v. Pa. t. -did. Pa. pple. -done. Forms: see DO. [OE. fordón, f. FOR- pref.1 + dón to DO. Cf. OS. fardôn (Du. verdoen), OHG. fartuon (MHG. vertuon, Ger. verthun).]
1. trans. To put (a living being) out of existence, to kill; to put an end to (life). Obs. exc. arch.
a. 1000. Pœnit. Ecgberti, II. § 2, in Thorpe, Anc. Laws, II. 180. Be þam wifmen þe … hire bearn fordeð.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 426. Caym ðat abel for-dede.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2865 (Cott.).
| For if ani fische þar-in bigane, | |
| Wit leding o þe flum iordane, | |
| þe lijf it es for-don wit stink. |
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2557, Phyllis. She for dispayr fordede hyre self.
1460. How Goode Wif Taught Daughter, 140, in Hazl., E. P. P., I. 189. Many for folye hem self for-doothe.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, IV. 842.
| Offspring of each race | |
| With mortal warr eche other may fordoe. |
1602. Shaks., Ham., V. i. 244.
| This doth betoken | |
| The Coarse they follow, did with disperate hand, | |
| Fore do it owne life. |
a. 1659. Bp. Brownrig, Serm. (1674), I. xxi. 274. He trembles, despairs, is ready to foredo himself.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 348.
| But whereas blood from out the ring did run, | |
| By the sword’s edge his life shall be foredone. |
† b. To fordo into or to: see DESTROY v. 7. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisfarne Gospels, Matt. x. 28. Ah is rehtræ ðone ondredes seðe mæȝe & ða s[a]uel & lic-homa … fordoa in tintergo.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 17. Betere hit is þet heo beon ispilled of heore licome þenne mid alle fordon to þes deofles hond.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 273.
| And al þo þe[n] ani wise deuel iquemde | |
| Þo beð mid hem in helle fordon and demde. |
2. To destroy, ruin, spoil, wreck (a place or thing); to lay waste (land). arch.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., II. x. [xiv.] (1890), 138. Se biscop … towearp & fordyde þa wigbed.
1154. O. E. Chron., an. 1137. Þe land was al fordon mid suilce dædes.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 882.
| A tempest þat tyme began to falle, | |
| And fordede here vynys alle. |
1357. Lay Folks Catech., 489. Sklaundir for to fordo a mannes gode fame.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, V. 411.
| Syne tuk he salt, as I herd tell, | |
| And ded horss, and fordid the well. |
1399. Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 141.
| They … ffor-doth the coyne · and many other craftis, | |
| And maketh the peple ffor pens-lac · in pointe ffor to wepe. |
c. 1460. How Wise Man tauȝt Son, 76, in Ritson, Anc. Pop. P. (1791), 85.
| For, were thy complexion neuyr so strong, | |
| Wyth surfet thou mayst fordo that. |
1581. J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 375. He raysed vpp and recomforted with the comfortable confidence in the Medyatour, consciences that were vtterly foredone and forelorne.
1845. Bailey, Festus, 388.
| Throne wrecked on throne, | |
| All ruined and foredone. |
† 3. To ruin or undo (a person). Also (in late use), To deprive of. Obs.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2269. Now helpeþ ȝow silue on þes cas, or ellis ȝe buþ for-done.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. ix. 13. He [God] … keepeth in his bosome, those which (as touching the fleshe) seeme vtterly fordoone.
1647. H. More, Poems, 264.
| Well seen in these bad arts that have foredone | |
| Many a bold wit. |
1764. Churchill, Poems, Independence, II. 12.
| Or lioness of royal whelps foredone; | |
| In peace, as mild as the departing sun. |
4. † a. To abolish (an institution, etc.); to annul (a law, etc.). Obs.
