Rarely with advbl. gen. -s forerights, adv., prep., a. and sb. [f. FORE adv. + RIGHT adv. and adj.]
† A. adv. Directly forward, in or towards the front, straight ahead. Fore-right against, directly opposite. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVIII. lxiv. (1495), 819. A yonge Cowe is … compellyd to folowe euen and foreryght the steppes and fores of oxen.
1548. Elyot, Aduersus … fore ryght againste.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 30. Goe your wayes (sayeth he) to the litle towne that ye see yonder foreryght agaynste you, at the entreyng whereof ye shall see a young colte of an Asse standyng tyed without the doores, vnbroken as yet for any manne to ryde on, on whome hathe neuer any man sitten: vntie hym and bryng hym to me.
1608. Armin, Nest Ninn. (1842), 1. To looke fore-right I can not, because judgment out-lookes mee.
1659. Leak, Water-wks., 30. The difference is that, this here is seen fore-right, and that other upon one side.
1663. R. Stapylton, Slighted Maid, 3. Fil. Hey boy! how sits the Wind? Gios. Fore-right, and a brisk Gale.
1715–20. Pope, Iliad, XXII. 189.
| No less fore-right the rapid Chace they held, | |
| One urg’d by Fury, one by Fear impell’d. |
1761. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. xl. Surveying it transversely as he held it betwixt his finger and his thumb;—then foreright,—then this way,—and then that, in all its possible directions and fore-shortenings.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xii. (1813), 166. Let them [shoots] not advance far foreright.
B. prep.
† 1. Straight along. Obs.–1
1650. Fuller, A Pisgah-sight of Palestine, II. v. vii. 156–7. Sailing (not athwart the breadth of the Sea from west to east, but) almost foreright the length of the lake.
2. Opposite, over against. dial.
1858. The Lay of the Hunted Pig, in Hughes, Scouring White Horse, 140.
| Up, vorights the Castle mound | |
| They did zet I on the ground. |
C. adj.
† 1. a. Of a path, road, etc.: Directly in front of one, straight forward. Obs.
1624. Massinger, Parl. Love, III. iii. Plays (1868), 179/2.
| You did but point me out a fore-right way | |
| To lead to certain happiness, and then will’d me | |
| To move no further. |
a. 1669. Somner, Roman Ports & Forts, 50. It [the river] had heretofore direct and foreright continued current and passage.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 145. A straight or Foreright Ascent, with Flyers upon the side of square Open Newel.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, Wks. (1883), VII. 315. Like a traveller, who has been put out of his way, by the overflowing of some rapid stream, you have only had the foreright path you were in overwhelmed.
† b. Of a wind: Straight on the line of one’s course, favorable. Obs.
1605. Chapman, etc., Eastw. Hoe, III. ii. Ther’s a foreright winde continuall wafts vs till we come at Virginia.
Ibid. (1615), Odyss., III. 244.
| But I, for Pylos strait ster’d on my course, | |
| Nor euer left the wind his fore right force. |
1632. Quarles, Div. Fancies, II. xciv. (1660), 95.
| He seems to be a Man of War; His sayle | |
| Being fill’d and prosper’d with a fore-right Gale. |
2. Of a branch, etc.: Shooting straight out.
1737. Compl. Fam.-Piece, II. iii. 388. Take off all fore-right or trailing Branches that may have been produced since your last looking over them.
1802. W. Forsyth, Cult. Fruit Trees, ii. (1824), 34. When the branches are thus managed, they will frequently throw out small dugs, or foreright shoots, about an inch or two long, which will flower next year.
1882. Gard. Chron., XVII. 20 May, 675/1. In disbudding extensions and branches required to furnish weak parts of the tree it will be well, after removing all growths on the lower side, and also all foreright shoots, to select the required number of growths for laying-in.
3. dial. Of persons: a. Going straight ahead without regard of consequences, headstrong. b. Honest, straightforward; also, plain-spoken, blunt.
a. 1736. Pegge, Kenticisms (E.D.S.), s.v. (given as a ‘Hants’ word).
1853. Cooper, Sussex Gloss. (ed. 2).
b. 1810. Devon. & Cornw. Voc., in Monthly Mag., XXIX. 1 June, 436/1. ‘A foreright man,’ that is, a plain honest man.
1880. Mrs. Parr, Adam & Eve, II. ix. 213. Be foreright in all you do, and spake the truth to un.
D. sb. [The adj. used absol.]
† a. Something straightforward (obs.). b. A foreright shoot; cf. C. 2. c. dial. (see quot.).
a. 1754. Richardson, Grandison, VII. xiii. 75. We women sometimes choose to come at a point, by the roundabouts, rather than by the fore-rights.
b. 1882. Jrnl. Horticulture, 6 April, 288/1. The forerights unless strong being treated similarly, but any gross growths should be removed.
c. 1797. K. Polwhele, Old Eng. Gentl., 51.
| Then, hunger for his sauce, and nothing nice, | |
| Cut from the buttock a convenient slice, | |
| And (often to the wonder of his wife) | |
| Salute the foreright with as keen a knife. |
