† preter, a. (n.) Obs.
(ˈpriːtə(r))
Also 7 præter.
[The contraction præter for præteritum preterite, in preterperfect, etc., prefixed in the same way to tense, and at length treated as a separate word.]
a. Gram. = preterite, past.
| 1530 Palsgr. 86 Circumlocutyng of al the pretertenses. 1534 More Treat. Passion Wks. 1347/2 Which wordes wer..prophesyed by the verbe of the pretertemps or time passed. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 9 He englissheth the verbe of the preter tence for the future. 1546 Gardiner Declar. Art. Joye 29 b, The pretertens rather declareth a perfection in thacte, then the passing ouer the time in the acte. 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 14, I..paralogized on their condition in the present and in the preter tense. 1676 Dixon Two Test. 30 So the Saying of God runs in the Præter-Tense, ‘Unto thy Seed I have given the Land’. 1711 J. Greenwood Eng. Gram. 114 In Latin..the Preter Time of the Perfect Action, is commonly called the Preter-pluperfect, that is, the Preter more than Perfect. 1747 Johnson Plan Eng. Dict. Wks. IX. 178 Our verbs are conjugated by auxiliary words, and are only changed in the preter tense. |
b. = past.
| 1578 T. Proctor Gorg. Gallery, Vew Vayn Glory, Diuers mo, whose preter pathes may learne Our future steps, our vayn unsteady stay. |
B. n. a. ellipt. for preter tense: see above. b. Past time, the past.
| 1615 Bp. Andrewes Serm. (1841) I. 162 But the other hath neither future nor præter, neither mood nor tense; nay, no verb at all. 1618 M. Baret Horsemanship i. 60 Let him observe the three (chiefe) parts of time which is, the preter, the present, the future. 1675 G. R. tr. Le Grand's Man without Reason 200 The present..is but an individual point, an instant that separates the praeter from the future. |