whilom


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Related to whilom: contemporaneously, Otsego Lake

whi·lom

 (wī′ləm, hwī′-)
adj.
Having once been; former: the whilom editor in chief.
adv. Archaic
At a past time; formerly.

[Middle English, at times, from Old English hwīlum, dative pl. of hwīl, time, while; see kweiə- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

whilom

(ˈwaɪləm)
adv
formerly; once
adj
(prenominal) one-time; former
[Old English hwīlum, dative plural of hwīl while; related to Old High German hwīlōm, German weiland of old]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

whi•lom

(ˈʰwaɪ ləm, ˈwaɪ-)

adj.
1. former; erstwhile: whilom friends.
adv.
2. at one time.
[before 900; Middle English; Old English hwīlum at times]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

whilom

adjective
Having been such previously:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Among the Indian beauties in the camp of the Eutaws and Shoshonies, the free trappers discovered two, who had whilom figured as their squaws.
Ye Muses, then, whoever ye are, who love to sing battles, and principally thou who whilom didst recount the slaughter in those fields where Hudibras and Trulla fought, if thou wert not starved with thy friend Butler, assist me on this great occasion.
I was looking out at my back window on the day we have come to when whom did I see but the whilom nursery governess sitting on a chair in one of these gardens.
Then was it come what Merlin said whilom That unmeasured sorrow should be at Arthur's forth faring.
And thou, my child, whilom thou wentest forth, Eluding the Cadmeians' vigilance, To bring thy father all the oracles Concerning Oedipus, and didst make thyself My faithful lieger, when they banished me.
He found favor in the eyes of the mothers by petting the children, particularly the youngest; and like the lion bold, which whilom so magnanimously the lamb did hold, he would sit with a child on one knee, and rock a cradle with his foot for whole hours together.
ISLAMABAD -- Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry accused the whilom government of poor planning.
involvement in the First World War who was dubbed "the Gopher Bolshevik" by The New York Times, through the antiwar dentist-Senator Henrik Shipstead to Bob "Masters of War" Dylan to Senator Eugene McCarthy, whilom Humphrey protege and Catholic distributist who stood up against the war machine and paid for it with his career.
Soth, dwell y so lijk as a masid man [mad man] That hath a bidying and wot not where, For though y whilom fer from Sorow ran Ye wol he lo for ought bat evyr y kan, Be with me, to and to, wil y or no, And as my frend thus cherisshe y my fo!
Stately and proud, in riches and in train, Whilom I was, powerful and full of pomp; But what is he whom rule and empery Have not in life or death made miserable?
So [??]at [??]e laurer of oure englishe tonge Be to hym [??]oue for his excellence, Ri[??]t as whilom by ful hi[??]e sentence, Perpetuelly for a memorial, Of Columpna by [??]e cardynal To Petrak Fraunceis was [??]ouen in Ytaille (III.