Middle English Dictionary Entry
prēterit adj.
Entry Info
| Forms | prēterit adj. Also pretert; pl. preteritz. |
| Etymology | OF; cp. CF preterit, AF pretert & L praeteritus. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) Before the present, past; ~ time; (b) having to do with the past; (c) gram. of tense in Latin: denoting action in the past; ~ imparfit tens, the imperfect tense.
Associated quotations
a
- (a1398) *Trev.Barth.(Add 27944)121b/a : For al tyme is diuers in þe stempnes: in pretert tyme [L preteritum], þat is, I-passid; present, þat is, now; and future, þat schal be.
- ?a1425(c1380) Chaucer Bo.(Benson-Robinson)5.pr.6.119 : The science of hym..embraceth and considereth alle the infynit spaces of tymes preteritz [L praeteriti; F du temps preterit] and futures.
- a1500(?a1450) GRom.(Hrl 7333)105 : Vynegar was gode, & that is for þe preterit tyme.
- 1532-1897(c1385) Usk TL (Thynne:Skeat)118/56 : There is nothing preterit ne passed, there is nothing future ne comming, but al thinges togider in that place ben present everlasting.
b
- (1340) Ayenb.(Arun 57)59/9 : Þet byeþ vif manere of yelpinges: On is preterit, þe [read: þet] is to zigge, of þinge ypased.
- 1532-1897(c1385) Usk TL (Thynne:Skeat)120/157 : Me thinketh, he shulde have sayd tho wordes in tyme present; and that had ben more accordaunt to the everlasting present than to have spoke in preterit voice of passed understanding.
c
- a1450(a1397) WBible(2) GProl.(Cmb Mm.2.15)p.57 : A participle of a present tens either preterit, of actif vois eithir passif, mai be resoluid into a verbe of the same tens.
- c1450 Battlefield Gram.(Trin-C O.5.4)116 : Of what party of the Donet schall the participle endyng in 'ens' or 'ans' be formed? Of the furst person of the pretert inperfyt tens indicatyf mode and singuler noumbre, as 'amabam'.