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Origin and history of afore

afore(adv.)

Middle English, from Old English onforan, contraction of prepositional phrase on foran "before in place, at the beginning of, in front of," from on (prep.), see a- (1), + foran (adv.) "in front," dative of for. In some cases probably it represents Old English ætforan "at-fore."

Attested from early 14c. as a preposition, "before in time," and as a conjunction, "earlier than the time when, before." Once the literary equivalent of before, it now has been replaced by that word except in nautical use, colloquial dialects, and in combinations such as aforesaid, aforethought.

Entries linking to afore

aforesaid(adj.)

"mentioned before in a preceding part of the same writing or speech," a common legal word, late 14c., from afore + said.

aforethought(adj.)

"premeditated," a legal word, 1580s, from afore + past tense of think. Apparently an English loan-translation of the Old French legalese word prepense (see prepense) in the phrase malice prepense "malice aforethought" (Coke).

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before
Old English beforan "in front of, in former times; in the presence of, in front of in time or position," from Proto-Germanic *bi- "by" (see by) + *forana "from the front," adverbial derivative of *fora (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward," hence "in front of, before"). Compare Old
for
Old English for "before, in the sight of, in the presence of; as far as; during, before; on account of, for the sake of; in place of, instead of," from Proto-Germanic *fur "before; in" (source also of Old Saxon furi "before," Old Frisian for, Middle Dutch vore, Dutch voor "for, b
fore
Merged from 13c. with the abbreviated forms of afore and before and thus formerly often written 'fore....
survey
c. 1400, surveien, "consider, contemplate," from Anglo-French surveier, Old French sorveoir "look (down) at, look upon, notice; guard, watch," from Medieval Latin supervidere "oversee, inspect," from Latin super "over" (see super-) + videre "to see" (from PIE root *weid- "to see"
Alexander
masc. proper name, from Latin, from Greek Alexandros "defending men," from alexein "to ward off, keep off, turn (something) away, defend, protect" + anēr (genitive andros) "man" (from PIE root *ner- (2) "man"). The first element perhaps is related to Greek alke "protection, help,
hamburger
1610s, Hamburger "native of Hamburg." Also used of ships from Hamburg. From 1838 as a type of excellent black grape indigenous to Tyrolia; 1857 as a variety of hen. The meat product was so called by 1880 (as hamburg steak); if it was named for the German city no certain connectio
war
late Old English wyrre, werre "large-scale military conflict," from Old North French werre "war" (Old French guerre "difficulty, dispute; hostility; fight, combat, war;" Modern French guerre), from Frankish *werra, from Proto-Germanic *werz-a- (source also of Old Saxon werran, Ol
conception
early 14c., "act of conceiving in the womb," from Old French concepcion (Modern French conception) "conception, grasp, comprehension," from Latin conceptionem (nominative conceptio) "a comprehending, conception," noun of action from past-participle stem of concipere "to take in a
bender
late 15c., "instrument for bending," agent noun from bend (v.). Slang meaning "drinking bout" is American English, attested from 1846, perhaps from the Scottish sense of "a hard drinker" (1728). Perhaps from the verb in the figurative sense of "strain, brace, wind up." Other slan
fudge
"put together clumsily or dishonestly," by 1771 (perhaps from 17c.); perhaps an alteration of fadge "make suit, fit" (1570s), a verb of unknown origin. The verb fudge later had an especial association with sailors and log books. The traditional story of the origin of the interjec

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