whilom
Part of speech: adv
adj
conj
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: From Middle English whilom (“(adverb) at one time, formerly, once; once upon a time; at times, sometimes; at a future time; (conjunction) while”) [and other forms], from Old English hwīlum, hwīlan, hwīlon (“at one time, once; sometimes”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlum, the dative plural of *hwīlu (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”).
The Oxford English Dictionary regards adverb sense 2.2 (“for some time that has passed”) as “aberrant”.
Cognates
* Old High German hwīlōn (Middle High German wīlen, wīlent, German weiland (“at one time, formerly”))
* Old Saxon hwīlon (“sometimes”) (Middle Dutch wilen, Middle Low German wilen (“at one time, formerly”), Dutch wijlen (“deceased, late”))
Inflected forms:
form: whilome
pos: adv
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: whilome
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: whilome
pos: conj
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: At some time in the past; formerly, once upon a time.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
examples: Lo I the man, vvhoſe Muſe vvhilome did maske, / As time her taught, in lowly Sheapards vveeds, / Am novv enforſt a far unfitter taske, […]
VVith ſuch an invention [a sumptuary law] did Zelevcus vvhilome correct the corrupted maners of the Locrines.
In Northern Clime a valorous Knight / Did whilom kill his Bear in fight, / And wound a Fidler: we have both / Of these the objects of our Wroth / And equal Fame and Glory from / Th' Attempt or Victory to come.
My vvarbling Lute, the Lute I vvhilom ſtrung / VVhen to King John of Portugal I ſung, / VVas but the Prelude to that glorious Day, / VVhen thou on Silver Thames did'ſt cut thy vvay, / VVith vvell-tim'd Oars before the Royal Barge, / Svvell'd vvith the Pride of thy Celeſtial charge; […]
The Squire himſelf novv ſallied forth, and begun to roar forth the Name of Sophia loudly, and in as hoarſe a Voice, as vvhileom did Hercules that of Hylas: […]
They who whilome, in midnight fight, / Had marvelled at her matchless might, / No less her maiden charms approved, / But looking liked, and liking loved.
Holding it [the skull of a hare] in the hand the shadow falls into and darkens the cavities once filled by the wistful eyes which whilom glanced down from the summit here upon the sweet clover fields beneath.
gloss: At times, on occasion, sometimes.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
examples: Wald ze be lov'd, this lessone mon ze leir; / Flie vhylome Love, and it will folou thee.
gloss: Preceded by of or this: for some time that has passed.
pos: adv
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
rare
examples: This money I do give ye, becauſe of vvhilom / You have bin thought my ſonne, and by myſelfe too, […]
gloss: At some time in the past; former, sometime.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: On the same day, two notable Female Prisoners are also put in ward there: Dame Dubarry and Josephine Beauharnais! Dame whilom Countess Dubarry, Unfortunate-female, had returned from London; they snatched her, not only as Ex-harlot of a whilom Majesty, and therefore suspect; but as having 'furnished the Emigrants with money.'
The play must have appeared during the closing years of the Peloponnesian war, and must have been fresh in men's memory, when, as Plutarch tells us (Life of Lysander, c. 15), the deliberations about the fate of conquered Athens were determined by a Phocian actor singing the opening monody, which moved all to pity by its picture of a whilom princess reduced to miserable poverty.
[S]he was expecting to be joined there by no such pale fellow-adventurer as her whilom uncle.
gloss: Of a person: deceased, late.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
obsolete
gloss: During the same time that; while.
pos: conj
examples: Subjects their King, the King his Subjects greets, / VVhilome the Scepter and the Plough-ſtaffe meets.
gloss: Up to the time that; till, until.
pos: conj
Translations: