ere

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
By lunch the ere is a sign of life -- the rush of construction workers from the Xanadu and the nearby, almost complete, Giants stadium.

View all »
Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. preposition Previous to; before.
  2. conjunction Rather than; before.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • This will not last forever,--ere long we shall meet face to face I hope so! —  Fairy Fingers A Novel
  • "Th--ere!" said Flame Glancing up from this innocent triumph, she encountered the eyes of the Master of the House fixed speculatively on the big turkey I'm afraid everything is very cold," she confided with distinctly formal regret Not for anything," laughed Delcote quite suddenly, "would I have kept you waiting--if I had only known Two spots of color glowed hotly in the girl's cheeks It was not for you I was waiting," she said coldly N--o?" —  Peace on Earth, Good-will to Dogs
  • Clara had scarcely come to this resolution ere, as we said, an imminent crisis obliged her to seek the further aid of Capitola Craven Le Noir had never abated his unacceptable attentions to the orphan heiress. —  Capitola's Peril A Sequel to 'The Hidden Hand'
  • The sermon he gave was one he had given many times; in fact, he never had but one theme: flee from the wrath to come, and accept the pardon of the gentle Christ ere it is too late--ere it is too late Much of what passes for oratory is merely talk, lecture, harangue and argument. —  Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 7 Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Orators
  • Tender and true were his traditions of la belle France, but of France before Voltaire and the encyclopćdists, the Convention and the Jacobins--ere she had lost faith in all things, divine and human, save the bourgeoisie and avocats_. —  Destruction and Reconstruction: Personal Experiences of the Late War
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 148 times.

On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English er, from Old English ǣr; see ayer- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Also dial. ear (see ear), yer; from Middle English ere, er, ær, ar, or (see or), from Anglo-Saxon ǣr, adverb, before, sooner, earlier, formerly; preposition, before; in the conjunctional phrases ǣr tham the, ǣr thon the (ǣr, preposition, before; tham, dative of thæt, that; the, rel. conjunction, that), abbreviation ǣr tham, ær thon, or simply ǣr, conjunction, before (always with reference to time); a contr. of the full comparative form ǣror, adverb, which also is frequent (= Old Saxon ēr = OFries. ēr = Dutch eer, sooner, = OHG, er, German eher, ehe = Icelandic ār, early, = Gothic (Moesogothic) airis, sooner), comparative form of Anglo-Saxon ǣr = Icelandic ār = Gothic (Moesogothic) air, adverb, soon, early. See the superlative erst and the deriv. early.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »

/ɛr/
by American Heritage

Charts

frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word about once a day.

Recently looked up

fruit · petrifaction · francais · hull · affrighted

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Kylee · ultimatum · pew · deadpool · sad panda