before

• befo, befo' (African-American Vernacular, pronunciation spelling)
• b4, be4 (Internet slang)

Inherited from Middle English before / bifore, from Old English beforan, from be- + foran (“before”), from fore, from Proto-Germanic *furai, from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“front”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian befoar (“before”), German Low German bevör (“before”), German bevor (“before”).

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bĭfôʹ, IPA^(key): /bɪˈfɔː/
• (General American) enPR: bəfôrʹ, bēfôrʹ, bĭfôrʹ, IPA^(key): /bəˈfɔɹ/, /biˈfɔɹ/, /bɪˈfɔɹ/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: bĭfōrʹ, IPA^(key): /bɪˈfo(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /bɪˈfoə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: be‧fore
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)

before

1. Earlier than (in time).

   Synonyms: by, no later than, previous to, prior to, (obsolete) ere

   Antonyms: after, later than

   I want this done before Monday.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner.

2. In front of in space.

   Synonyms: ahead of, in front of

   Antonym: behind

   He stood before me.

   We sat before the fire to warm ourselves.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     His angel, who shall go / Before them in a cloud and pillar of fire.

   • 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter I, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:

     He tried to persuade Cicely to stay away from the ball-room for a fourth dance. […] But she said she must go back, and when they joined the crowd again […] she found her mother standing up before the seat on which she had sat all the evening searching anxiously for her with her eyes, and her father by her side.

   • 2013 September-October, Henry Petroski, “The Evolution of Eyeglasses”, in American Scientist:

     The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone, essentially what today we might term a frameless magnifying glass or plain glass paperweight.

3. In the presence of.

   He performed before the troops in North Africa.

   He spoke before a joint session of Congress.

4. Under consideration, judgment, authority of (someone).

   The case laid before the panel aroused nothing but ridicule.

   • 1726, John Ayliffe, Parergon Juris Canonici Anglicani:

     If a suit be begun before an archdeacon […]

5. In store for, in the future of (someone).

   Your whole life is before you.

   • 1831, Thomas Carlyle, “The Phœnix”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 164:

     The golden age […] is before us.

   • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 76:

     There is an Eternity behind thee as well as one before. Hast thou bewailed the aeons that passed without thee, who art so much afraid of the aeons that shall pass?

6. In front of, according to a formal system of ordering items.

   Synonym: ahead of

   Antonym: after

   In alphabetical order, "cat" comes before "dog", "canine" before feline".

7. At a higher or greater position than, in a ranking.

   An entrepreneur puts market share and profit before quality, and amateur intrinsic qualities before economical considerations.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:15:

     He that cometh after me is preferred before me.

before (not comparable)

1. At an earlier time.

   Synonym: previously

   Antonym: after

   I've never done this before.

   This achievement far exceeded anything that had come before.

   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion—or rather as a transition from the subject that started their conversation—such talk had been distressingly out of place.

2. (chiefly literary or poetic) In advance in position or sequence; ahead.

   Synonym: ahead

   We walked behind while they went before.

3. (uncommon) At the front end.

   Synonym: in front

   Antonym: behind

   • 1896, Hilaire Belloc, “The Elephant”, in The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts:

     When people call this beast to mind,
     They marvel more and more
     At such a little tail behind,
     So LARGE a trunk before.

before

1. In advance of the time when.

   Brush your teeth before you go to bed.

   • 1731 (date written), Simon Wagstaff [pseudonym; Jonathan Swift], “An Introduction to the Following Treatise”, in A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation, […], London: […] B[enjamin] Motte […], published 1738, →OCLC, page xiv:

     But before this elaborate treatise can become of universal use and ornament to my native country, two points […] are absolutely necessary.

   • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport:

     Stephen Ward then had to time his tackle excellently to deny Tarmo Kink as the Wolves winger slid the ball out of play before the Estonian could attempt to beat Given.

2. (informal) Rather or sooner than.

   Synonym: lest

   I'll die before I'll tell you anything about it.

• “before”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "Spatial particles of orientation", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition, Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

• borfee