after

adv

1. (not-comparable)Behind; later in time; following.

   “I left the room, and the dog bounded after.”

   “They lived happily ever after.”

   “I might come next month, or the month after.”

prep

1. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “We had a few beers after the game.”

   “The time is a quarter after eight.”

   “The Cold War began shortly after WWII.”

   “After you with the salt and pepper.”

   “I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.”

2. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “After your bad behaviour, you will be punished.”

3. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “I’m not putting you in charge again after the last disaster.”

4. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “After all that has happened, he is still my friend.”

   “I can’t believe that, after all our advice against gambling, you walked into that casino!”

5. (often)Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “I'm tired of picking up after you. Why can't you clean your own messes?”

6. Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “day after day, time after time, mile after mile, beer after beer, smile after smile”

   “Paper after paper spells out how vulnerable we are to internet-induced brain rot.”

7. (Ireland, Newfoundland)Subsequently to; following in time; later than.

   “I was after finishing my dinner when there was a knock on the door. [= I had just finished my dinner when ...]”

   “He was after walking on the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday before, all the way from the County Limerick, where his brother, Father John, has a parish; and you may believe, the poor man was tired”

   “Mother: Let him get away out of this now, himself and his share of songs. Look at the way he has your bib destroyed that I was after washing in the morning!”

   “When I woke up it was black-dark and the music was after stopping. I could taste the bread I was after eating in the dream, as sweet and luscious as any I ever knew”

   “He asked directions to the dairy those milk cans had shown up late at. Corrigan pointed back the way he'd come and explained, “You'd have been after riding past their loading platform because they don't have their sign overlooking where the train would be after stopping.”

8. Behind.

   “He will leave a trail of destruction after him.”

   “I told her to shut the door after her.”

   “Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.”

9. In pursuit of, seeking.

   “He’s after a job; run after him; inquire after her health.”

10. In allusion to, in imitation of; following or referencing.

    “We named him after his grandfather.”

    “This painting is after Leonardo da Vinci.”

    “Work your horse in a calade, after the Italian way; ride him straight, and then you make good use of the calade.”

11. Below, often next below, in importance or rank.

    “The princess is next in line to the throne after the prince.”

12. Denoting the aim or object; concerning; in relation to.

    “to look after workmen; to enquire after a friend; to thirst after righteousness”

13. (obsolete)According to (an author or text).
14. (obsolete)According to the direction and influence of; in proportion to; befitting.

    “He takes greatness of kingdoms according to bulk and currency, and not after their intrinsic value.”

conj

1. Signifies that the action of the clause it starts takes place before the action of the other clause.

   “The show ends after the fat lady sings.”

   “After we had decided to call it a day, I went home.”

   “It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.”

   “1991, Donald "Shadow" Rimgale (character), Robert DeNiro (actor), Backdraft So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?”

   “Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.”

adj

1. (dated)Later; second (of two); next, following, subsequent

   “I did verily believe in my own mind, that I couldn't fight in that way at all; but my after experience convinced me that this was all a notion.”

   “The amends he had made in after life were lost sight of in the dramatic glare of the original act.”

   “In the old days, […] he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […] and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.”

2. At or towards the stern of a ship or the rear of an aircraft.

   “The after gun is mounted aft.”

   “The after gun is abaft the forward gun.”

   “The aircraft provided an after cabin for two radar operators.”

   “Caspian led them down a ladder into the after hatch.”

noun

1. Of before-and-after images: the one that shows the difference after a specified treatment.

   “In the ‘before’ shots, she’ll look like an ordinary suburban housewife; but we know she acts in community theater musicals sometimes, so the ‘afters’ will give her a glamorous starlet image, starting with a very revealing bathing suit shot.”

   “Did any of the before pictures remind you of yourself, and did any of the afters show what you hoped your results might be?”

   “So with that in mind, we thought it might be helpful to put some pictures where our mouths are, and include some less-than-flattering photos of our first house after we’d lived there eight whole months. Spoiler alert: We were miiiles away from the “afters” that we shared on pages 6 and 7.”