Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

FOREDECK — FORESPEAKING

FOREDECK, n. The forepart of a deck, or of a ship.

FOREDESIGN, v.t. To plan beforehand; to intend previously.

FOREDETERMINE, v.t. To decree beforehand.

FOREDOOM, v.t. To doom beforehand; to predestinate.

Thou art foredoomed to view the Stygian state.

FOREDOOM, n. Previous doom or sentence.

FOREDOOR, n. The door in the front of a house.

FORE-END, n. The end which precedes; the anterior part.

FOREFATHER, n. An ancestor; one who precedes another in the line of genealogy, in any degree; usually in a remote degree.

FOREFEND, v.t.

1. To hinder; to fend off; to avert; to prevent approach; to forbid or prohibit.

2. To defend; to guard; to secure.

This word, like the L. arceo, is applied to the thing assailing, and to the thing assailed. To drive back or resist that which assails, is to hinder its approach, to forbid or avert, and this act defends the thing threatened or assailed.

FOREFINGER, n. The finger next to the thumb; the index; called by our Saxon ancestors, the shoot-finger, from its use in archery.

FOREFLOW, v.t. To flow before.

FOREFOOT, n.

1. One of the anterior feet of a quadruped or multiped.

2. A hand, in contempt.

3. In a ship, a piece of timber which terminates the keel at the fore-end.

FOREFRONT, n. The foremost part. The forefront of the battle, is the part where the contest is most warm, and where a soldier is most exposed. 2 Samuel 11:15.

FOREGAME, n. A first game; first plan.

FOREGO, v.t. [See Go.]

1. To forbear to possess or enjoy; voluntarily to avoid the enjoyment of good. Let us forego the pleasures of sense, to secure immortal bliss.

2. To give up; to renounce; to resign. But this word is usually applied to things not possessed or enjoyed, and which cannot be resigned.

3. To lose.

4. To go before; to precede. Obs.

FOREGOER, n.

1. An ancestor; a progenitor. [Not used.]

2. One who goes before another.

3. One who forbears to enjoy.

FOREGOING, ppr.

1. Forbearing to have, possess or enjoy.

2. a. Preceding; going before, in time or place; antecedent; as a foregoing period of time; a foregoing clause in a writing.

FOREGONE, pp. foregawn’.

1. Forborne to be possessed or enjoyed.

2. Gone before; past. Obs.

FOREGROUND, n. The part of the field or expanse of a picture which seems to lie before the figures.

FOREGUESS, v.t. To conjecture. [Bad.]

FOREHAND, n.

1. The part of a horse which is before the rider.

2. The chief part.

FOREHAND, a. Done sooner than is regular.

And so extenuate the forehand sin.

FOREHANDED, a.

1. Early; timely; seasonable; as a forehanded care.

2. In America, in good circumstances as to property; free from debt and possessed of property; as a forehanded farmer.

3. Formed in the foreparts.

A substantial true-bred beast, bravely forehanded.

FOREHEAD, n. for’hed, or rather for’ed.

1. The part of the face which extends from the hair on the top of the head to the eyes.

2. Impudence; confidence; assurance; audaciousness.

FORHEAD-BALD, a. Bald above the forehead. Leviticus 13:47.

FOREHEAR, v.i. To be informed before.

FOREHEND, v.t. To seize. [Not in use.]

FOREHEW, v.t. To hew or cut in front.

FOREHOLDING, n. Predictions; ominous forebodings; superstitious prognostications. [Not used.]

FOREHOOK, n. In ships, a breast-hook; a piece of timber placed across the stem to unite the bows and strengthen the forepart of the ship.

FOREHORSE, n. The horse in a team which goes foremost.

FOREIGN, a. for’an. [L. foris, foras.]

1. Belonging to another nation or country; alien; not of the country in which one resides; extraneous. We call every country foreign, which is not within the jurisdiction of our own government. In this sense, Scotland before the union was foreign to England, and Canada is now foreign to the United States. More generally foreign is applied to countries more remote than an adjacent territory; as a foreign market; a foreign prince. In the United States, all transatlantic countries are foreign.

2. Produced in a distant country or jurisdiction; coming from another country; as foreign goods; goods of foreign manufacture; a foreign minister.

