N. priority, antecedence, anteriority, precedence, pre-existence, precession, precursor, the past, premises

V. precede, come before, forerun, go before, preexist, dawn, presage, herald, usher in, be beforehand, steal a march upon, anticipate, forestall, have the start, gain the start

Adj. prior, previous, preceding, precedent, anterior, antecedent, pre- existing, pre-existent, former, foregoing, aforementioned, before- mentioned, abovementioned, aforesaid, said, introductory

Adv. before, prior to, earlier, previously, afore, aforehand, beforehand, ere, theretofore, erewhile, ere then, ere now, before then, before now, erewhile, already, yet, beforehand, on the eve of

Phr. prior tempore prior jure

N. the past, past time, days of yore, times of yore, days of old, times of old, days past, times past, days gone by, times gone by, bygone days, old times, ancient times, former times, fore time, the good old days, the olden time, good old time, auld lang syne, eld|, antiquity, antiqueness, status quo, time immemorial, distance of time, remote age, remote time, remote past, rust of antiquity paleontology, paleography, paleology, paleozoology, palætiology|, archaeology, paleogeography, paleoecology, paleobotany, paleoclimatoogy, archaism, antiquarianism, medievalism, pre-raphaelitism, paleography, retrospect, retrospection, looking back, memory, laudator temporis acti, medievalist, pre-raphaelite, antiquary, antiquarian, archmologist &c, oldbuck, dryasdust, ancestry

V. be past, have expired, have run its course, have had its day, pass, pass by, go by, pass away, go away, pass off, go off, lapse, blow over, look back, trace back, cast the eyes back, exhume

Adj. past, gone, gone by, over, passed away, bygone, foregone, elapsed, lapsed, preterlapsed, expired, no more, run out, blown over, has-been, that has been, extinct, antediluvian, antebellum, never to return, gone with the wind, exploded, forgotten, irrecoverable, obsolete, former, pristine, quondam, ci-devant, late, ancestral, foregoing, last, latter, recent, over night, preterperfect, preterpluperfect, looking back, retrospective, retroactive, archaeological

Adv. paleo-, archaeo-, formerly, of old, of yore, erst, whilom, erewhile, time was, ago, over, in the olden time, anciently, long ago, long since, a long while, a long time ago, years ago, yesteryear, ages ago, some time ago, some time since, some time back, yesterday, the day before yesterday, last year, ultimo, lately, retrospectively, ere now, before now, till now, hitherto, heretofore, no longer, once, once upon a time, from time immemorial, from prehistoric times, in the memory of man, time out of mind, already, yet, up to this time, ex post facto

Phr. time was, the time has been, the time hath been, you can't go home again, fuimus troes, fruit ilium, hoc erat in more majorum, "o call back yesterday, bid time return", tempi passati, "the eternal landscape of the past", ultimus romanorum, "what's past is prologue", "whose yesterdays look backward with a smile", 2. time with reference to a particular period