past

no longer current: the account is past due; formerly: a past president

Not to be confused with:

passed – gone beyond; happened: and so it passed; moved on; died: The old man has passed on.

past

(păst)

adj.

1. No longer current; gone by; over: His youth is past.

2. Having existed or occurred in an earlier time; bygone: past events; in years past.

a. Earlier than the present time; ago: 40 years past.

b. Just gone by or elapsed: in the past few days.

4. Having served formerly in a given capacity, especially an official one: a past president; a past inmate of a cell.

5. Grammar Of, relating to, or being a verb tense or form used to express an action or condition prior to the time it is expressed.

1. The time before the present.

a. Previous background, career, experiences, and activities: an elderly person with a distinguished past.

b. A former period of someone's life kept secret or thought to be shameful: a family with a checkered past.

3. Grammar

a. The past tense.

b. A verb form in the past tense.

adv.

So as to pass by or go beyond: He waved as he walked past.

prep.

1. Beyond in time; later than or after: past midnight; a quarter past two.

2. Beyond in position; farther than: The house is a mile past the first stoplight. They walked past the memorial in silence.

a. Beyond the power, scope, extent, or influence of: The problem is past the point of resolution.

b. Beyond in development or appropriateness: The child is past drinking from a bottle. You're past sucking your thumb, so don't do it.

4. Beyond the number or amount of: The child couldn't count past 20. See Usage Note at pass.

[Middle English, from past participle of passen, to pass; see pass.]

past′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

past

(pɑːst)

adj

1. completed, finished, and no longer in existence: past happiness.

2. denoting or belonging to all or a segment of the time that has elapsed at the present moment: the past history of the world.

3. denoting a specific unit of time that immediately precedes the present one: the past month.

4. (prenominal) denoting a person who has held and relinquished an office or position; former: a past president.

5. (Grammar) grammar denoting any of various tenses of verbs that are used in describing actions, events, or states that have been begun or completed at the time of utterance. Compare aorist, imperfect⁴, perfect⁸

6. the past the period of time or a segment of it that has elapsed: forget the past.

7. the history, experience, or background of a nation, person, etc: a soldier with a distinguished past.

8. an earlier period of someone's life, esp one that contains events kept secret or regarded as disreputable

9. (Grammar) grammar

a. a past tense

b. a verb in a past tense

adv

10. at a specified or unspecified time before the present; ago: three years past.

11. on or onwards: I greeted him but he just walked past.

prep

12. beyond in time: it's past midnight.

13. beyond in place or position: the library is past the church.

14. moving beyond; in a direction that passes: he walked past me.

15. beyond or above the reach, limit, or scope of: his foolishness is past comprehension.

16. beyond or above in number or amount: to count past ten.

17. past it informal unable to perform the tasks one could do when one was younger

18. not put it past someone to consider someone capable of (the action specified)

[C14: from passed, past participle of pass]

Usage: The past participle of pass is sometimes wrongly spelt past: the time for recriminations has passed (not past)

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

past

(pæst, pɑst)

adj.

1. gone by or elapsed in time: The bad times are past now.

2. of, having existed in, or having occurred during a previous time; bygone: past glories.

3. gone by just before the present time; just passed: the past year.

4. ago: six days past.

5. having formerly been or served as; previous; earlier: past presidents.

6. of, pertaining to, or being a verb tense or form referring to events or states in times gone by.

7. the time gone by: far back in the past.

8. the history of a person, nation, etc.: a glorious past.

9. what has existed or happened at some earlier time: to learn from the past.

10. an earlier period of a person's life, career, etc., that is characterized by imprudent or immoral conduct.

11.

a. the past tense.

b. a form in the past tense, as looked or ate.

adv.

12. so as to pass by or beyond; by: The troops marched past.

prep.

13. beyond in time; later than; after: past noon.

14. beyond in space or position; farther on than: the house just past the church.

15. in a direction so as to pass by or go beyond: We went past the house by mistake.

16. beyond in amount, number, etc.; over: past the maximum age.

17. beyond the reach, scope, influence, or power of: past hope.