3. Remote; not belonging; not connected; with to or from. You dissemble; the sentiments you express are foreign to your heart. This design is foreign from my thoughts. [The use of from is preferable and best authorized.]

4. Impertinent; not pertaining; not to the purpose. The observation is foreign from the subject under consideration.

5. Excluded; not admitted; held at a distance.

6. Extraneous; adventitious; not native or natural.

7. In law, a foreign attachment is an attachment of the goods of a foreigner within a city or liberty, for the satisfaction of a debt due from the foreigner to a citizen; or an attachment of the money or goods of a debtor, in the hands of another person.

A foreign bill of exchange, is a bill drawn by a person in one country, on his correspondent or agent in another, as distinguished from an inland bill, which is drawn by one person or another in the same jurisdiction or country.

Foreign plea, a plea or objection to a judge as incompetent to try the question, on the ground that it is not within his jurisdiction.

FOREIGNER, n. for’aner. A person born in a foreign country, or without the country or jurisdiction of which one speaks. A Spaniard is a foreigner in France and England. All men not born in the United States are to them foreigners, and they are aliens till naturalized. A naturalized person is a citizen; but we still call him a foreigner by birth.

FOREIGNNESS, n. for’anness. Remoteness; want of relation; as the foreignness of a subject from the main business.

FORE-IMAGINE, v.t. To conceive or fancy before proof, or beforehand.

FOREJUDGE, v.t. forjuj’.

1. To prejudge; to judge beforehand, or before hearing the facts and proof.

2. In law, to expel from a court, for malpractice or non-appearance. When an attorney is sued, and called to appear in court, if he declines, he is forejudged, and his name is struck from the rolls.

FOREJUDGMENT, n. Judgment previously formed.

FOREKNOW, v.t. [See Know.] To have previous knowledge of; to foresee.

Who would the miseries of man foreknow?

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Romans 8:29.

FOREKNOWABLE, a. That may be foreknown.

FOREKNOWER, n. One that foreknows.

FOREKNOWLEDGE, n. Knowledge of a thing before it happens; prescience.

If I foreknew, foreknowledge had no influence on their fault.

FOREL, n. A kind of parchment for the cover of books.

FORELAND, n. A promontory or cape; a point of land extending into the sea some distance from the line of the shore; a head land; as the North and South Foreland in Kent, in England.

FORELAY, v.t.

1. To lay wait for; to entrap by ambush.

2. To contrive antecedently.

FORELEADER, n. One who leads others by his example.

FORELEND, v.t. To lend or give beforehand.

FORELOCK, n.

1. The lock or hair that grows from the forepart of the head.

Take time by the forelock.

2. In sea language, a little flat pointed wedge of iron, used at the end of a bolt, to retain it firmly in its place.

FORELOOK, v.t. To look beforehand or forward.

FOREMAN, n.

1. The first or chief man; particularly, the chief man of a jury, who acts as their speaker.

2. The chief man in a printing office or other establishment, who conducts the whole work.

FOREMAST, n. The mast of a ship or other vessel which is placed in the forepart or forecastle, and carries the foresail and foretop-sail yards.

Foremast-men, on board of ships, the men who take in the top-sails, sling the yards, furl the sails, etc.

FOREMEANT, a. forement’. Intended beforehand.

FOREMENTIONED, a. Mentioned before; recited or written in a former part of the same writing or discourse.

FOREMOST, a.

1. First in place; most advanced; as the foremost troops of an army.

2. First in dignity. In honor he held the foremost rank.

FOREMOTHER, n. A female ancestor.

FORENAMED, a.

1. Named or nominated before.

2. Mentioned before in the same writing or discourse.

FORENOON, n. The former part of the day, from the morning to meridian or noon. We usually call the first part of the day, from the dawn to the time of breakfast, or the hour of business, the morning, and from this period to noon, the forenoon. But the limits are not precisely defined by custom.

FORENOTICE, n. Notice or information of an event before it happens.

FORENSIC, a. [from L. forensis, from forum, a court.]

Belonging to courts of judicature; used in courts or legal proceedings; as a forensic term; forensic eloquence or disputes.

