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Presence; sight; front; as in the phrases, before the face of, in the immediate presence of; in the face of, before, in, or against the front of; as, to fly in the face of danger; to the face of, directly to; from the face of, from the presenceof.

To decay; to disappear; to vanish. Gilded clouds, while we gaze upon them, faint before the eye. Pope.

To become insnared or embarrassed; to be entrapped; to be worse off than before; asm to fall into error; to fall into difficulties.

The faculty by which the mind forms an image or a representation of anything perceived before; the power of combining and modifying such objects into new pictures or images; the power of readily and happily creating and recalling such objects for the purpose of amusement, wit, or embellishment; imagination. In the soul…

ast look at, or reference to something. And takes her farewell of the glorious sun. Shak. Before I take my farewell of the subject. Addison.

r a paraphrase of, some part of the Latin service in the vernacular; -- common in English before the Reformation.

Tending to a greater distance; beyond a certain point; additional; further. Before our farther way the fates allow. Dryden. Let me add a farther Truth. Dryden. Some farther change awaits us. MIlton.

A bundle of rods, having among them an ax with the blade projecting, borne before the Roman magistrates as a badge of their authority.

re, and comprehend; to get to the bottom of. Dryden. The page of life that was spread out before me seemed dull and commonplace, only because I had not fathomed its deeper import. Hawthotne.

for blaming or complaining; to express dissatisfaction; to complain; -- followed by with before the thing complained of; but formerly by at. "Matter to find fault at." Robynson (More's Utopia).

The quality of being feasible; practicability; also, that which is feasible; as, before we adopt a plan, let us consider its feasibility. Men often swallow falsities for truths, dubiosities for certainties, possibilities for feasibilities. Sir T. Browne.

Capable of being done, executed, or effected; practicable. Always existing before their eyes as a thing feasible in practice. Burke. It was not feasible to gratify so many ambitions. Beaconsfield.

a page . . . so feat. Shak. And look how well my garments sit upon me --Much feater than before. Shak.

n searching for food; an antenna; a palp. Insects . . . perpetually feeling and searching before them with their feelers or antennæ. Derham.

the short run before a leap. [Obs.] Nares.

w), an issue produced in a pretended action between two parties for the purpose of trying before a jury a question of fact which it becomes necessary to settle in the progress of a cause. Burill. Bouvier.

To bring before a court or legislative body by presenting proper papers in a regular way; as, to file a petition or bill. Burrill.

A pyrotechnic exhibition. [Obs. in the sing.] Night before last, the Duke of Richmond gave a firework. Walpole.

Before any other person or thing in time, space, rank, etc.; -- much used in composition with adjectives and participles. Adam was first formed, then Eve. 1 Tim. ii. 13. At first, At the first, at the beginning or origin. -- First or last, at one time or another; at the beginning or end. And all are fools and lovers f…

In the first place; before anything else; -- sometimes improperly used for first.