bygoneadj.n.
/ˈbʌɪɡɒn/, /ˈbʌɪɡɔːn/, U.S. /ˈbaɪˌɡɔn/, /ˈbaɪˌɡɑn/ A. adj. (In earlier quots. following the noun.)
1. † b. = ago adj.
a. That has gone by, past, (of time) elapsed; that has happened or existed in past time; former.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adjective]
formerc1160
apassedc1314
past1340
preterite1340
eldera1400
elderna1400
eldernlya1400
bygone1424
bypast1452
ancient1490
by-runa1522
bywenta1522
spent1528
departed1552
forepassed1557
preter1578
by-come1592
worn-out1594
preterlapsed1599
foregone1609
worna1616
elapseda1644
lapsed1702
surpassed1725
gone-by1758
back1808
old-time1865
by-flown1884
1424 Sc. Acts Jas. I (1597) §30 Gif onie [leagues] hes bene maid in time by-gane.
1452 Earl Douglas in P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) II. 387 Any actions, causes or querrels bygane.
1552 Abp. J. Hamilton Catech. iii. xi. f. 156v To thoil temporal payne for our synnis by gane.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 32 This satisfaction, The by-gone-day proclaym'd, say this to him. View more context for this quotation
1824 T. Carlyle tr. Wilhelm Meister (1874) I. ii. i. 64 The scenes of his by~gone happiness.
1826 J. Wilson Noctes Ambrosianae xxvi, in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. June 751 I have not smoked a cigar for some moons bygone.
1827 T. Jarman Powell's Ess. Learning of Devises (ed. 3) II. 315 A child subsequently born was entitled to a share in the by-gone income.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [adjective] > ago
agoc1330
agonec1405
bygonea1745
a1745 J. Swift Wks. (1841) II. 47 About five or six and forty years bygone there were certain brass tokens current.
2.
a. Of human beings: Gone out of life, deceased, departed. Also transferred of plants.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > dead person or the dead > [adjective]
deadOE
lifelessOE
of lifeOE
storvena1225
dead as a door-nail1362
ydead1387
stark deadc1390
colda1400
bypast1425
perishedc1440
morta1450
obita1450
unquickc1449
gone?a1475
dead and gone1482
extinct1483
departed1503
bygonea1522
amort1546
soulless1553
breathless1562
parted1562
mortified1592
low-laid1598
disanimate1601
carcasseda1603
defunct1603
no morea1616
with God1617
death-stricken1618
death-strucken1622
expired1631
past itc1635
incinerated1657
stock-dead1662
dead as a herring1664
death-struck1688
as dead as a nit1789
(as) dead as mutton1792
low1808
laid in the locker1815
strae-dead1820
disanimated1833
ghosted1834
under the daisies1842
irresuscitable1843
under the sod1847
toes up1851
dead and buried1863
devitalized1866
translated1869
dead and done (for, with)1886
daid1890
bung1893
(as) dead as the (or a) dodo1904
six feet under1942
brown bread1969
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) x. v. 168 The worthy actis of ȝour eldris bygane.
1535 W. Stewart tr. H. Boethius Bk. Cron. Scotl. (1858) II. 669 Herald..The eldest sone of Godowyn bygo.
1831 H. T. De la Beche Geol. Man. iv. 184 The roots..of the by-gone annuals..are matted together.
1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xv. 159 These evidences of a bygone generation of their fathers.
b. Belonging to past times.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [adjective] > old-fashioned or antiquated
