ˈfore-stage Naut.
In 5 forstage.
[f. fore- prefix + stage.]
† 1. = forecastle 1; hence a ship with a forecastle. Also, ship of forestage, forestage ship. Obs.
| ? 1345 MS. cited in J. Bree Cursory Sketch (1791) 110 Ships of forstage. 1462 Paston Lett. No. 443 II. 94 Thei sey, there shulde come in to Seyne CC. gret forstages out of Spayne. c 1465 Eng. Chron. (Camden 1856) 85 That the seyde Lord Ryvers shulde kepe certeyne grete forstage shyppys that were the erles of Warrewyk. 1481 Caxton Orat. G. Flamineus F iij b, Gayus Flammineus Publius..had delyuerd to my gouernaunce ten shippis of forstage. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fore-stage, the old name for forecastle. |
2. Theatre. That part of the stage which lies nearest to the audience, freq. extending in front of the curtain.
| 1923 G. B. Shaw Shaw on Theatre (1958) 163 Mr. Granville-Barker..had reconstructed the London and American stages on which he worked by building a forestage out into the auditorium. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock i. 31 On the fore-stage, an agitator is addressing a tattered crowd. 1958 Times 22 Oct. 6/3 A stepped forestage that gives access to a semi-circular apron, placed, in the manner of a Greek orchestra, immediately before it. |