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Before birth. Shelley.

Pertaining to the time before the Passover, or before Easter.

To put before; to prefer. [Obs.] Bailey.

The placing of a before another, which, by ordinary rules, ought to follow it.

Before in time; antecedent. Antigonus, who was anterior to Polybius. Sir G. C. Lewis.

In an anterior manner; before.

A room before, or forming an entrance to, another; a waiting room.

To be before in doing; to do or take before another; to preclude or prevent by prior action. To anticipate and prevent the duke's purpose. R. Hall. He would probably have died by the hand of the executioner, if indeed the executioner had not been anticipated by the populace. Macaulay.

The act of anticipating, taking up, placing, or considering something beforehand, or before the proper time in natural order. So shall my anticipation prevent your discovery. Shak.

Standing before a petal, as a stamen.

A verse said before and after the psalms. Shipley.

Standing before a sepal, or calyx leaf.

st to west; the other, named antistrophe, in returning from west to east; then they stood before the altar, and sang the epode, which was the last part of the song. Abp. Potter.

To any extent; in any degree; at all. You are not to go loose any longer. Shak. Before you go any farther. Steele.

One who has forsaken the faith, principles, or party, to which he before adhered; esp., one who has forsaken his religion for another; a pervert; a renegade.

Formerly, an officer who attended magistrates and judges to execute their orders. Before any of his apparitors could execute the sentence, he was himself summoned away by a sterner apparitor to the other world. De Quincey.

Resort to physical means; recourse. Every milder method is to be tried, before a nation makes an appeal to arms. Kent.

To come before the public; as, a great writer appeared at that time.

f appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character; as, a person makes his appearance as an historian, an artist, or an orator. Will he now retire, After appearance, and again prolong Our expectation Milton.

Desire for, or relish of, food or drink; hunger. Men must have appetite before they will eat. Buckle.