From Middle English yore, yoare, yare, ȝore, ȝare, ȝeare, from Old English ġeāra (“long ago”), of unclear origin but probably from Proto-Germanic *jērǫ̂ (literally “of years”), the genitive plural of Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”). More at year.
Meanings
(not-comparable, obsolete) In time long past; long ago.
Which though he hath polluted oft and yore, / Yet I to them for iudgement iust do fly 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 26:
From Middle English yore, yoare, yare, ȝore, ȝare, ȝeare, from Old English ġeāra (“long ago”), of unclear origin but probably from Proto-Germanic *jērǫ̂ (literally “of years”), the genitive plural of Proto-Germanic *jērą (“year”). More at year.
Meanings
(poetic, uncountable) A time long past.
This word comes from the days of yore.
In days of yore and times long gone before there was a Sultan of India who begat three sons; the eldest hight Prince Husayn, the second Prince Ali, and the youngest Prince Ahmad; moreover he had a niece, named Princess Nur al-Nihár, the daughter of his cadet brother who, dying early, left his only child under her uncle's charge. 1886-88, Richard Francis Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night:
It appeared strange to me that the “little dipper” should be still diving quietly in the river, as of yore; and it suggested that this bird might continue to dive here when Concord should be no more. 1860, Henry David Thoreau, The Last Days of John Brown:
Several logistics executives told me that if half-full freight vans from multiple firms kept congesting the streets, the best solution might be for every retailer to use a single firm instead. One delivery service to rule them all – just like the postal service of yore. 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
pt antanho (time long past) · fr jadis (time long past) · ru было́е (time long past) · no gamle dager (time long past) · ja 在りし日 (time long past) · lad antanyada (time long past) · et ammune (time long past) · cmn 昔日 (time long past) · is löngu (time long past) · is fyrir (time long past) · is langa (time long past) · nl ver verleden (time long past) · nl eertijds (time long past) · fr antan (time long past) · he קֶדֶם (time long past) · de aus uralten Zeiten (time long past) · de lange zurückliegend (time long past) · es antaño (time long past) · ru да́вние времена́ (time long past) · de eine lang zurückliegende Zeit (time long past) · pt antano (time long past) · ja 昔 (time long past) · nl weleer (time long past)