moth-frettenOE
antiquate?a1425
antique?1532
rusty1549
moth-eaten1551
musty1575
worm-eatenc1575
overyear1584
out of date1589
old-fashioned1592
out of date1592
worm-eat1597
old-fashion1599
ancient1601
outdated1616
out-of-fashion1623
over-aged1623
superannuateda1634
thorough-old1639
overdateda1641
trunk-hosea1643
antiquitated1645
antiquated1654
out-of-fashioned1671
unmodern1731
of the old school1749
auld-farrant1750
old-fangled1764
fossila1770
fogram1772
passé1775
unmodernized1775
oxidated1791
moss-covered1792
square-toeda1797
old-fashionable1807
pigtail1817
behind the times1826
slow1827
fossilized1828
rococo1836
antiquish1838
old-timey1850
out of season1850
moss-grown1851
old style1858
antiqued1859
pigtaily1859
prehistoric1859
backdated1862
played1864
fossiled1866
bygone1869
mossy-backed1870
old-worldly1878
past-time1889
outmoded1896
dated1900
brontosaurian1909
antiquey1926
horse-and-buggy1926
vintage1928
Neolithic1934
time-warped1938
demoded1941
steam age1941
hairy1946
old school1946
rinky-dink1946
time warp1954
Palaeolithic1957
retardataire1958
throwback1968
wally1969
antwacky1975
1869 C. Dickens Let. 29 Jan. (2002) XII. 284 I hate the sight of the byegone old Assembly Rooms.
B. n. [the participial adjective used elliptically.]
1.
a. plural. Things that are past; esp. past offences.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > past events or offences
yesterdaysc1400
bygones1568
gone-by1828
society > trade and finance > management of money > insolvency > indebtedness > [noun] > a debt > arrears
arrearagesc1315
reragea1325
rest1447
remain1501
decay1546
by-run1573
remainder1597
arrears1648
bygonesa1676
arrearance1731
1568 Mary Queen of Scots Let. 18 Jan. in H. Campbell Love Lett. Mary Queen of Scots (1824) App. 29 For good amitie, as well for bygonnes as to come, betwixt them and all our obedient subjects.
a1676 H. Guthry Mem. (1702) 75 That bygones on both sides should be passed by.
1790 Morrison Poems 135 (Jam.) All byganes are forgot and gone, And Arthur views her as his own. [See also c.]
b. Payments overdue; arrears.
ΚΠ
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1850) I. 51 [They] compellit [the] tennentis..to produce thair last acquittances, and to pay them bygones.
1722 R. Wodrow Hist. Sufferings Church of Scotl. II. 256 (Jam.) He could have no warrant for bygones [of his stipend], unless he would..conform to the established church.
c. esp. in bygones are bygones, let bygones be bygones, etc. (Rarely in collective singular)
ΚΠ
1636 S. Rutherford Lett. (1863) I. lxii. 166 Pray..that byegones betwixt me and my Lord may be byegones.
1648 F. Nethersole Parables upon Times 5 Let bygans be bygans.
1758 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 26 Sept. (1932) (modernized text) V. 2324 Bygones are bygones, as Chartres, when he was dying, said of his sins.
1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. II. v. i. 272 Bygone shall be bygone; the New Era shall begin.
1850 Ld. Tennyson Princess (ed. 3) iv. 74 Nor is it Wiser to weep a true occasion lost, But trim our sails, and let old bygones be.
1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. iii. 118 The truce..was cordially ratified; bygones were counted bygones.
d. singular. A person or thing of the past; spec. a domestic, industrial, etc., artefact of a disused kind.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun] > a thing of the past
have-been1737
had-beenc1748
tale1780
bygone1857
the world > time > relative time > the past > oldness or ancientness > [noun] > object from the past or antique > disused or obsolete
bygone1935
1857 H. Melville Confidence-man xxii. 161 The working or serving man, shall be a buried by-gone, a superseded fossil.
1891 Daily News 6 Mar. 5/3 That, however, is a byegone, and it is needless to go back upon it.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles III. xlv. 89 Bygones would never be complete bygones till she was a bygone herself.
1897 Westm. Gaz. 24 July 4/2 We would let the bygone of the Rae Mine, whatever its case, be a bygone.
1935 Burlington Mag. Feb. p. xiii/2 These diverse dispersals should give a real spurt to the collecting of so-called ‘by-gones’.
1940 Burlington Mag. Dec. 173/2 Italian Maiolica, pottery and porcelain of other lands, curious and entertaining ‘bygones’ of many kinds.
1960 H. Hayward Connoisseur's Handbk. Antique Collecting 52/1 Bygones, any objects no longer in use, such as obsolete agricultural implements, old-fashioned spits [etc.].
2. Past time; the past: rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > [noun]
preteritea1425
past1589
then-time1606
preter1618
heretofore1824
foretime1853
bygone1872
temps perdu1932
1872 W. F. Butler Great Lone Land (1875) iii. 24 Bunker has long passed into the bygone.
1887 G. A. Sala in Illustr. London News 19 Mar. 306 Dealings with booksellers in the bygone.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1888; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1424