past

From Middle English, past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”), whence Modern English pass.

• (UK) enPR: päst, IPA^(key): /pɑːst/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pæst/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio

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• Homophone: passed
• Rhymes: -æst, -ɑːst
• Rhymes: -æst

past (plural pasts)

1. The period of time that has already happened, in contrast to the present and the future.

   a book about a time machine that can transport people back into the past

   • D. Webster

     The past, at least, is secure.

   • Trench

     The present is only intelligible in the light of the past, often a very remote past indeed.

2. (grammar) The past tense.

• preterite

past (comparative more past, superlative most past)

1. Having already happened; in the past; finished. [from 14th c.]
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 7, in The China Governess‎:

     The highway to the East Coast which ran through the borough of Ebbfield had always been a main road and even now, despite the vast garages, the pylons and the gaily painted factory glasshouses which had sprung up beside it, there still remained an occasional trace of past cultures.

   past glories

2. (postmodifier) Following expressions of time to indicate how long ago something happened; ago. [from 15th c.]
   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, page 538:

     That had been, what, three years past?

   • 2009, John Sadler, Glencoe, Amberley 2009, page 20:

     Some four decades past, as a boy, I had a chance encounter and conversation with the late W.A. Poucher [...].

3. Of a period of time: having just gone by; previous. [from 15th c.]
   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in The Guardian‎:

     Sarkozy's total will be seen as a personal failure. It is the first time an outgoing president has failed to win a first-round vote in the past 50 years and makes it harder for Sarkozy to regain momentum.

   during the past year

4. (grammar) Of a tense, expressing action that has already happened or a previously-existing state. [from 18th c.]

   past tense

past (comparative more past, superlative most past)

1. in a direction that passes

   Synonym: by

   I watched him walk past

2. (Should we move⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) Passing by, especially without stopping or being delayed.

   Ignore them, we'll play past them.

   Please don't drive past the fruit stand, I want to stop there.

past

1. Beyond in place, quantity or time.

   the room past mine

   count past twenty

   past midnight

   • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport‎:

     But they were stunned when Glen Johnson's error let in Peter Odemwingie to fire past Pepe Reina on 75 minutes.

2. No longer capable of.

   I'm past caring what he thinks of me.

3. Having recovered or moved on from (a traumatic experience, etc.).

• The preposition past is used to tell the time. The time 5:05 is said as five past five. 5:10 as ten past five. 5:15 as quarter past five. 5:20 as twenty past five. 5:25 as twenty-five past five. 5:30 as half past five. If we are aware of the approximate time, we can just use e.g. five past, ten past etc. See the example below.

  I thought it was about six o'clock, but it was actually ten past.

• Compare with to (five to, ten to, quarter to, twenty to, twenty-five to)
• See also: o'clock

• see past the end of one's nose

• past master
• past it
• run past
• slip one past
• sneak past
• talk past

• APTS, APTs, ATSP, PATs, PTAs, PTSA, TAPs, TPAs, ap'ts, pats, spat, stap, taps

• IPA^(key): /past/
• Rhymes: -ast

past f

1. trap (a device designed to catch and sometimes kill animals)

   past na myši — mousetrap

• pastička

• léčka
• záloha
• nástraha
• úskalí

• past in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• past in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989

• spát
• psát

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑst
• IPA^(key): /pɑst/

past

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of passen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of passen

• spat, stap, taps

• IPA^(key): /ˈpáːst/
• Tonal orthography: pȃst

pást f (genitive pastí, nominative plural pastí)

1. trap