[see -NESS.]
1. The state or condition of being forward; advancement towards completion or perfection.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. xxviii. 41. Whan this croisy was in gret forwardnesse, for there was no spekyng but therof.
1596. Drayton, Leg., I. 677. Whilst in so faire forwardnesse it was.
1661. Marvell, Corr., xxiv. Wks. 1872–5, II. 59. That Bill, which is in good forwardnesse to be presented to the House.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4836/1. Funds … which are hitherto in no forwardness of being compleat.
1779. Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 298. The arts are in no kind of forwardness here.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 129. Mr. Jessop had … got other things in forwardness that had been committed to his charge.
1851. Helps, Comp. Solit., xii. (1874), 218. I mostly avoid talking about what I am doing, at least, till it is in some state of forwardness.
† b. Furtherance, advancement. Obs.
1591. The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1611), 89. Thus fortune (Lords) acts to your forwardnesse.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, IV. 209. If you should [chuse to be divorced from me], I will give your Wishes all the Forwardness that I honourably can.
2. (Unusual) advancement towards maturity: a. of a child; b. of a crop, the season, etc.
1693. Humours & Conv. Town, 21. The Children in the City are taught to forget all that is decent in a Child, the Parents care being to bring them to a bold Confidence, which ends in the Contempt of those that begot them; and this they miscall Wit, and hopeful forwardness.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 95, 15 Nov., ¶ 4. I could not but observe the Satisfaction the Father took in the Forwardness of his Son.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 376. The forwardness of the season is indeed surprising; though it freezes at night now and then, the general feel of the air is very mild.
1790. Willock, Voy., 99. There were not less than twenty gardens in the neighbourhood of the town, all in great forwardness.
a. 1864. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-bks. (1879), II. 139. Our peas are in such forwardness that I should not wonder if we had some of them on the table within a week.
3. The quality of being forward; readiness, promptness, eagerness, zeal. † Also, proneness or inclination to.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 69. In my body and flesshe I fynde no good, ne forwardnes to perfeccyon.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 111. Beinge a man of of prompt wytte and apt forwardenes to attempte thynges (in whiche sumetyme fortune wyll beare a stroke notwithstandinge owre prouidence) tooke vpon hym th[e] aduenture to searche the shore to th[e] intent to find a waye for his felowes where they myght beste coome alande.
1611. Bible, 2 Cor. ix. 2. I know the forwardnesse of your mind.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, I. xlii. 68. Not by reason of any forwardnesse in him to anger.
1696. Southerne, Oroonoko, IV. ii.
| I speak in the Regard | |
| And honour of your Worth, in my Desire | |
| And forwardness to serve so great a Man. |
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U. S. (1822), 84. I have observed in the American farmers no envy of the kind alluded to; but, on the country, the greatest satisfaction, at my success; and not the least backwardness, but great forwardness, to applaud and admire my mode of cultivating these crops.
1852. Grote, Greece, II. lxxx. X. 480. The extreme forwardness with which their leaders exposed themselves.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 217, The Republic, I. And this, as I imagine, is the reason why the forwardness to take office, instead of waiting to be compelled, has been thought dishonourable.
4. Over-readiness, presumptuous self-confidence; hence, lack of becoming modesty, boldness.
1600. Shaks., As You Like It, I. ii. 159.
| Since the youth will not be intreated | |
| His owne perill on his forwardnesse. |
1612. Woodall, The Surgeons Mate, Wks. (1653), 162. There is a fault in young Surgeons of forwardnesse in taking too much blood at Sea.
1677. Government Venice, 145. It is indecency and too much forwardness in young Men to enquire into the Institution of their Laws, and demand Reasons for them.
1705. Addison, Italy, 45. In France it is usual to bring their Children into Company, and to cherish in them, from their Infancy, a kind of Forwardness and Assurance.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, xii. Nobody will call your civility forwardness and pushing.
1875. Mrs. Randolph, W. Hyacinth, I. 129. She snubs him in the quietest, but most remorseless manner; shows really surprising judgment for a girl unused to society. His forwardness is quite amazing.