O. E. Chron., an. 986. Se cyning fordyde þæt bisceoprice æt Hrofeceastre.
c. 1320. R. Brunne, Medit., 185.
| A newe testament he gan sone, | |
| þe olde sacryfyce to fordone. |
1494. Fabyan, Chron. VII. 320. The enterdyccion was adnullyd & fordoon, in the moneth of Iulii.
1508. Fisher, 7 Penit. Ps. li. Wks. (1876), 136. Amonge the Iewes in tholde lawe were certayne oblacyons and sacrefyces whiche be now vtterly fsordone, they be no more pleasynge to almyghty god.
1529. More, Dyaloge, II. Wks. 198/2. Ye would not I truste yt lent were fordone.
1532. in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xli. 109. To cause the said injust exactions of annates to cease & to be foredoen for ever.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 149. All statutes and ordinaunces before made, by the Barons at Oxenford in the xlj. yere of the king, were vtterly fordone and set at naught.
1833. Whittier, Ex. New Eng. Leg., 3.
| How has New England’s romance fled | |
| Even as a vision of the morning! | |
| Its rites foredone, its guardians dead, | |
| Its priestesses, bereft of dread, | |
| Waking the veriest urchin’s scorning! |
b. To do away with, put away, remove. Chiefly with immaterial obj., esp. sin. Obs. or arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10052 (Gött.).
| Gastly gladnes was hir emydd, | |
| þat al ille heuynes it for-didd. |
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 3388.
| Syns þat er veniele … may be here | |
| Fordon on light manere. |
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxliv. (1495), 701. The barke and fruyte of the Ellern soden wyth salt water fordooth swellynge of fete.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 2430.
| And also of the lauender | |
| That neuer might for noo washing | |
| For-doo the spottes of the weping. |
1600. Holland, Livy, XLI. iii. (1609), 1098. To … wipe away and foredoe the shamefull blot.
1894. F. S. Ellis, Reynard, 146.
| Now Reynard to foredo the brand | |
| Of sin, will to the Holy Land | |
| Go over sea, in those far climes | |
| Making him free of all his crimes. |
† 5. To undo, bring to nought; to render powerless, counteract, neutralize (poison, temptation, etc.). Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 105. Þenne maȝe we fordon swa þa deofliche ȝitsunge.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 484.
| Ichulle fordon þe wisdom | |
| of þeos wise worldmen. |
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 822. Þonne is þes hundes smel fordo.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11947 (Cott.). Þat i do þou it for-dos.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 87. For soth it was grete skathe, his passage was fordone.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVIII. 152. Venym for-doth venym.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 26. In the interpretation of Lightning, men have thus farre forth proceeded in skill and knowledge, as to foretell when they will come at a set and prescript day: and whether they will fordoe and frustrate the daungers pronounced, or rather open other destinies, which lie hidden.
† 6. To change, transform. Obs.
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., I. 53.
| Nisus and Scilla are in shape foredoone, | |
| He to a Hawke, she to a Larke is shifted. |
7. Pa. pple. only: Exhausted, overdone, wearied out, ‘done up.’ arch.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 785.
| Wilt thou not first go see where thow hast left | |
| Anchises, thy father fordone with age? |
1591. The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1611), 79. My heart is maz’d, my sences all foredone.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, VI. 742.
| No more Heav’ns rapid circles journey on, | |
| But universal Nature stands foredone. |
1796. Coleridge, Ode Depart. Year, Epode ii.
| When all foredone with toil and wounds, | |
| Death-like he dozes among heaps of dead! |
1867. M. Arnold, Southern Night, vii.
| For there, with bodily anguish keen, | |
| With Indian heats at last fordone, | |
| With public toil and private teen, | |
| Thou sank’st, alone. |
Hence Fordoing vbl. sb. Also Fordoer.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well (E.E.T.S.), 84. Þe secunde fote brede of wose in dede of enuye is a fordoyng; þat is, whanne, for enuye in þi dede, þou dystroyest him, þat wolde do ryȝt bothe to god & man.
1631. J. Done, Polydoron, 129. Desperate foredoers of themselves denote that they turn’d their backs upon God his goodnesse, and their faces from his mercy.
