FromMiddle Englishtofore,toforn, fromOld Englishtōforan(“in front of”), fromtō(“to”) +foran(“front, fore-part”,n.), dative case offora(“front”). CompareDutchtevoren(“previously”),Germanzuvor(“before, previously”). More atto,fore.
tofore
- (obsolete)Before.
tofore (notcomparable)
- (obsolete)Before,previously.
1592, William Shakespeare,Titus Andronicus:Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister ; O would thou wert as thoutofore hast been!
tofore
- (obsolete)Before.
- (adverb and preposition):toforen,tofor,toforon,toforn,toforne,toforan,toffor,toffore,tofforn,toforowe,tofour,tovor,tovore,tovoren,tefor,tefore,teforen
- (conjunction):toforn,tofor,to-fore,to-forn,to-for
FromOld Englishtōforan; equivalent toto- +fore.
- IPA(key): /toːˈfɔːr(ə)/,/toːˈfɔːr(ə)n/,/tɔ-/,/tə-/
tofore
- In front,ahead; in the first position in asequence.
- At a prior time;beforehand,earlier.
- (in texts) Found above; found in a prior section.
tofore
- In front of.
- Closer than something (with reference to the speaker).
- In the presence of;before.
- Earlier than; prior to.
- To a degree greater than;more so than.
tofore
- Indicates that theantecedent clause occurred before theconsequent clause in time.
1470–1485 (date produced),Thomas Malory, “(please specify the chapter)”, in[Le Morte Darthur],(please specify the book number), [London: […] byWilliam Caxton], published31 July 1485,→OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor,Le Morte Darthur […], London:David Nutt, […],1889,→OCLC:
- As a conjunction,tofore is often paired withþat.
tōfōre
- inflection oftōfaran:
- second-personsingularpreteriteindicative
- singularpreteritesubjunctive
tofore
- (intransitive) totremble
- Rika Hayami-Allen (2001),A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh
