whilom

Etymology

From Old English hwīlum, dative plural of hwīl (“while”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪləm/, /ˈʍaɪləm/

Adverb

whilom (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) While.
2. (dated) Once upon a time, formerly.
   • 1590, Edmund Spencer, "The Faerie Queene," Book I:1:

     Lo I the man, whose Muse whilome did maske,

     As time her taught, in lowly Shepheards weeds,

     Am now enforst a far unfitter taske ...

   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes, […], printed at London: […] Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:
     , I.43:

     With such an invention did Zeleucus whilome correct the corrupted manners of the Locrines.

   • 1663, Hudibras, by Samuel Butler, part 1, canto 1

     In northern clime a val'rous knight \ Did whilom kill his bear in fight, \ And wound a fiddler: we have both \ Of these the objects of our wroth […].

Adjective

whilom (not comparable)

1. (now literary) Former, sometime.
   • 1879, John Pentland Mahaffy, Euripides, Chapter IV

     […] which moved all to pity by its picture of a whilom princess reduced to miserable poverty.

Conjunction

whilom

1. While.