[f. FORE- pref. + MOTHER, afier forefather.] A female ancestor.
1582. Bentley, Mon. Matrones, Pref. B. iij b. Looking in this glasse of the holie liues of their foremothers, they may christianlie conforme and adorne themselues after their good examples, and become for their rare vertues verie beautifull spouses in the fight of their spirituall bridegroome Iesus Christ.
1655. Songs Costume (Percy Soc.), 145.
| Where is the decency become | |
| Which your fore-mother had? |
1806–7. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life (1826), XX. xxv. (1826), 254. Unheard-of fore-fathers and fore-mothers of your host’s family, all pinched and pokered up in the incredible costumes of their several centuries.
1878. H. H. Gibbs, Ombre (2 ed.), 1. It is much to be regretted in the interest of all lovers of a good game of cards, that Ombre, the delight of our forefathers and foremothers, the most diverting and most skilful of games, should have been almost forgotten in England.