[1250–1300; Middle English; variant sp. of passed, past participle of pass]

Past

See also antiquity; future; history; memory; origins.

aboriginality

the condition of being first in a place and of having a relatively simple nature. — aboriginal, n., adj.

antediluvianism

adherence to or fondness for ancient things or customs. — antediluvian, n., adj.

antiquarianism

interest in the culture of antiquity, especially that of classical Greece and Rome. — antiquary, antiquarian, n. — antiquarian, adj.

archaeolatry

devotion to archaism. — archaeolater, n. — archaeolatrous, adj.

archaism

an inclination toward old-fashioned things, speech, etc. Also archaicism. — archaist, n. — archaic, adj.

chronographer

a person who records time or the events that have occurred in time.

chronography

Obsolete, the recording or study of past events.

medievalism

strong fondness or admiration for the culture, mores, etc, of the Middle Ages. — medievalist, n. — medievalistic, adj.

paleology, palaeology

the study of antiquities. — paleologist, palaeologist, n. — paleologic, palaeologic, paleological, palaeological, adj.

paleopathology, palaeopathology

Medicine. the study of diseases from former times as found in fossils and mummified remains.

paletiology, palaetiology

an explanation of events of the past through the laws of causation. — paletiologist, palaetiologist, n. — paletiological, palaetiological, adj.

papyrology

the study of papyrus manuscripts. — papyrologist, n. — papyrological, adj.

philarchaist

Obsolete, one devoted to the archaic. — philarchaic, adj.

past

Past can be a noun or adjective referring to a period of time before the present.

He never discussed his past.

I've spent most of the past eight years looking after children.

1. telling the time

In British English, when you are telling the time, you use past to say how many minutes it is after a particular hour.

It's ten past five.

I slept until quarter past ten.

American speakers also say after.

It's ten after five.

I arrived around a quarter after twelve.

2. going near something

Past is also used as a preposition or adverb to say that someone goes near something when they are moving in a particular direction.

He walked past the school.

People ran past laughing.

3. 'passed'

Don't use 'past' as the past tense or -ed participle of the verb pass. Use passed.

As she passed the library door, the telephone began to ring.

A new law was passed by Parliament.

Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	past - the time that has elapsed; "forget the past" past times, yesteryear time - the continuum of experience in which events pass from the future through the present to the past yore - time long past bygone, water under the bridge - past events to be put aside; "let bygones be bygones" old - past times (especially in the phrase `in days of old') history - the aggregate of past events; "a critical time in the school's history" time immemorial, time out of mind - the distant past beyond memory auld langsyne, good old days, langsyne, old times - past times remembered with nostalgia yesterday - the recent past; "yesterday's solutions are not good enough"; "we shared many yesterdays" future, futurity, time to come, hereafter - the time yet to come
	2.	past - a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret); "reporters dug into the candidate's past" period, period of time, time period - an amount of time; "a time period of 30 years"; "hastened the period of time of his recovery"; "Picasso's blue period" life - the period between birth and the present time; "I have known him all his life"
	3.	past - a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past past tense tense - a grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time preterit, preterite - a term formerly used to refer to the simple past tense
Adj.	1.	past - earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the past year" noncurrent - not current or belonging to the present time outgoing - leaving a place or a position; "an outgoing steamship" old - of long duration; not new; "old tradition"; "old house"; "old wine"; "old country"; "old friendships"; "old money" future - yet to be or coming; "some future historian will evaluate him" present - temporal sense; intermediate between past and future; now existing or happening or in consideration; "the present leader"; "articles for present use"; "the present topic"; "the present system"; "present observations"
	2.	past - of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office; "a retiring member of the board" preceding, retiring outgoing - leaving a place or a position; "an outgoing steamship"
Adv.	1.	past - so as to pass a given point; "every hour a train goes past" by

past

noun

1. former times, history, long ago, antiquity, the good old days, yesteryear (literary), times past, the old times, days gone by, the olden days, days of yore In the past, things were very different.
former times now, today, future, present, tomorrow, time to come

2. background, life, experience, history, past life, life story, career to date shocking revelations about his past

adjective

1. former, late, early, recent, previous, ancient, prior, long-ago, preceding, foregoing, erstwhile, bygone, olden a return to the turbulence of past centuries
former coming, future, present, arrived

2. previous, former, one-time, sometime, erstwhile, quondam, ex- I was still longing for my past lover

3. last, recent, previous, preceding the events of the past few days

4. over, done, ended, spent, finished, completed, gone, forgotten, accomplished, extinct, elapsed, over and done with The great age of exploration is past.

preposition

1. after, beyond, later than, over, outside, farther than, in excess of, subsequent to It's well past your bedtime.

2. by, across, in front of She dashed past me and ran out of the room.

adverb

1. on, by, along The ambulance drove past.

be past it be past its or your sell-by date, be on the way out, have seen better days We could do with a new car - the one we have now is a bit past it.

