Definition of "furst"

They wur not paid for weet days at th' furst; an' they geet it into their yeds at Shorrock were to blame.

1862, Edwin Waugh, Home-Life of the Lancashire Factory Folk during the Cotton Famine‎

"An' it black noight, an' men and women wild in the drink; an' Pat Harrigan insoide bloind an' mad in liquor, an' it's turned me an' the children out he has to shlape in the snow--an' not the furst toime either.

1888, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Little Saint Elizabeth and Other Stories‎

"De furst work I done to get my food wuz to carry water in de field to de hands dat wuz workin'.

1936-1938, Work Projects Administration, Slave Narratives – A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves – The Ohio Narratives‎

I took a v'y'ge to Australia furst, just to put her out o' my mind a bit, an' I never seed her since.

1899, W. W. Jacobs, Sea Urchins‎

"I was thinkin' it over, Stutter, all the way hoofin' it out yere," he said, chewing continually on his tobacco, "but sorter reckoned ez how yer ought ter see the writin' furst, considerin' ez how you're a full partner in this yere claim.

1907, Randall Parrish, Beth Norvell‎

He started in on Microby Dandeline--we jest called her Dandeline furst, bein' thet yallar with janders when she wus a baby, but when she got about two year, I wus a readin' a piece in a paper a man left, 'bout these yere little microbys thet gits into everywheres they shouldn't ort to, jest like she done, so I says to Watts how she'd ort to had two names anyways, only I couldn't think of none but common ones when we give her hern.

1920, James B. Hendryx, The Gold Girl‎