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Webster 1913 Edition
Whilom
Whi′lom
(hwī′lŭm)
, adv.
[AS. ]
hwīlum
, properly, at times, dative pl. of hwīl
; akin to G. weiland
formerly, OHG. hwīlōm
, See While
, Noun.
Formerly; once; of old; erewhile; at times.
[Obs. or Poetic]
Spenser.
Whilom
, as olde stories tellen us,There was a duke that highte Theseus.
Chaucer.
Webster 1828 Edition
Whilom
WHILOM
,adv.
Definition 2024
whilom
whilom
English
Adverb
whilom (not comparable)
- (obsolete) While.
- (dated) Once upon a time, formerly.
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, I.43:
- With such an invention did Zeleucus whilome correct the corrupted manners of the Locrines.
- 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1
- In northern clime a val'rous knight \ Did whilom kill his bear in fight, \ And wound a fiddler: we have both \ Of these the objects of our wroth […].
- 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, I.43:
Translations
once upon a time, formerly
Adjective
whilom (not comparable)
- (now literary) Former, sometime.
- 1879, John Pentland Mahaffy, Euripides, Chapter IV
- […] which moved all to pity by its picture of a whilom princess reduced to miserable poverty.
- 1879, John Pentland Mahaffy, Euripides, Chapter IV
Synonyms
Translations
(literary) former, sometime, erstwhile
Conjunction
whilom