time was
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- It was once true (that)...; there was a time when...
- a. 1659, Jonathan Mitchell, editor, The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied [sermons of Thomas Shepard], 1797 edition, volume 2, page 259 [1]:
- Time was, the feet of the messengers of peace were glorious, but now their message is mean; […] time was, thou wert exceeding tender of the least sin, and not a day past, but thy cheeks were wet in secret before the Lord; now thou art grown blind […] .
- 1879, John Berwick Harwood, Young Lord Penrith, chapter 34; as serialized in, 1879 June 21, Chambers's Journal, fourth series, number 808; which was reprinted in, Chambers's Journal 1879, page 387 [2]:
- I call him poor; but time was, that in our intercourse I was the obliged party.
- 2010, Linda B. Nilson, Teaching at Its Best[3], 3rd edition, Jossey-Bass, →ISBN, page xvii:
- Liberal arts and community colleges as well as other teaching-centered institutions have always promoted high standards of teaching excellence. But time was that no one really cared much what instructors in more research-oriented universities did in the classroom, as long as it was legal.
- a. 1659, Jonathan Mitchell, editor, The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied [sermons of Thomas Shepard], 1797 edition, volume 2, page 259 [1]: