Former a.

Also 2–4 formere, 6 formar(e, (Sc. formair), 7 formore. [First recorded in the 12th century; a comparative formed on the analogy of formest, FOREMOST. In 16th–17th c. the ending was sometimes assimilated to MORE.

  1.  Earlier in time. Now chiefly in the more specific sense: Pertaining to the past, or to a period or occasion anterior to that in question.

  The sense ‘the earlier of two’ (in strictly temporal application) is obs. or arch. exc. with reference to the halves of a period of time.

c. 1160.  Hatton Gosp., Matt. xxi. 36. Ða sende he eft oðre þeowas selre þanne þa formere [earlier text, þa ærran] wæron.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 363. Þe pope may graunte to day, and to morowe perseyve his folye, and revoke þe formere errour.

1545.  Joye, Exp. Dan. viii. 126. Daniel saw this vision by the flowd whose waters lyke as the later waues thruste forthe the former sourges.

1576.  A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 104. In my former letters I haue beene somewhat large, not so muche for necessitie, as for beneuolence.

1611.  Bible, Hos. vi. 3. He shall come vnto vs, as the raine; as the latter and former raine vnto the earth.

1632.  J. Lee, Short Surv., 73–4. Having then the next yeare gathered together a farre greater army then the former, he invaded the country of the Vestrogoths, and the battell being fought upon the ice, Stene being shot thorow the thigh with a gunne, dyes shortly after of this wound, upon which followed the dissipation and dispersing of the Swedish army.

1642.  trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., vii. § 479. 210. The testament which is delivered shall stand, notwithstanding that it hath the former date, and was written before the other testament, &c.

1676.  Dryden, Aurengz., IV. i. 1589.

1699.  Dampier, Voy., II. I. 177. The former part of the night we had much Rain with Thunder and Lightning; but no Wind.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 94, 18 June, ¶ 8. One Day as he was walking alone by the Sea-Side, being seized with many melancholy Reflections upon his former and his present State of Life, which had raised a Fit of Devotion in him, he threw off his Cloaths with a Design to wash himself, according to the Custom of the Mahometans, before he said his Prayers.

1852.  Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvi. Eva appeared more like her former self than ever she had done since her sickness.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), I. 176, Protagoras. The admission of that, he replied, would belie our former admissions.

  † b.  followed by than. Obs. rare.

1382.  Wyclif, John i. 30. Aftir me cometh a man, that is maad bifore me; for he was the formere than I.

1611.  Speed, Theat. Gt. Brit. (1614), 138/1. All which shew a former interest for Ireland, then that which by conquest under Henry the second was made.

  † c.  In ME. it sometimes took the place of the earlier FORME, first, primeval, as in former father, days; with similar sense the former age (Chaucer.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 5464 (Gött.).

c. 1374.  Chaucer, Former Age, 1.

c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), Prol. 2. The Synne of oure formere Fader Adam.

1529.  Sir T. More, Dyaloge, 126 a/2. From oure formar father Adam to y^e laste day.

  d.  Formerly possessed, occupied, frequented, etc.

1388.  Wyclif, Judg. xvi. 28. Ȝelde thou now to me the formere strengthe, that Y venge me of myn enemyes.

1607.  Shaks., Cor., V. iii. 202.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 153.

  2.  With reference to order. The former (often absol., with ellipsis of sb.): a. The first of two. † Also, the (immediately) preceding; and occas. in connection with a cardinal numeral = FIRST a. 2 e.

1588.  A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., H iij. In y^e ȝere besydes y^e 52 owkes yair is ane day ode, quhilk makis y^e dominical lettre to be changeit euerie ȝere in the formair.

1609.  Bible (Douay), 2 Kings, Comm. In the seventene former chapters, are recorded [etc.]…. The other eight chapters conteine other thinges donne in Juda.

a. 1703.  Burkitt, On N. T., Mark iii. 4. The former Part of this Chapter reports to us a miraculous Cure wrought by Christ upon a Man who had a withered Hand.

1824.  L. Murray, Eng. Gram. (ed. 5), I. 348. Of dissyllables, formed by affixing a termination, the former syllable is commonly accented.

  b.  The first mentioned of two; opposed to latter.

  A use app. of late introduction, but now so prominent that the other uses have become restricted to contexts in which the word could not be misinterpreted in this sense.

1597.  Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. iv. § 3. Of the former kinde are all manner vertuous Duties, that each man in reason and conscience to God-ward oweth.

1606.  Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xiii. 80.

1674.  trans. Scheffer’s Lapland, 84. Every Tent had two doors, one, a foredoor, and the other, a backward; the former bigger and more ordinarily used, the latter less, through which they use to bring in their provisions.

1717.  Pope, Wks., Pref. A bad Author deserves better Usage than a bad Critic: a man may be the former merely thro’ the misfortune of an ill judgment, but he cannot be the latter without both that and an ill temper.

1789.  Bentham, Princ. Legist., xvii. § 6. The latter mode is not less certain than the former.

1841.  Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 76. Therefore, in this work, I call the former ‘a piece of gold,’ and the latter ‘a piece of silver.’

1886.  A. Winchell, Walks & Talks Geol. Field, 180. The former locality and its vicinity has been a favorite collecting ground for many years, and geologists are still, almost weekly discovering new species.

  † c.  Spoken of before, aforesaid. Obs.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 14. The monster hearing, she presently threw down her self from the former rock, and so she ended.

  † 3.  Situated more forward; front, fore. Obs.

1382.  Wyclif, 2 Macc. iii. 25. He with fersnesse ruyschide the formere feet to Heliodore.

a. 1400.  Octouian, 1039.

1544.  Phaer, Regim. Life (1560), S v b. Apply it to the former part of y^e heade.

1558.  Will of R. Fetlawe (Somerset Ho.). Rynge that I weare upon my former fynger.

1593.  Rites of Durham (Surtees), 17. In the former part of the Quire, of either side the West Dore, or chiefe entraunce therof, without the Quire dore, in the Lanthorne, were placed in theire severall roomes.

1601.  Shaks., Jul. C., V. i. 80.

1668.  Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. iv. 7. In the former part of a Mans Neck and his Forehead, it can hardly be separated from the Skin and the Musculus latus.

1678.  trans. Gaya’s Art of War, II. 66. To fire in gaining of ground, the Battalion is commanded to advance as fast as the former Ranks discharge.

  4.  In the absol. or elliptical use, sometimes inflected as a sb. † a. With plural suffix (obs. rare). b. With genitive suffix.

  a.  1548.  W. Patten, Exped. Scotl., Pref. A iij a. We must be content in commune speche to vse the termes of our formers deuised.

1606.  Warner, Alb. Eng., XV. xciii. 374.

  b.  1613.  T. Jackson, Comm. Apost. Creede, I. 380. The manner … of the formers dissolution.

1824.  L. Murray, Eng. Gram. (ed. 5), I. 102. It was happy for the state, that Fabius continued in the command with Minucius: the former’s phlegm was a check upon the latter’s vivacity.