"erewhile" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ere",
        "3": "while"
      },
      "expansion": "ere + while",
      "name": "affix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ere + while.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "erewhile (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):",
          "text": "I am as fair now as I was erewhile.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1600s, Andrew Marvell A Garden",
          "text": "She runs you through, nor asks the word.\nO thou, that dear and happy Isle,\nThe garden of the world erewhile,\nThou Paradise of the four seas\nWhich Heaven planted us to please,"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1800s, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Flâneur",
          "text": "The dame sans merci's broken strain,\nWhom I erewhile, perchance, have known,\nWhen Orleans filled the Bourbon throne,\nA siren singing by the Seine."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "Quoth he to me, \"Thou shalt fare with me to Cairo where dwelleth a friend of mine and to him will I give thee, for erewhile I promised him that on this voyage I would secure for him a fair woman for handmaid.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Some time ago; beforehand; formerly."
      ],
      "id": "en-erewhile-en-adv-iMo9sA29",
      "links": [
        [
          "poetic",
          "poetic"
        ],
        [
          "beforehand",
          "beforehand"
        ],
        [
          "formerly",
          "formerly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic or poetic) Some time ago; beforehand; formerly."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "whilere"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "erstwhile"
        },
        {
          "word": "erstwhiles"
        },
        {
          "word": "erewhiles"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "not-comparable",
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "erewhile"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ere",
        "3": "while"
      },
      "expansion": "ere + while",
      "name": "affix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From ere + while.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "erewhile (not comparable)",
      "name": "en-adv"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adv",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "whilere"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English adverbs",
        "English compound terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English poetic terms",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncomparable adverbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):",
          "text": "I am as fair now as I was erewhile.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1600s, Andrew Marvell A Garden",
          "text": "She runs you through, nor asks the word.\nO thou, that dear and happy Isle,\nThe garden of the world erewhile,\nThou Paradise of the four seas\nWhich Heaven planted us to please,"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1800s, Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Flâneur",
          "text": "The dame sans merci's broken strain,\nWhom I erewhile, perchance, have known,\nWhen Orleans filled the Bourbon throne,\nA siren singing by the Seine."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:",
          "text": "Quoth he to me, \"Thou shalt fare with me to Cairo where dwelleth a friend of mine and to him will I give thee, for erewhile I promised him that on this voyage I would secure for him a fair woman for handmaid.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Some time ago; beforehand; formerly."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "poetic",
          "poetic"
        ],
        [
          "beforehand",
          "beforehand"
        ],
        [
          "formerly",
          "formerly"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(archaic or poetic) Some time ago; beforehand; formerly."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "not-comparable",
        "poetic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "erstwhile"
    },
    {
      "word": "erstwhiles"
    },
    {
      "word": "erewhiles"
    }
  ],
  "word": "erewhile"
}