aorist tense

aorist tense (countable and uncountable, plural aorist tenses)

1. (grammar) A grammatical category in some languages expressing perfective aspect and past tense of verbs; the aorist.
2. (grammar, especially) A set of verb forms in Ancient Greek featuring the grammatical category.
   • 1857, Joseph Gouge Greenwood, The Elements of Greek Grammar, London: Walton, →OCLC, page 94:

     Of the Aorist Tense, as of the Perfect, there are two distinct forms: the older form, commonly called the Second Aorist; and the more recent, commonly called the First Aorist

   • 2002, Erwin Penner, A Guide to New Testament Greek, Toronto: Clements, →ISBN, page 42:

     Simple past time is expressed by the aorist tense! The aorist tense describes the past action as a total event viewed in its entirety.