Quotations
"The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there" [L.P. Hartley The Go-Between]
"The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet" [Edward Thomas Early One Morning]
"As all historians know, the past is a great darkness, and filled with echoes" [Margaret Atwood The Handmaid's Tale]
"The past is never dead, it is not even past" [William Faulkner]
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" [George Santayana The Life of Reason]

Usage: The past participle of pass is sometimes wrongly spelt past: the time for recrimination has passed (not past).

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

past

adjective

1. Just gone by or elapsed:

antecedent, anterior, earlier, foregoing, former, precedent, preceding, previous, prior.

2. Having been such previously:

erstwhile, former, late, old, once, onetime, previous, quondam, sometime, whilom.

noun

1. Past events surrounding a person or thing:

background, history.

2. A former period of time or of one's life:

yesterday, yesteryear, yore.

Idioms: bygone days, days gone by, the good old days, the old days.

Translations

أمامي ، عَبْرَالفِعْل في الزَّمَن الماضيالفِعل في الزَّمن الماضيالـمَاضِيالماضي، الأخير

minulostminulýzaminulý časpo

forbifortidovertidligereforgangen

Vergangenheit nach vergangen vorbei hinter

παρελθόν πέρα περασμένος αόριστος μετά από

pasado pasar por delante de pretérito último

menneisyysmennytohitakanaviime

passé après de l'autre côté de dernier derrière

nakonpokrajprošaoprošlost

múltmúlt idő

fortíîframhjáhjáliîinnòátíî

passato trascorso ancor prima di fronte a dopo

･･･のそばの･･･を過ぎて過ぎ去った過去

...을 지나서~을 지나서과거과거의

būtasisbūtasis laikaspraeitispraėjęspro

aizritējisbeidziesgarāmgarām, garpāri

verleden voorbij vroeger verleden tijd over

fortid forbi forhenværende

po przeszłość przeszły za

passado pretérito a seguir depois para além de

прошлый прошедший прошлое мимо позади

minulý čas

čezpreteklipreteklikpreteklostzadnji

prošlost

förbiförflutenförflutetförflutna

อดีตที่ผ่านไปแล้วผ่าน

geçmiş geçiyor geçmek geçengeçmiş zaman

quá khứđã quangang quaqua

过去的越过过过去过去式

past

[pɑːst]

A. ADV

1. (in place) she walked slowly past → pasó despacio
the days flew past → los días pasaron volando
to march past → desfilar
to run/rush past → pasar corriendo/precipitadamente

2. (in time) it's ten past → son y diez
I've been waiting since half past → llevo esperando desde y media

B. PREP

1. (in place)

1.1. (= passing by) → por delante de
we went past your house → pasamos por delante de tu casa
we drove past a flock of sheep → pasamos al lado de un rebaño de ovejas con el coche

1.2. (= beyond) → más allá de
just past the town hall → un poco más allá del Ayuntamiento
it's the first house past the park → es la primera casa después del parque
first you have to get past a fierce dog → antes de entrar vas a tener que vértelas con un perro fiero
we couldn't get past the crowds of people → no pudimos abrirnos paso entre la muchedumbre
she just pushed past me → pasó pegándome un empujón
to run past sb → pasar a algn corriendo

2. (in time) quarter/half past four → las cuatro y cuarto/media
at twenty past four → a las cuatro y veinte
it's past twelve → son las doce pasadas
it's long past the time he normally gets back → él normalmente hubiese llegado hace tiempo
it's past your bedtime → ya tenías que estar durmiendo

3. (= beyond the limits of) he's past 40 → tiene más de 40 años
it's past mending → ya no tiene remedio
it's past belief → es increíble
I'm past caring → ya me trae sin cuidado
it's past endurance → es intolerable
to be past it [person] → estar para el arrastre
those jeans are a bit past it → esos vaqueros ya están como para jubilarlos
I wouldn't put it past him → no me extrañaría en él, lo creo capaz hasta de eso

C. ADJ

1. (= previous) [occasion] → anterior
past experience tells me not to trust him → sé por experiencia que no debo fiarme de él
I'm not interested in his past life → no me interesa su pasado
we must have met in a past life → seguro que nos hemos conocido en una vida anterior
in past years → en años anteriores

2. (= former) → antiguo
past president of → antiguo presidente de ..., ex presidente de ...
her past and present pupils → sus alumnos de ayer y de hoy

3. (= most recent, last) → último
the past few weeks have been hell → las últimas semanas han sido un verdadero infierno
she has got worse in the past few days → su condición ha empeorado en los últimos días
what has happened over the past week/year? → ¿qué ha pasado en la última semana/el último año?

