Dictionary

used-to-be en · ADJ

Meanings

1. (colloquial, not-comparable) Former, ex-.
   • 1888, Daily Evening Bulletin, Maysville, Kentucky, 3 September, 1888, Milburn Ellis, a used-to-be resident of this place, but now of the Grasshopper Country […] is visiting relatives here.
   • 2004, Adrienne Rich, “Dislocations: Seven Scenarios,” 4, in The School Among the Ruins: Poems 2000-2004, New York: Norton, p. 88, her / orders don’t necessarily / get obeyed / because / the government / is paying / and the / used-to-be / warriors / are patients
   • […] I love her but something’s not there. I don’t even know if it’s love anymore. Maybe it’s just a used-to-be love. 1983, Simon J. Ortiz, “3 Women”, in Fightin’: New and Collected Stories, Chicago: Thunder’s Mouth Press, page 79:
   • “The mudflow destroyed houses on the eastern edge of my used-to-be recruiting area,” said [Staff Sergeant] David Orman of the Longview [recruiting station]. 1980 November, Dave Pankey, “Mount St. Helens”, in All Volunteer, volume 33, number 11, page 5:
   • Said it was a spittoon just like his used-to-be bossman used to have in his bank up there in Atlanta. 1937, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 5, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, University of Illinois Press, published 1978, page 76:

Relateds

has-been