ante-mortemadj.adv.

1818 J. Johnson Pract. Treat. Derangem. Liver (ed. 2) i. ix. 168 A course of demonstrations in our Anatomical schools, pointing out the morbid appearances resulting from ante-mortem diseases, and distinguishing them from those which arise from post mortem changes, seems a desideratum.

1883 Standard 16 May 5/2 The ante-mortem treatment of the brutes.

1910 C. R. Box Post-mortem Man. v. 234 The presence of ante-mortem clots in the internal carotid..should not be overlooked.

1946 Liberty 15 June 15/2 Examinations of live animals before slaughter are called ‘ante-mortem’ inspections.

1988 J. McLeod Oxf. Bk. Canad. Polit. Anecd. 15 Four men gathered in the vault to honour, belatedly, the antemortem instructions of the dead reform leader.

2004 V. McDermid Torment of Others (2005) 128 The damage to the surrounding tissues is so severe it will be impossible to tell whether there was any antemortem bruising.

1842 T. Williams in J. Elliotson Princ. & Pract. Med. (ed. 2) i. i. 76 All variations of appearances presented post-mortem, by parts which were, ante-mortem, equivocally inflamed, are referrible to two circumstances.

1915 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Dec. 917/1 The gap between the torn ends..is filled in by polymorphs and red corpuscles, indicating..that rupture occurred ante mortem.

1986 J. F. Gracey Meat Hygiene (ed. 8) vi. 121/2 Special attention must be paid to casualty and emergency slaughter, none of which should escape ante-mortem.

2000 J. J. Warsh et al. in H. K. Manji et al. Bipolar Medications 310 Possible effects of other psychotropic (and nonpsychotropic) medications taken ante-mortem cannot be completely ruled out.