4. (= over) all that is past now → todo eso ya ha pasado, todo eso ya ha quedado atrás
what's past is past → lo pasado, pasado (está)
those days are past now → aquellos tiempos pasaron ya
for some time past → de un tiempo a esta parte
in times past → antiguamente, antaño (liter)

5. to be a past master at (doing) sth → ser un maestro consumado en (hacer) algo

D. N

1. (= past times) the past → el pasado
you mustn't dwell on the past → no debes pensar demasiado en el pasado
you can't change the past → no puedes cambiar el pasado
in the past it was considered bad manners to → antes or antiguamente se consideraba de mala educación hacer ...
I've always done it like this in the past → yo siempre lo he hecho así
you're living in the past → estás viviendo en el pasado
it's a thing of the past → pertenece a la historia

2. [of person] → pasado m; [of place] → historia f
a woman with a past → una mujer con pasado
a town with a past → una ciudad con historia

3. (Ling) → pasado m, pretérito m

E. CPD past participle N (Ling) → participio m pasado or pasivo
past perfect N (Ling) → pluscuamperfecto m
past tense N (Ling) → (tiempo m) pasado m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

past

[ˈpɑːst]

prep

(= further on than) → après
It's on the right, just past the station → C'est sur la droite, juste après la gare.
The farm was just past the village → La ferme était juste après le village.
to go past vt (= go in front of) → passer devant
The bus goes past our house → Le bus passe devant notre maison. (= overshoot) → dépasser
I think we must have gone past the turn → Je crois que nous avons dépassé l'embranchement.
to walk past vt [+ place] → passer devant (à pied); [+ person] → passer devant
to dash past sb → passer en courant devant qn
to drive past a house [person] → passer devant une maison (en voiture)

(= later than) → après
two months past its deadline → deux mois après la date limite
It was just past dinner time → C'était juste après l'heure du dîner.
It's past midnight
BUT Il est minuit passé.
It's long past bedtime, Hugo
BUT Tu devrais être au lit depuis longtemps, Hugo.
It was well past closing time
BUT L'heure de la fermeture était passée depuis longtemps.

(telling the time) it's half past ten → il est dix heures et demie
it's quarter past nine → il est neuf heures et quart
it's ten past eight → il est huit heures dix

(= older than) he's past forty → il a dépassé la quarantaine, il a plus de quarante ans

to be past it (British) (= no longer any good) [person] → ne plus être à la hauteur (= thing) → ne plus être de la première jeunesse

(= beyond)
I'm past caring → Ça ne me fait plus ni chaud ni froid.

adj

[event, experience, life] → passé(e)

[day, week, year] → dernier/ère
I've spent most of the past eight years at sea → J'ai passé la plupart de ces huit dernières années en mer.
the past few days → ces derniers jours
for the past few days → depuis quelques jours
for the past year → depuis un an
I've been homeless for the past year → Je suis sans domicile fixe depuis un an.

[verb] → au passé

[government, leader] (= preceding) → précédent(e) (= in the past) → ancien(ne)
all past governments → tous les gouvernements précédents
all the past US presidents → tous les anciens présidents des EU

(not the present) → passé m
the past → le passé
to live in the past (= ignore the present) → vivre dans le passé
She lives in the past → Elle vit dans le passé.

[person, country] → passé m
revelations about her past → des révélations sur son passé

in the past adv (= in former times) → dans le temps, autrefois
This was common in the past → C'était courant autrefois.

(= tense) → passé m

adv

to hurry past sth [+ place] → passer en hâte devant qch
to dash past sb → passer en courant devant qn

to go past vi → passer
The bus went past without stopping → Le bus est passé sans s'arrêter.

to drive past vi → passer

past

adj

→ frühe(r, s) attr, → vergangene(r, s) attr; for some time past → seit einiger Zeit; in times past → in früheren or vergangenen Zeiten; it’s past history now → das gehört jetzt der Vergangenheit an; all that is now past → das ist jetzt alles vorüber or vorbei; what’s past is past → was vorbei ist, ist vorbei; in the past week → letzte or vorige or vergangene Woche, in der letzten or vergangenen Woche; past president → früherer Präsident

(Gram) past tense → Vergangenheit f, → Vergangenheitsform f

→ Vergangenheit f; to learn the lessons of the past → die Lehren aus der Vergangenheit ziehen; in the past → in der Vergangenheit, früher; events in the recent past have shown that … → die jüngsten Ereignisse haben gezeigt, dass …; to live in the past → in der Vergangenheit leben; to be a thing of the past → der Vergangenheit (dat) → angehören; that’s all in the past now → das ist jetzt alles Vergangenheit; a town/woman with a past → eine Stadt/Frau mit Vergangenheit; he was believed to have a “past” → man nahm an, dass er kein unbeschriebenes Blatt sei

