 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Preterit \Pret"er*it\ (?; 277), adjective [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.
2. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by. [R.]
Things and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa. --Lowell.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Preterit \Pret"er*it\, noun (Gram.) The preterit; also, a word in the preterit tense.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Preterperfect \Pre'ter*per"fect\, adjective & n. [Pref. preter- + perfect.] (Gram.) Old name of the tense also called {preterit}.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
preterit
noun: a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense [syn: {preterite}]
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |