AN'TE. A Latin preposition, Gr.; much used in the composition of English words, especially in words from the Latin and Greek languages. It signifies before in place, in front; hence opposite, contrary; and figuratively, before in time. The Latin ante is generally used in the sense of before, and the Greek, in that of opposite, or in the place of.
AN'TE or AN'TA, n. A pilaster. In heraldry, ante denotes that the pieces are let into one another, in the manner there expressed, as by dove tails, rounds, swallow tails, _c.
