English

Alternative forms

• erewhiles

Adverb

erewhile ‎(not comparable)

1. (archaic or poetic) Some time ago; beforehand
   • 1595, Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

     I am as fair now as I was erewhile.

   • 1800s, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Flâneur,

     The dame sans merci's broken strain,

     Whom I erewhile, perchance, have known,

     When Orleans filled the Bourbon throne,

     A siren singing by the Seine.

   • 1600s, Andrew Marvell, A Garden,

     She runs you through, nor asks the word.

     O thou, that dear and happy Isle,

     The garden of the world erewhile,

     Thou Paradise of the four seas

     Which Heaven planted us to please,

Synonyms

• erstwhile
• erstwhiles