v. [OE. fore-sęttan, f. FORE pref. + sęttan to SET.]
† 1. To set in front, put to the front. Obs.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter, lxxxv[i]. 14. Ða unrehtwisan … na [MS. non] foresettun ðec biforan ȝesihðe his.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, cxxxvi[i]. 6.
| If I for-set Þe noght Ierusalem, ai, | |
| In biginning of mi fainenes al dai. |
2. To set, arrange, or settle beforehand; to prearrange, predetermine. Now rare.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 143 b. Hereby is the tyme betokened and foreset vnder a misterie, not of yeares or of monethes, but of dayes.
1587. Misfort. Arth., II. iii.
| All things are rulde in constant course: No Fate | |
| But is foreset: The first daie leades the last. |
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, 150. Why will men be so presumptuous, as (though they know him not, yet) to foresee, and foreset the daies and times for his judgements.
1839. Bailey, Festus, iv. (1848), 35.
| But no man can foreset thy coming, none | |
| Reason against thy going; thou art free, | |
| The type impalpable of Spirit, thou. |
Hence Foresetting vbl. sb., the action of setting or arranging beforehand; also quasi-concr. a purpose. Foresee ppl. a., set or determined beforehand. Also † Foreset sb., set purpose.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter, xlviii. 5 [xlix. 4]. I sal open in sauter mi for-settinge.
1550. Bale, Image Both Ch., II. xiv. § 11. H viij b. To committe theym by faythfull prayer to his purposed decrees or for set ordinaunces.
1561. Norton & Sackv., Gorboduc, II. ii.
| Whan kinges of foreset wyll neglecte the rede, | |
| Of best aduise, and yelde to pleasinge tales. |
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxv. 3. The foresettinge of ende and measure untoo mischaunces.
1669. Woodhead, St. Teresa, I. Pref. 2. Rigidly exacting of herself the foreset portion of time for it.