(Gram) → Vergangenheit f, → Präteritum nt; the verb is in the past → das Verb steht in der Vergangenheit

prep

(motion) → an (+dat) → … vorbei or vorüber; (position: = beyond) → hinter (+dat), → nach (+dat); just past the library → kurz nach or hinter der Bücherei; to run past somebody → an jdm vorbeilaufen; he stared straight past me → er starrte geradeaus an mir vorbei

(time) → nach (+dat); ten (minutes) past three → zehn (Minuten) nach drei; half past four → halb fünf; a quarter past nine → Viertel nach neun; it’s past 12 → es ist schon nach 12 or 12 vorbei; the trains run at a quarter past the hour → die Züge gehen jeweils um Viertel nach; it’s (well) past your bedtime → du solltest schon längst im Bett liegen

(= beyond) → über (+acc); past forty → über vierzig; the patient is past saving → der Patient ist nicht mehr zu retten; we’re past caring → es kümmert uns nicht mehr; to be past something → für etw zu alt sein; my car is getting past it (inf) → mein Auto tuts allmählich nicht mehr, mein Auto bringts nicht mehr (inf); he’s past it (inf) → er ist zu alt, er ist ein bisschen alt (dafür), er bringts nicht mehr (sl); she’s getting a bit past it (inf) → sie wird allmählich alt; I wouldn’t put it past him (inf) → ich würde es ihm schon zutrauen

adv → vorbei, vorüber; to walk past → vorüber- or vorbeigehen; to run past → vorbeirennen

past

past participle

n → Partizip Perfekt nt, → zweites Partizip

past perfect

n → Plusquamperfekt nt, → Vorvergangenheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

past

[pɑːst]

1. adv to walk past, go past → passare
to run or dash past → passare di corsa
the days flew past → i giorni sono volati (via)

2. prep

a. (in place, in front of) → davanti a; (beyond) → oltre, di là di, dopo
I go past the school every day → passo davanti alla scuola ogni giorno
it's just past the church → è appena oltre la chiesa

b. (in time) → passato/a
it's past midnight → è mezzanotte passata
quarter/half past four → le quattro e un quarto/e mezzo
at twenty past four → alle quattro e venti

c. (beyond the limits of) → al di là di, oltre
it's past belief → è assolutamente incredibile
I'm past caring → non me ne importa più nulla
she's past forty → ha passato i quaranta
to be past it (fam) (person) → essere finito/a (object) → essere da buttar via
I wouldn't put it past her to do it (fam) → non sarei affatto sorpreso se lo facesse

3. adj (gen) (Gram) → passato/a; (president, pupil) → ex inv
for some time past → da qualche tempo
for the past few days → da qualche giorno, in questi ultimi giorni
for the past 3 days → negli ultimi 3 giorni
in past years → negli anni passati
those days are past now → è passato quel tempo

4. n → passato
in the past → in or nel passato (Gram) → al passato
it's a thing of the past → è una cosa del passato

past

(paːst) adjective

1. just finished. the past year.

2. over, finished or ended, of an earlier time than the present. The time for discussion is past.

3. (of the tense of a verb) indicating action in the past. In `He did it', the verb is in the past tense.

preposition

1. up to and beyond; by. He ran past me.

2. after. It's past six o'clock.

adverb

up to and beyond (a particular place, person etc). The soldiers marched past.

noun

1. a person's earlier life or career, especially if secret or not respectable. He never spoke about his past.

2. the past tense. a verb in the past.

the past

the time which was before the present. In the past, houses were built of wood or stone.

past

→ الـمَاضِي, بَعْدُ, ماضٍ, وَرَاءَ minulost, po, uplynulý, za forbi, fortid, tidligere hinter, nach, vergangen, Vergangenheit μετά από, παρελθόν, πέρα, περασμένος después de, más allá, pasado, pasar menneisyys, mennyt, ohi, takana après, de l'autre côté de, passé nakon, pokraj, prošao, prošlost di fronte a, e, passato ･･･のそばの, ･･･を過ぎて, 過ぎ去った, 過去 ...을 지나서, ~을 지나서, 과거, 과거의 over, verleden, voorbij, vroeger forbi, forhenværende, fortid po, przeszłość, przeszły, za a seguir, depois, para além de, passado позади, после, прошедший, прошлое förbi, förfluten, förflutet ที่ผ่านไปแล้ว, ผ่าน, อดีต geçiyor, geçmek, geçmiş đã qua, ngang qua, qua, quá khứ 在…另一侧, 越过, 过去, 过去的

past

n. pasado; a. pasado-a.