foregoer
(fɔəˈgəʊə(r))
Forms: 4–6 forgoer, (4 forgoere, 5 goar, 6 foregoere), 5– foregoer.
[f. fore- prefix + goer.]
† 1. A messenger sent before, a forerunner, a harbinger; spec. a purveyor. Obs.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 13208 (Trin.) To helle bifore crist [Ion] ferd..Þerfore is he called forgoer. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 198 Ac gile was forgoere to gyen al the puple, For to wisse hem the weye and with Mede a-byde. 1502 Caxton's Chron. Eng. kvj b/1 He was..The forgooer of Antecryst, the fulfyller of heresye. 1580 Ord. of Prayer in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (1847) 568 He sent Hornets and wild Beasts, as foregoers of his host. 1580 Sidney Arcadia (1622) 216 O Mercurie, foregoer to the euening. 1601 F. Tate Househ. Ord. Edw. II §90 (1876) 53 Their shalbe a fore-goer in the kinges household. 1662 Phillips, Foregoers, Purveyours going before the King or Queen in progresse. 1745 F. Blomefield Norf. II. 605 There was one always at each (Leper) House called the Foregoer, who used to beg daily for them. |
2. One who or that which goes in front or ‘leads the way’; a leader; hence, an example, pattern.
| 1382 Wyclif Josh. iii. 3 Whanne ȝe seen the ark..folwe ȝe the forgoers. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 10 They made her in alle thynges a forgoar and ensample to them. 1549 Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. ii. 11 It is conuenient for them [women]..to be folowers, and not foregoers. 1596 Davies Orchestra 58 All the followers [flying cranes] their heads doe lay On their forgoers backs. 1658 Baxter Saving Faith xii. 85 The promised Glory, and the future blessings that are its necessary Foregoers. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. II. i. Each [reaper] casting leftwards his rich clearance on his foregoer's double track. |
3. One that has gone before; a predecessor.
| 1553 N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices ii. (1558) 102 He..in knowledge clerely exceded all his foregoers. 1602 Carew Cornwall (1769) 68 Two young men of the parish are yerely chosen by their last fore-goers, to be wardens. 1868 Dixon Spiritual Wives II. xi. 90 His foregoers had been settled in Massachusetts since the days of the Mayflower. 1877 Morley Crit. Misc. Ser. ii. 348 The order in which each state of society has followed its foregoer. |
4. Naut. = foreganger 2 a.
| 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. ii. (1711) 161 Before this hollow part, the Fore-goer is fasten'd or ty'd. 1867 in Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 1892 Daily News 8 June 5/3 We quickly bent on the line to the foregoer, clapped the harpoon into the gun. |