avaunt

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English

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Etymology

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First used 1275–1325; Middle English, from Old French avant (to the front).

Pronunciation

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Interjection

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avaunt

  1. (archaic) Begone; depart; used in contempt or abhorrence.
    • 1604 (date written), Iohn Marston [i.e., John Marston], Parasitaster, or The Fawne, [], London: [] T[homas] P[urfoot] for W[illiam] C[otton], published 1606, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i:
      Zuc. Hence auant I will marie a woman with no wombe, a creature with two noſes, a wench with no haire rather then remarie thee, []
    • 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 114:
      In order to exorcise this she-devil, the attendants made circles on the walls with charcoal, within each was written: "Adam, Eve, Lilas, avaunt!"

Noun

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avaunt (plural avaunts)

  1. (obsolete) A vaunt; a boast.

Verb

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avaunt (third-person singular simple present avaunts, present participle avaunting, simple past and past participle avaunted)

  1. (obsolete) To advance; to move forward; to elevate.
  2. (obsolete) To depart; to move away.
    • 1549, Miles Coverdale, transl., The Paraphrase of Erasmus upon the New Testament, London: Edward Whitchurche, Volume 2, Jude 21:
      That they should not avaunt [] into the dongeon of eternal damnacion.
  3. (archaic) To vaunt; to boast.

References

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Old French

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Adverb

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avaunt

  1. (late Anglo-Norman) Alternative form of avant

References

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Romansch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Late Latin ab ante, from Latin ab + ante, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ent- (front, forehead).

Preposition

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avaunt

  1. (Puter) ago
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  • aunz (before, beforehand)