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Before; sooner than. [Archaic or Poetic] Myself was stirring ere the break of day. Shak. Ere sails were spread new oceans to explore. Dryden. Sir, come down ere my child die. John iv. 49.

Before the ere long. A man, . . . following the stag, erelong slew him. Spenser. The world, erelong, a world of tears must weep. Milton.

Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore. [Archaic] I am as fair now as I was erewhile. Shak.

Previously; before; formerly; heretofore. Chaucer. Tityrus, with whose style he had erst disclaimed all ambition to match his pastoral pipe. A. W. Ward. At erst, at first; at the beginning. -- Now at erst, at this present time. Chaucer.

t, or moral qualities. If he be poorer that thy estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest, and the priest shall value him. Lev. xxvii. 8.

The evening before a holiday, -- from the Jewish mode of reckoning the day as beginning at sunset. not at midnight; as, Christians eve is the evening before Christmas; also, the period immediately preceding some important event. "On the eve of death." Keble. Eve churr (Zoöl), the European goatsucker or nightjar; -- cal…

l, as a means of ascertaining the truth of any alleged matter of fact under investigation before it; means of making proof; -- the latter, strictly speaking, not being synonymous with evidence, but rather the effect of it. Greenleaf. Circumstantial evidence, Conclusive evidence, etc. See under Circumstantial, Conclusiv…

In an evident manner; clearly; plainly. Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth. Gal. iii. 1. He has evidently in the prime of youth. W. Irving.

w), that which is had or taken by one side or party in the absence of the other. Hearings before grand juries, and affidavits, are ex parte. Wharton's Law Dict. Burrill.

nsifies the meaning; in others, it has little affect on the signification. It becomes ef- before f, as in effuse. The form e- occurs instead of ex- before b, d, g, l, m, n, r, and v, as in ebullient, emanate, enormous, etc. In words from the French it often appears as es-, sometimes as s- or é-; as, escape, scape, élit…

furnish; hence, to wrest, as a fee or reward when none is due; -- followed by from or of before the one subjected to exaction; as, to exact tribute, fees, obedience, etc., from or of some one. He said into them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. Luke. iii. 13. Years of servise past From grateful souls ex…

in a pleading; also, as in conveyancing, a clause by which the grantor excepts something before granted. Burrill.

other in consideration of something received as an equivalent; -- usually followed by for before the thing received. Exchange his sheep for shells, or wool for a sparking pebble or a diamond. Locke.

The name of a writ in proceedings before outlawry. Abbott.

-- Expansion valve (Steam Engine), a cut-off valve, to shut off steam from the cylinder before the end of each stroke.

ive grace, a mandate given by the pope or a prince appointing a successor to any benefice before it becomes vacant. Foxe.

banish. Forewasted all their land, and them expelled. Spenser. . He shell expel them from before you . . . and ye shell possess their land. Josh. xxiii. 5.

A coming to a close; cessation; extinction; termination; end. Before the expiration of thy time. Shak.

ies a law which retroacts, by way of criminal punishment, upon that which was not a crime before its passage, or which raises the grade of an offense, or renders an act punishable in a more severe manner that it was when committed. Ex post facto laws are held to be contrary to the fundamental principles of a free gover…

kes, as his fee, money, or other thing of value, that is not due, or more than is due, or before it is due. Abbott.