1. Regarding a verb tense expressing that something happened or was done at a determined moment in the past: In Susan's English class she learned that the preterite time in grammar was quite archaic and that it referred to the past, as in "Jane bought brown shoes yesterday", where "had" conveys a former time.
2. Etymology: from the 14th century, via Old French preterit from Latin praeteritum as in tempus praeteritum, "time past, time gone by" or "past time".

From the past participle of praeterire, "to pass over something"; from the late 16th century; Late Latin praeterition, "a passing by"; from Latin praeterire "to go by"; from prae-, "before" + itum, the past participle of ire, "to go".

The simple past tense in English grammar: Mrs. Jones told Grace that she should use the preterite instead of the present tense in the sentence in her essay.