Fore a. Advanced, as compared with something else; toward the front; being or coming first, in time, place, order, or importance; preceding; anterior; antecedent; earlier; forward; -- opposed to back or behind; as, the fore part of a garment; the fore part of the day; the fore and of a wagon.
The free will of the subject is preserved, while it is directed by the fore purpose of the state. --Southey.
Note: ☞ Fore is much used adjectively or in composition.
Fore bay, a reservoir or canal between a mill race and a water wheel; the discharging end of a pond or mill race.
Fore body Shipbuilding, the part of a ship forward of the largest cross-section, distinguished from middle body and after body.
Fore boot, a receptacle in the front of a vehicle, for stowing baggage, etc.
Fore bow, the pommel of a saddle. --Knight.
Fore cabin, a cabin in the fore part of a ship, usually with inferior accommodations.
Fore carriage. (a) The forward part of the running gear of a four-wheeled vehicle. (b) A small carriage at the front end of a plow beam.
Fore course Naut., the lowermost sail on the foremost of a square-rigged vessel; the foresail. See Illust. under Sail.
Fore door. Same as Front door.
Fore edge, the front edge of a book or folded sheet, etc.
Fore elder, an ancestor. [Prov. Eng.]
Fore end. (a) The end which precedes; the earlier, or the nearer, part; the beginning.
I have . . . paid
More pious debts to heaven, than in all
The fore end of my time. --Shak.
(b) In firearms, the wooden stock under the barrel, forward of the trigger guard, or breech frame.
Fore girth, a girth for the fore part (of a horse, etc.); a martingale.
Fore hammer, a sledge hammer, working alternately, or in time, with the hand hammer.
Fore leg, one of the front legs of a quadruped, or multiped, or of a chair, settee, etc.
Fore peak Naut., the angle within a ship's bows; the portion of the hold which is farthest forward.
Fore piece, a front piece, as the flap in the fore part of a sidesaddle, to guard the rider's dress.
Fore plane, a carpenter's plane, in size and use between a jack plane and a smoothing plane. --Knight.
Fore reading, previous perusal. [Obs.] --Hales.
Fore rent, in Scotland, rent payable before a crop is gathered.
Fore sheets Naut., the forward portion of a rowboat; the space beyond the front thwart. See Stern sheets.
Fore shore. (a) A bank in advance of a sea wall, to break the force of the surf. (b) The seaward projecting, slightly inclined portion of a breakwater. --Knight. (c) The part of the shore between high and low water marks.
Fore sight, that one of the two sights of a gun which is near the muzzle.
Fore tackle Naut., the tackle on the foremast of a ship.
Fore topmast. Naut. See Fore-topmast, in the Vocabulary.
Fore wind, a favorable wind. [Obs.]
Sailed on smooth seas, by fore winds borne. --Sandys.
Fore world, the antediluvian world. [R.] --Southey.