Word.ws English Dictionary

time out of mind

time out of mind noun: the distant past beyond anyone's memory.

Noun

time out of mind (plural times out of mind)

  1. (idiomatic) The distant past beyond anyone's memory.
    • But though this Kingdom of China doth often change its Lord and Name, the Chineſes however have time out of mind called it by two other particular names, as Chungchoa, and Chungque ; the firſt whereof ſignifies The Middle Kingdom ; and the other, the Middle Garden.1669, John Nievhoff, translated by John Ogilby, An Embassy from the Eaſt-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China, London: John Macock, →OCLC, pages 4–5
    • Harvests at Boisveyrac had been gathered under arms since time out of mind, with sentries posted far up the shore.1904, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 10, in Fort Amity
  2. (idiomatic) A lengthy duration of time, longer than is readily remembered.
    • They were Episcopalians, and for time out of mind had rented a half-pew in the church of their denomination on California Street.1899, Frank Norris, chapter 1, in Blix
    Synonyms:
    time immemorial

Adverb

time out of mind

  1. (dated, idiomatic) For a lengthy period of time; on numerous occasions.
    • Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut / Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub, / Time out o' mind the fairies' coachmakers.1599, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
    • Our constitution is a prescriptive constitution; it is a constitution, whose sole authority is, that it has existed time out of mind.1782 May 7, Edmund Burke, Speech on a motion made in the House of Commons, the 7th of May 1782, for a committee to enquire into the state of the representation of the Commons in Parliament

Synonyms of time out of mind

Forms of time out of mind

Noun
pluraltimes out of mind
Adverb
alternative formtimes out of mind

Questions about time out of mind

What does time out of mind mean?
Time out of mind means the distant past beyond anyone's memory.
What part of speech is time out of mind?
Time out of mind can be a noun or an adverb.
What is the plural of time out of mind?
The plural of time out of mind is times out of mind.

Words near time out of mind in the dictionary

  1. time optimal control problems
  2. time order
  3. time ordering
  4. time orders
  5. time out
  6. time out of mind
  7. time outs
  8. time over
  9. time parameter
  10. time parameter space
  11. time parameters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: time out of mind (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-time out of mind.ogg.

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