aforethought, ppl. a. and n.
(əˈfɔəθɔːt)
[f. afore adv. + thought: see think. Apparently introduced as an English translation of the Old Law-Fr. prepense in malice prepense.]
A. ppl. adj. Thought before; entertained in the mind beforehand, premeditated.
| 1581 Lambarde Eiren. ii. vii. (1588) 241 If two (of malice forethought) lie in await the one to kill the other. 1628 Coke 3 Inst. 47 With malice aforethought. 1825 Cobbett Rural Rides 488 To make an act murder there must be malice afore thought. 1840 Carlyle Heroes (1858) 204 Sheer falsehood, idle fables, allegory aforethought. 1874 L. Tollemache in Fortn. Rev. Feb. 231 The inveterate habit of ending stories badly, with pessimism aforethought. |
B. n. rare. Thinking beforehand, premeditation.
| 1851 Sir J. Herschel Nat. Phil. i. iii. 55 Deliberately, of afore-thought, to devise remedies. |