Preterite

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preterit \Pret"er*it\ (?; 277), a. [L. praeteritus, p. p. of
     praeterire to go or pass by; praeter beyond, by + ire to go:
     cf. F. pr['e]t['e]rit. See {Issue}.] [Written also
     {preterite} and {pr[ae]terite}.]
     1. (Gram.) Past; -- applied to a tense which expresses an
        action or state as past.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Things and persons as thoroughly preterite as
              Romulus or Numa.                      --Lowell.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Preterite \Pret"er*ite\, a. & n.
     Same as {Preterit}.
     [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  preterite
       n : a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense [syn:
            {preterit}]