Dictionary

time immemorial en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable, usually) Time that extends beyond memory or record.
   • The tower had been consecrated to this ancient diversion from time immemorial, the western façade conveniently forming the boundary of the churchyard at that end, where the ground was trodden hard and bare as a pavement by the players. 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC:
   • The Communists have no need to introduce community of women; it has existed almost from time immemorial. 1888 [1848], Samuel Moore, transl., edited by Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, translation of Das Kommunistische Manifest by Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels:
   • My home is in the North of Palestine on the other side of Jordan, beyond the Sea of Galilee. My family has dwelt there from time immemorial, but they always loved this city, and have a legend that they dwelt occasionally within its walls, even in the days when Titus from that hill looked down upon the temple. 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XVII, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 177–178:
   • This thing is a "pyramid" since time immemorial, shit goes downhill, money goes up: it's that simple. 2002 September 15, David Chase, “For All Debts Public and Private”, in The Sopranos, season 4, episode 1, spoken by Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini):
   • She had worn from time immemorial an old blue satin dress, and a white crape shawl embroidered in colors; […] 1875 January–December, Henry James, Jr., Roderick Hudson, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, late Ticknor & Fields, and Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1876, →OCLC; republished as Roderick Hudson (EBook #176), U.S.A.: Project Gutenberg, 18 September 2016:
   • from time immemorial
   • In every Circular or Polygonal household it has been a habit from time immemorial[…]that the mothers and daughters should constantly keep their eyes and mouths towards their husband and his male friends; and for a lady in a family of distinction to turn her back upon her husband would be regarded as a kind of portent, involving loss of status. 1884, A Square [pseudonym; Edwin A. Abbott], Flatland […] , London: Seeley & Co., Part I: This World, § 4.— Concerning the Women:
   • That there is and from time immemorial has been within that part of the parish called Mablethorpe St. Mary's a laudable custom that, if any outdweller take ancient pasture ground, he shall pay a modus of 4d. an acre, and so in proportion, on the 1st of August, in lieu of all manner of tithe; and that if any of the ancient pasture be once ploughed up or meadowed, it shall, when restored to pasture again, pay 4d. the acre in the hands of such outdweller. 1917, The English Reports: Exchequer, page 789:
   • This is a great tract of a hundred thousand acres, which from time immemorial has been a hunting preserve of the nobility. 1905 April–October, Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 26 February 1906, →OCLC:
2. (UK, uncountable, usually) The time before July 6, 1189, hence the time before the accession of Richard I.

Forms

Relateds

saeculum · in living memory

Synonyms

time of old · time out of mind · dawn of time

Translations (14)

de unbekannte Zeit (time that extends beyond memory or record) · es tiempo inmemorial (time that extends beyond memory or record) · ru незапа́мятные времена́ (time that extends beyond memory or record) · pl od dawien dawna (time that extends beyond memory or record) · fi ammoiset ajat (time that extends beyond memory or record) · de Menschengedenken (time that extends beyond memory or record) · it da che mondo è mondo (time that extends beyond memory or record) · fi ammoiset ajat (time before 6 July 1189) · sv urminnes tider (time that extends beyond memory or record) · hu ősidők óta (time that extends beyond memory or record) · ka უხსოვარი დრო (time that extends beyond memory or record) · fi muinaisuus (time that extends beyond memory or record) · fr temps immémorial (time that extends beyond memory or record) · mk памтивек (time that extends beyond memory or record)