), the biblical Flood.
yore-day is an echo of OE. on ᵹeárdaᵹum, ON. i árdaga in days of yore.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 322 Oure ȝore fader hit con mysseȝeme. Ibid. B. 842 Þete vus out þose ȝong men þat ȝore⁓whyle here entred. c 1400 Destr. Troy 9959 So hatnet hir hert in his hegh loue, And all ȝomeryng for-yeton of hir yore dedes. 1866 G. Stephens Runic Mon. I. p. v, Thousands of books and yore-day things. 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wreck of Deutschland xxxii, in Poems (1967) 62, I admire thee, master of the tides, Of the Yore-flood. |
▪ II. yore, ȝore
see ewer2, ore1, yare, your.