[Com. Teut.: OE. fore = OFris. fara, OS. fora (Du. voor), OHG. fora (MHG. vor(e, mod.Ger. vor), Goth. faura.
The root is the same as in L. prō, præ, per, Gr. πρό, παρά, παραί, περί, Skr. purā. The precise form in OTeut. is disputed: one opinion is that it was *forai = Gr. παραί, with a dative case-ending.
From 16th c. the word has often been regarded as an abbreviation of before, and hence written ’fore.]
† A. adv. Obs.
1. Before, at some earlier time, previously.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), lxxvii[i]. 14 [12].
| He on Æȝypta aȝenum lande | |
| him worhte fore wundur mære. |
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10938 (Cott.).
| Elizabeth his wijf was ald, | |
| Was anna sister, als i for tald. |
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 2076. Þe welþe & welfare · i haue him wrouȝt fore.
a. 1375. Joseph Arim., 208. Wiþ-outen faute oþer faus · as þei fore seiden.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonnet vii.
| But when from high-most pich with wery car, | |
| Like feeble age he reeleth from the day, | |
| The eyes (fore dutious) now conuerted are | |
| From his low tract and looke an other way. |
b. Forward or onward, forth.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18267 (Cott.).
| Fra nu for, vnderstand þou wele | |
| Hu fele pines ai sal þou fele. |
2. Beforehand, in advance.
a. 1225. Juliana, 47. Ah wel ich warni þe uore, hit nis nawt þin biheue.
c. 1500. Melusine, xxiv. 184. To see a remedy be had to it rather to fore than to late, For good it is to shette the stable or euer the horses be lost.
B. prep. = FOR prep. in various uses.
† 1. a. Before, in front of, in the presence of; = FOR 1 a. b. Obs.
Beowulf, 1064 (Gr.).
| Þær | |
| wæs sanȝ & sweȝ samod æt ȝædere fore | |
| healfdenes hilde wisan. |
c. 1300. Beket, 31.
| The manere of Engelonde this Gilbert hire tolde fore, | |
| And the toun het Londone that he was inne ibore. |
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1030. So stille and derne he [Jesus] was þe fend fore.
c. 1550. Northren Mothers Blessing, vi. (1597), E v.
| What man that shall wed the fore God with a ring, | |
| Looke thou loue him best of any earthly thing. |
1608. J. Day, Law-Trickes, I. ii. (1881), 18.
| Y ’are a young wooer, or else much to rude, | |
| To shew this kindnesse fore a multitude. |
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 401. Contract vs fore these Witnesses.
b. In asseveration or adjuration; = FOR 1 c.
c. 1435. Torrent of Portugal, 745.
| ‘Syr,’ he sayd, ‘fore Sen Jame! | |
| What ys the gyantes name.’ |
1601. Shaks., All’s Well that ends Well, II. iii. 51. Ol. Laf. Fore God I thinke so.
1687. Congreve, Old Bach. III. ii. No, foregad! I’m caught.
1756. Foote, Eng. fr. Paris, II. Wks. 1799, I. 111. Foregad I believe the Papistes ha’ bewitch’d him in foreign Parts.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ghost. ’Fore George, I’m vastly puzzled what to do.
† 2. Of time: Before; = FOR 2. Obs.
a. 1000. Crist, 1031 (Gr.). Fore Cristes cyme.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 22429 (Cott.). Fore domes-dai þat sal be sene.
1601. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. ii. 160. Ang. At any time ’fore-noone.
† 3. Before, in preference to; = FOR 3. Obs.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. iii. 22. Prizest him ’fore me?
1594. Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, III. iv.
| But now that I have found what to affect, | |
| I follow one that loveth fame ’fore me. |
1634. Massinger, Very Woman, II. i.
| You prefer | |
| My safety ’fore your own. |
† 4. = FOR 6. Obs.
1463. Bury Wills (Camd.), 17. And alle here costeȝ payd fore.
† 5. In support of, in favor of; = FOR 7. Obs.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. v. (1891), 396. Þæt he … him fore ȝebaæde.
a. 1000. Crist, 1202 (Gr.). Eal þa earfeðu, þe he fore ældum adreaȝ.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11291 (Cott.).
| For to do fore him þat dai, | |
| þe settenes of þe ald lai. | |
| Ibid. (c. 1340), 9610 (Trin.). | |
| If my sister saue miȝt al | |
| þat she wolde fore [other texts for] crie & cal. |
† 6. On account of, because of; = FOR 21 b. Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 27. Þu ne derst cumen bi-foren him fore þine gulte.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 13756 (Trin.). I dampne þe not þi synne fore.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well (E.E.T.S.), 45. Þe fals tythere rehersyth aȝen in his fals tythyng þe synne, þat crist was do fore to deth.
† 7. As a precaution against; = FOR 23 d. Obs.
c. 1450. Two Cookery-bks., II. 106. And holde a dissh vnderneth, fore spilling of the licour.
8. Comb. † fore-belly, padded clothing in front of the belly; fore-dawn, the time preceding the dawn (also attrib. or adj.); † fore-eternal a., † fore-everlasting a., that is or was before the eternal or everlasting; in quots. absol. or quasi-sb.; fore-sabbath, the day that precedes the sabbath; † fore-south a., facing the south.
1638. Jasper Mayne, trans. Lucian’s Dial. (1664), 363. I forbear to speake of his stuft Brests, and *fore-Bellyes, which make an adventitious and artificiall corpulency, least his unnaturall length should carry disproportion to his slendernesse.
1884. J. Payne, Tales fr. Arabic, II. 33. When it was the *foredawn hour, she tied his beard and spreading a veil over him, cried out, whereupon the people of the quarter flocked to her, men and women.
1894. Hall Caine, Manxman, V. ii. 283. Sometimes he was up in the vague fore-dawn, creeping through the quiet streets like a thief.
1587. Golding, De Mornay, vi. 80. Porphyrius … saying, that there is an euerlasting or eternall Mynd, and yet notwithstanding, that afore the same a *Foreëternall, or former euerlasting. Ibid. And that betweene the *Foreeuerlasting and the Euerlasting, Eternitie resteth in the middest.
1656. Trapp, Comm., 515. The Iews before their preparation had their fore-preparation: And before their Sabbath, their *fore-sabbath.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 386. The *fore-South windows in Summer, being cover’d with Matt to preserve the hony.
