Meaning

1 senses

  1. (colloquial)Used in phrases with existential there when the semantic subject is (usually third-person) plural.

    There was three of them there.

Origin

From Middle English was, from Old English wæs, from Proto-Germanic *was, from Proto-Indo-E

From Middle English was, from Old English wæs, from Proto-Germanic *was, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂we-h₂wós-e from *h₂wes- (“to reside”), whence also vestal.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

wases, wassing, wassed, wassed
Base formwas · to was
3rd person singularwases
Present participlewassing
Past simplewassed
Past participlewassed

regular

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theywas
he, she, itwases

Past simpleLesson

all personswassed

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave wassed
he, she, ithas wassed

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill was

Word family

13 related words
RelatedamA1areA1artA1beA1beenA2beingA2isA1wereA1beestwoz
Derivediswastiswaswasband

Lessons for this word

1 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
warthogwartimeB2waryC1wasabiwashA1washable

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

was — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto