to-ben.1adj.
/təˈbiː/ A. n.1
That which is to be; the future. Cf. to-come n.2
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [noun]
to-comec1350
the futurec1400
hereafter1546
tocoming1556
aftertime1557
after age1560
after hours1599
futuritya1616
afterwards1669
to-be1819
coming1833
by and by1868
hence1904
1819 Ld. Byron Ode on Venice ii The everlasting to be which hath been.
1838 E. Bulwer-Lytton Alice II. vi. ii. 207 The To Be is as the shadow of a far land in a mighty and perturbed sea.
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess vii. 156 These twain..Sit side by side,..Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be.
1900 ‘M. Corelli’ Master-Christian xvi I work and write for the To-Be, not the Has-Been.
B. adj. (often following the nounn.).
That is yet to be or to come; future. Esp. following nouns of kinship, as grandfather-to-be, wife-to-be; see also s.v. mother-to-be n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the future or time to come > [adjective] > future or that is to come
towardc888
tocomingOE
futurec1374
unborn1598
to-be1609
unbred1609
hereaftera1616
succeeding1676
uprising1727
unarrived1745
will-be1802
unelapsed1805
unforegone1844
upcoming1879
1609 W. Shakespeare Sonnets lxxxi. sig. Fv Toungs to be, your beeing shall rehearse. View more context for this quotation
a1804 Ld. Nelson in Dispatches & Lett. (1845) II. 457 Marry..speedily, or the to be Mrs. Berry will have very little of your company.
1860 J. R. Edkins Chinese Scenes (1863) 102 The four to-be priests I knew before.
1930 A. Bennett Imperial Palace lxix. 581 The excited grandfather-to-be.
1969 L. Hellman Unfinished Woman xii. 174 The so-called good life for us is the to-be-good life for them.
1973 H. Nielsen Severed Key iii. 33 My wife-to-be is going to be fabulously successful.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
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n.1adj.1609