wasn.
/wɒz/, U.S. /wəz/ What was; something past.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > that which happened in the past
was1340
past1589
has-been1834
1340 Ayenbite (1866) 104 Þanne is he propreliche yclieped: þet art. Vor he is zoþliche..wyþ-oute ende, wyþ-out heaued, wyþ-oute wes, wyþ-out ssel-by.
1390 J. Gower Confessio Amantis III. 357 The thing is torned into was; That which was whilom grene gras Is welked hey at time now.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. E2 Where the Historian in his bare Was, hath many times that which wee call fortune, to ouer-rule the best wisedome.
1876 R. Broughton Joan II. i. xxx. 258 But if the ‘was’ is hard to face, how much harder the ‘might have been’.
1884 W. S. Gilbert Princess Ida ii I once was Some one—and the Was Will Be.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1921; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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