Afore
adv, conj, prep ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Before, temporally. archaic, dialectal, not-comparable
"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 :[…]"
- 2 Before, in front, spatially. archaic, dialectal, not-comparable
"He sees the soldiers, with their red coats lighted up by the torches carried afore, closing in round him."
- 3 Before, in front, spatially.; In the fore part of a ship. archaic, dialectal, not-comparable
- 1 Before; in advance of the time of.
"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?'"
- 2 Before; situated geographically or metaphorically in front of.
- 1 In advance of the time when; before.
"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."
Example
More examples"Business first, pleasure arterwards, as King Richard the Third said wen he stabbed t'other king in the Tower, afore he smothered the babbies."
Etymology
From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- + fore.
Related phrases
More for "afore"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.