Example: Once upon a time, there were three little pigs…..

At a time in the past, there were three little…..

The saying is very old, and sometimes the way things used to be said seem strange to us.

long ago. I had worked for some big companies once upon a time, but later I was self-employed.

Usage notes: often used to begin a children’s story: Once upon a time, in a far-off kingdom, there lived a beautiful princess.

Etymology: based on the use of once upon a time with the same meaning to begin a child’s story

once upon a time (literary)

1. a long time ago. Once upon a time there lived a young girl called Cinderella.

2. if you say that something happened once upon a time, you mean that it happened in the past and you wish that it still happened now. Once upon a time, everyone knew each other in this town and nobody bothered locking their doors.

Once upon a time as the beginning of a story is recorded from 1595.

Formerly

Some time ago