From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- + fore.
Meanings
Before; in advance of the time of.
"Oh aye!" his face lit up with a smile. "I mind that! Where was that?" "That was us when we all worked in the shop, afore the War." "Oh aye …?" he frowned. "Who …?" She took the photograph back from him and reached inside her apron pocket for her spectacles. 1982, Edward Chisnall, Bell in the Tree: The Glasgow story:
He said he was jealous, and craved something to ease his care. 'It's but a small thing I ask,' says he, 'but it will make me a happy man, and nothing ever shall come atween us. Tryst wi' me for Beltane's E'en on the Sker sands, at the green link o' the burn where the sands begin, on the ebb o' the tide when midnight is by, but afore cockcrow. For,' said he, 'that was our forbears' tryst for true lovers, and wherefore no for you and me?' 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
Before; situated geographically or metaphorically in front of.
A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore and built a fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well. 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
Stephano: He's in his fit now ; and doe's not talke after the wiſeſt ; hee ſhall taſte of my Bottle : if hee haue neuer drunke wine afore, it will goe neere to remoue his Fit :[…] 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
(archaic, dialectal, not-comparable) Before, in front, spatially.
He sees the soldiers, with their red coats lighted up by the torches carried afore, closing in round him. 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 39:
(archaic, dialectal, not-comparable) Before, in front, spatially. ▸ In the fore part of a ship.
From Middle English afore, aforn, from Old English onforan or ætforan; equivalent to a- + fore.
Meanings
In advance of the time when; before.
Now the hand of the Lord was vpon mee in the euening, afore hee that was escaped came, and had opened my mouth vntill hee came to mee in the morning, and my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumbe. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 33:22: