Meanings
- datedIt was once true (that)...; there was a time when...
I call him poor; but time was, that in our intercourse I was the obliged party.
1879, John Berwick Harwood, Young Lord Penrith, chapter 34; as serialized in, 1879 June 21, Chambers's Journal, fourth series, number 808; which was reprinted in, Chambers's Journal 1879, page 387 http://books.google.com/books?id=mtwXAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA387&dq=%22but+time+was+that%222 more examples
Time was, the feet of the messengers of peace were glorious, but now their message is mean; […] time was, thou wert exceeding tender of the least sin, and not a day past, but thy cheeks were wet in secret before the Lord; now thou art grown blind […] .
a. 1659, Jonathan Mitchell, editor, The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied [sermons of Thomas Shepard], 1797 edition, volume 2, page 259 http://books.google.com/books?id=uvI2AAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA259&dq=gloriousLiberal arts and community colleges as well as other teaching-centered institutions have always promoted high standards of teaching excellence. But time was that no one really cared much what instructors in more research-oriented universities did in the classroom, as long as it was legal.
2010, Linda B. Nilson, Teaching at Its Best, 3rd edition, Jossey-Bass, →ISBN, page xvii
Synonyms & antonyms
Cite this entry
time was. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20was
“time was.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20was. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “time was,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/time%20was.
Source: time was on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.