dictionary definitions for "past"


From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:

  past
      adj 1: earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time
             past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the
             past year" [ant: {present(a)}, future]
      2: of a person who has held and relinquished a position or
         office; "a retiring member of the board" [syn: {past(a)},
         {preceding(a)}, {retiring(a)}]
      3: a verb tense or other construction referring to events or
         states that existed at some previous time; "past
         participle"
      n 1: the time that has elapsed; "forget the past" [syn: {past
           times}, yesteryear, yore] [ant: future]
      2: a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they
         have reason to keep secret); "reporters dug into the
         candidate's past"
      3: a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past
         [syn: past tense]
      adv : so as to pass a given point; "every hour a train goes past"
            [syn: by]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Past \Past\, a. [From Pass, v.]
     Of or pertaining to a former time or state; neither present
     nor future; gone by; elapsed; ended; spent; as, past
     troubles; past offences. "Past ages." --Milton.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Past master. See under Master.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Past \Past\, n.
     A former time or state; a state of things gone by. "The past,
     at least, is secure." --D. Webster.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The present is only intelligible in the light of the
           past, often a very remote past indeed.   --Trench.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Past \Past\, prep.
     1. Beyond, in position, or degree; further than; beyond the
        reach or influence of. "Who being past feeling." --Eph.
        iv. 19. "Galled past endurance." --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Until we be past thy borders.         --Num. xxi.
                                                    22.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Love, when once past government, is consequently
              past shame.                           --L'Estrange.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Beyond, in time; after; as, past the hour.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Is it not past two o'clock?           --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Above; exceeding; more than. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Not past three quarters of a mile.    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Bows not past three quarters of a yard long.
                                                    --Spenser.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Past \Past\ (p[.a]st), adv.
     By; beyond; as, he ran past.
     [1913 Webster]
  
           The alarum of drums swept past.          --Longfellow.
     [1913 Webster]


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