Hypertext Webster Gateway: "former"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Former \For"mer\, a. [A compar. due to OE. formest. See
{Foremost}.]
1. Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior;
earlier; hence, ancient; long past.
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age. --Job.
viii. 8.
The latter and former rain. --Hosea vi. 3.
3. Near the beginning; preceeding; as, the former part of a
discourse or argument.
3. Earlier, as between two things mentioned together; first
mentioned.
A bad author deserves better usage than a bad
critic; a man may be the former merely through the
misfortune of an ill judgment; but he can not be
latter without both that and an ill temper. --Pope.
Syn: Prior; previous; anterior; antecedent; preceding;
foregoing.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Former \Form"er\, n.
1. One who forms; a maker; a creator.
2. (Mech.)
(a) A shape around which an article is to be shaped,
molded, woven wrapped, pasted, or otherwise
constructed.
(b) A templet, pattern, or gauge by which an article is
shaped.
(c) A cutting die.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
former
adj 1: referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned
(or the earlier one or ones of several); "the novel
was made into a film in 1943 and again in 1967; I
prefer the former version to the latter one" [syn: {former(a)}]
[ant: {latter(a)}]
2: belonging to some prior time; "erstwhile friend"; "our
former glory"; "the once capital of the state"; "her
quondam lover" [syn: {erstwhile(a)}, {former(a)}, {once(a)},
{onetime(a)}, {quondam(a)}, {sometime(a)}]
3: (used especially of persons) of to the immediate past; "the
former president"; "our late President is still very
active"; "the previous occupant of the White House" [syn:
{former(a)}, {late(a)}, {previous(a)}]
4: of the distant past; "the early inhabitants of Europe";
"former generations"; "in other times" [syn: {early(a)}, {former(a)},
{other(a)}]
n : the first of two or the first mentioned of two; "Tom and
Dick were both heroes but only the former is remembered
today" [ant: {latter}]
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