FOREORDAIN, v.t. To ordain or appoint before; to preordain; to predestinate; to predetermine.

FOREORDINATION, n. Previous ordination or appointment; predetermination; predestination.

FOREPART, n.

1. The part first in time; as the forepart of the day or week.

2. The part most advanced in place; the anterior part; as the forepart of any moving body.

3. The beginning; as the forepart of a series.

FOREPAST, a. Past before a certain time; as forepast sins. [Little used.]

FOREPOSSESSED, a. Holding formerly in possession; also, preoccupied; prepossessed; preengaged.

FOREPRIZE, v.t. To prize or rate beforehand.

FOREPROMISED, a. Promised beforehand; preengaged.

FOREQUOTED, a. Cited before; quoted in a foregoing part of the work.

FORERANK, n. The first rank; the front.

FOREREACH, upon, v.t. In navigation, to gain or advance upon in progression or motion.

FOREREAD, v.t. To signify by tokens. Obs.

FOREREADING, n. Previous perusal.

FORERECITED, a. Named or recited before.

FOREMEMBERED, a. Called to mind previously.

FORERIGHT, a. Ready; forward; quick.

FORERIGHT, adv. Right forward; onward.

FORERUN, v.t.

1. To advance before; to come before as an earnest of something to follow; to introduce as a harbinger.

Heaviness foreruns the good event.

2. To precede; to have the start of.

FORERUNNER, n.

1. A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger.

My elder brothers, my forerunners came.

2. An ancestor or predecessor. Obs.

3. A prognostic; a sign foreshowing something to follow. Certain pains in the head, back and limbs are the forerunners of a fever.

FORESAID, a. Spoken before. [See Aforesaid.]

FORESAIL, n. A sail extended on the foreyard, which is supported by the foremast.

FORESAY, v.t. To predict; to foretell.

FORESAYING, n. A prediction.

FORESEE, v.t. To see beforehand; to see or know an event before it happens; to have prescience of; to foreknow.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. Proverbs 22:3.

FORESEEING, ppr. Seeing before the event.

FORESEEN, pp. Seen beforehand.

FORESEER, n. One who foresees or foreknows.

FORESEIZE, v.t. To seize beforehand.

FORESHADOW, v.t. To shadow or typify beforehand.

FORESHAME, v.t. To shame; to bring reproach on.

FORESHEW. [See Foreshow.]

FORESHIP, n. The forepart of a ship. Acts 27:30.

FORESHORTEN, v.t. In painting; to shorten figures for the sake of showing those behind.

FORESHORTENING, n. In painting, the act of shortening figures for the sake of showing those behind.

The art of conveying to the mind the impression of the entire length of an object, when represented as viewed in an oblique or receding position.

FORESHOW, v.t.

1. To show beforehand; to prognosticate.

Next, like aurora, Spenser rose, whose purple blush the day foreshows.

2. To predict; to foretell

3. To represent beforehand, or before it comes.

FORESHOWER, n. One who predicts.

FORESHROUDS, n. The shrouds of a ship attached to the foremast.

FORESIDE, n. The front side; also, a specious outside.

FORESIGHT, n.

1. Prescience; foreknowledge; prognostication; the act of foreseeing.

2. Provident care of futurity; foreknowledge accompanied with prudence in guarding against evil.

FORESIGHTFUL, a. Prescient; provident. [Little used.]

FORESIGNIFY, v.t. To signify beforehand; to betoken previously; to foreshow; to typify.

FORESKIN, n. The skin that covers the glans penis; the prepuce.

FORESKIRT, n. The loose and pendulous part of a coat before.

FORESLACK, v.t. To neglect by idleness. [Not used.]

FORESLOW, v.t.

1. To delay; to hinder; to impede; to obstruct. [Not used.]

No stream, no wood, no mountain could foreshow their hasty pace.

2. To neglect; to omit. [Not used.]

FORESLOW, v.i. To be dilatory; to loiter. [Not used.]

FORESPEAK, v.t.

1. To foresay; to foreshow; to foretell or predict.

2. To forbid. [Not used.]

3. To bewitch. [Not used.]

FORESPEAKING, n. A prediction; also, a preface. [Not used.]