Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Preterit \Pret"er*it\ (?; 277), a. [L. praeteritus, p. p. of
   praeterire to go or pass by; praeter beyond, by + ire to go:
   cf. F. pr['e]t['e]rit. See {Issue}.] [Written also
   {preterite} and {pr[ae]terite}.]
   1. (Gram.) Past; -- applied to a tense which expresses an
      action or state as past.

   2. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by. [R.]

            Things and persons as thoroughly preterite as
            Romulus or Numa.                      --Lowell.