Ere. adv. [ær, Saxon; air, Gothick; eer, Dutch. This word is sometimes vitiously written e'er, as if from ever. It is likewise written or before ever, or and ær in Saxon being indiscriminately written. Mr. Lye.] Before; sooner than.

Ere he would have hang'd a man for the getting a hundred bastards, he would have paid for the nursing a thousand. Shak.

The lions brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came to the bottom of the den. Daniel.

            Just trial, ere I merit
My exaltation without change or end. Milt. Par. Regain'd.

The mountain trees in distant prospect please,
Ere yet the pine descended to the seas;
Ere sails were spread new oceans to explore. Dryden's Ovid.

                      Our fruitful Nile
Flow'd ere the wonted season. Dryden's All for Love.

The birds shall cease to tune their ev'ning song,
The winds to breathe, the waving woods to move,
And streams to murmer, ere I cease to love. Pope's Autumn.