before | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

1360 entries found.

1560s, "engage (the attention of) beforehand, engross in advance of or to the exclusion of other things," from pre- "before" + occupy. Sense of "occupy before others" is attested from 1620s. Related: Preoccupied; preoccupying.

stuffing (n.)

1520s, "material used for filling a cushion;" 1530s, "seasoned mixture used to stuff fowls before cooking," verbal noun from stuff (v.) in the sense "fill the inside of a bird before cooking" (late 14c.).

oc-

assimilated form of ob- before -c-.

suf-

assimilated form of sub- before -f-.

suc-

the usual form of sub- before -c-, an assimiliation from Latin.

prepubescent (adj.)

also pre-pubescent, "being or occurring before the onset of puberty," 1883 (in Gerald Massey's "The Natural Genesis"), from pre- "before" + pubescent. An older word in the same sense was impuberal (1829), from Latin impubes.

USA

also U.S.A., abbreviation of United States of America, in use by 1814 in addresses, etc.; not common otherwise before c. 1920. Before then it often also meant United States Army.

predigest (v.)

also pre-digest, "digest more or less completely by artificial means before introducing into the body," 1660s, from pre- "before" + digest (v.). Figurative use by 1905. Related: Predigested; predigesting; predigestion.

antedate (v.)

1580s, "to date before the true time," earlier as noun meaning "a backdating, false early date attached to a document or event" (1570s); from Latin ante "before" (from PIE root *ant- "front, forehead," with derivatives meaning "in front of, before") + date (v.1). Meaning "be of older date than" is from 1660s. Related: Antedated; antedating.

pre-release (adj.)

"of the period before the date fixed for release," 1916, in reference to motion pictures, from pre- + release (n.). As a noun, "a film or record available on a limited basis before general release," by 1919. As a verb, "to release on a limited basis before the date fixed for release," by 1917 (implied in pre-released).

Page 7

Trending words