'fore
Appearance
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɔː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɔɹ/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
- Homophones: fore, four; for (horse–hoarse merger)
Preposition
[edit]'fore
- (chiefly African-American Vernacular) Aphetic form of before.
- 1996, Nas (lyrics and music), “The Message”, in It Was Written[1]:
- Heard shots and dropped, son, caught a hot one
Somebody take this biscuit 'fore the cops come
- 2014, J. Cole (lyrics and music), “No Role Modelz”, in 2014 Forest Hills Drive[2]:
- I got defensive and said, "Nah, I was the same without it"
But then I thought back, back to a better me
Before I was a B-list celebrity
'Fore I started callin' bitches "bitches" so heavily
Further reading
[edit]- “'fore”, in Urban Dictionary, launched 1999.