The Clue
Certain Christmas (4 letter answer)
The Answer
PAST
Tags
Notes
The answer PAST is seen frequently, appearing about once every 120 puzzles.
Related Clues
After
Beyond
Bygone
Earlier
Ex-
Gone
Gone by
Historical
History
History, with "the"
Onetime
Over
Previous
A tense
One of the tenses
Yesterday
Bygone days
Days of yore
Events gone by
Former life
Future's opposite
Historian's concern
Historian's subject
Kind of master
Later than
Master or tense
___ one's prime
All our yesterdays
Auld lang syne, with "the"
A Christmas in "A Christmas Carol"
Christmas ___, in a Dickens tale
"Remembrance of Things ___": Proust
Sandburg's "bucket of ashes"
What 1492 is part of
It may be shady
Like water under the bridge
"Every saint has a ___": Oscar Wilde
What today will be tomorrow
Definition
PAST as a noun:
1. (past, past times, yesteryear, yore) = the time that has elapsed; "forget the past"
2. a earlier period in someone's life (especially one that they have reason to keep secret); "reporters dug into the candidate's past"
3. (past, past tense) = a verb tense that expresses actions or states in the past
PAST as an adjective:
1. earlier than the present time; no longer current; "time past"; "his youth is past"; "this past Thursday"; "the past year"
2. (past, preceding, retiring) = of a person who has held and relinquished a position or office; "a retiring member of the board"
3. a verb tense or other construction referring to events or states that existed at some previous time; "past participle"
PAST as an adverb:
1. (by, past) = so as to pass a given point; "every hour a train goes past"