afore

See also: aforé, afore-, and a-fore

English

Alternative forms

• affor (obsolete)
• avore (obsolete, poetic)

Etymology

From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- +‎ fore.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /əˈfɔɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈfɔː/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /əˈfo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /əˈfoə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

Adverb

afore (not comparable)

1. (archaic, dialect) Before.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     Stephano: He's in his fit now ; and doe's not talke after the wiſeſt ; hee ſhall taſte of my Bottle : if hee haue neuer drunke wine afore, it will goe neere to remoue his Fit : […]

   • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

     A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.

2. (nautical) In the fore part of a ship.

Preposition

afore

1. Before; in advance of the time of.
   • 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

     He said he was jealous, and craved something to ease his care. 'It's but a small thing I ask,' says he, 'but it will make me a happy man, and nothing ever shall come atween us. Tryst wi' me for Beltane's E'en on the Sker sands, at the green link o' the burn where the sands begin, on the ebb o' the tide when midnight is by, but afore cockcrow. For,' said he, 'that was our forbears' tryst for true lovers, and wherefore no for you and me?'

   • 1982, Edward Chisnall, Bell in the Tree: The Glasgow story:

     "Oh aye!" his face lit up with a smile. "I mind that! Where was that?" "That was us when we all worked in the shop, afore the War." "Oh aye …?" he frowned. "Who …?" She took the photograph back from him and reached inside her apron pocket for her spectacles.

2. Before; situated geographically or metaphorically in front of.

Conjunction

afore

1. In advance of the time when; before.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 33:22:

     Now the hand of the Lord was vpon mee in the euening, afore hee that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth vntill hee came to mee in the morning, and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumbe.

Derived terms

• afore-
• afore-enumerated
• afore-explained
• aforeness

Anagrams

• Faroe, e-fora

Middle English

Alternative forms

• affor, affore, afor, a-fore, avore

Etymology

From Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- +‎ fore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈfɔːr(ə)/

Adverb

afore

1. before; afore

Preposition

afore

1. before; afore: in advance of the time of
   • c. 1370–1450, Laurence de Premierfait, Des cas des nobles hommes et femmes, as quoted in Lydgate's Fall of Princes (1923, The Carnegie Institution of Washington):

     Affor tyme thei wer but bestiall,
     Till thei to resoun be lawes wer constreyned,
     Vndir discrecioun bi statutis naturall

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. before; afore: situated geographically or metaphorically in front of
   • 1399, Rich. Redeless IV, 72

     and somme were so ffers
     at ffrist come,
     that they bente on a bonet,
     and bare a topte saile
     affor the wynde ffresshely,
     to make a good ffare

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Conjunction

afore

1. before; afore: in advance of the time when

Descendants

• English: afore
• Scots: afore
• Yola: avar, avare

References

• “afōre, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑːˌfoː.re/

Verb

āfōre

1. second-person singular preterite indicative of āfaran

Portuguese

Verb

afore

1. inflection of aforar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- +‎ fore.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈfoːr/

Adverb

afore (not comparable)

1. (of place) before, in front
2. (of time) before, previously, in advance

Preposition

afore

1. (of place) before, in front of
2. (of time) before

Conjunction

afore

1. (of place) before, rather than

References

• “afore, adv., prep., conj.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.
• Eagle, Andy, ed. (2016) The Online Scots Dictionary, Scots Online.

Spanish

Verb

afore

1. inflection of aforar (“to gauge, to measure”):
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative