adv. [f. ERE prep. + LONG adv.; sometimes written as two words.] Before long; before the lapse of much time; soon. Of future time; also (arch.) of past.
1577. Harrison, England, III. viii. (1878), II. 52. Whereby he receiued a wound that yer long killed him altogither.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1590), 146 b (J.). Ere long he had not only gotten pitie, but pardon.
1714. H. Grove, Spect., No. 635, ¶ 4. I … shall e’er long shoot away with the Swiftness of Imagination.
1777. Sir W. Jones, Pal. Fortune, 31. Erelong the damsel reach’d her native vale.
1809. Southey, in Q. Rev., II. 60. English … will probably ere long be … blended with their language.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, I. 331. Erelong Ye brake off in the middle of that song.
