Used-to-be

1888, Daily Evening Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky, 3 September, 1888, Milburn Ellis, a used-to-be resident of this place, but now of the Grasshopper Country […] is visiting relatives here.

Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta.

“The mudflow destroyed houses on the eastern edge of my used-to-be recruiting area,” said [Staff Sergeant] David Orman of the Longview [recruiting station].

[…] I love her but something’s not there. I don’t even know if it’s love anymore. Maybe it’s just a used-to-be love.

2004, Adrienne Rich, “Dislocations: Seven Scenarios,” 4, in The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004, New York: Norton, p. 88, her / orders don’t necessarily / get obeyed / because / the government / is paying / and the / used-to-be / warriors / are patients