Erst
adj, adv ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 First. not-comparable, obsolete
- 1 First of all, before (some other specified thing). not-comparable, obsolete
"Consider what I erst have been and what thou seest me now:"
- 2 Sooner (than); before. not-comparable, obsolete
"Thenne he sente the varlet ageyne and bad hym telle Kyng Mark that I wille come as soone as I am hole / for erste I maye doo hym noo good "Then he sent the varlet again, and bade him: Tell King Mark that I will come as soon as I am whole, for erst I may do him no good. ""
- 3 Formerly, once, erstwhile. archaic, not-comparable, poetic
"When lofty trees I see barren of leaves Which erst from heat did canopy the herd"
- 1 at a previous time wordnet
Example
More examples"Foul is his beard, his hair is stiff with gore, / and fresh the wounds, those many wounds, remain, / which erst around his native walls he bore."
Etymology
From Middle English erste, from Old English ǣresta (“first”), from Proto-West Germanic *airist (“earliest, first”), equivalent to ere + -est. Cognate with North Frisian iarst, iáárs, jarst, jest (“first”), West Frisian earst (“first”), Dutch eerste (“first”), German erste (“first”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.