yore

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See also: yöre

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English yore, yoare, yare, ȝore, ȝare, ȝeare, from Old English ġeāra (literally of years), of unclear origin but probably from Proto-Germanic *jērǫ̂, the genitive plural of Proto-Germanic *jērą (year). More at year.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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yore (uncountable)

  1. (poetic) A time long past.
    This word comes from the days of yore.
    • 1860, Henry David Thoreau, The Last Days of John Brown[1]:
      It appeared strange to me that the “little dipper” should be still diving quietly in the river, as of yore; and it suggested that this bird might continue to dive here when Concord should be no more.
    • 1886-88, Richard Francis Burton, The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night:
      In days of yore and times long gone before there was a Sultan of India who begat three sons; the eldest hight Prince Husayn, the second Prince Ali, and the youngest Prince Ahmad; moreover he had a niece, named Princess Nur al-Nihár, the daughter of his cadet brother who, dying early, left his only child under her uncle's charge.
    • 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian[2]:
      Several logistics executives told me that if half-full freight vans from multiple firms kept congesting the streets, the best solution might be for every retailer to use a single firm instead. One delivery service to rule them all – just like the postal service of yore.

Usage notes

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A fossil; virtually unused outside the phrase of yore, especially the idiom days of yore.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Adverb

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yore (not comparable)

  1. (obsolete) In time long past; long ago.

Synonyms

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Anagrams

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Middle English

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Adverb

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yore

  1. yore (in a time long ago)
  2. (with past participle) for a long time
    • c. 1300, Anonymous, "Alison" (as printed in Oxford Dictionary of English Verse, 1900):
      Ichabbe y-yerned yore.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

References

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