forthright rarely with advb. gen. -s forthrights, adv., a., and n. arch.
(fɔəθˈraɪt, ˈfɔəθraɪt)
[f. forth adv. + right a. and adv., in OE. riht, rihte: cf. downright.]
A. adv.
1. Directly forward, in or towards the front, straight before one.
| a 1000 Ags. Gloss. in Haupt Zeitschr. IX. 406 Indeclinabiliter, forðrihte. c 1205 Lay. 1523 Brutus..iwende forð⁓rihtes to þon ilke weie þer him iwised wes. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 295 She mighte loke in no visage Of man or woman forth-right pleyn. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. ii. (1495) 104 That heryth not only fourth ryght but all abowte. 1580 Sidney Arcadia ii. 115 He ever going so just with the horse, either forth-right or turning. 1697 Dryden æneid xii. 1076 Now forthright and now in Orbits wheel'd. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 331 Until impatient in embarrassment He forthright pass'd. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist III. viii. 153 Reach the good man your hand, my girl: forth⁓right from the shoulder, like a brave boxer. |
† b. Straight out, horizontally. Obs.
| 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 356 The fruite..standing some forthright, and some upright. |
2. Straightway, immediately, at once.
| c 1200 Ormin 2481 He..wollde forrþrihht hire himm fra All stillelike shædenn. a 1225 St. Marher. 15 Ant tenne some agulteð eawiht [sc. ha moten] gan anan forðriht þæt ha [etc.]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 35 Whose dore forthright To him did open as it had beene taught. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 131 You may see some slain forthright with the thrust of the Spear. 1659 Torriano, A ribibo, forthright, as it were carelesly. 1882 Swinburne Tristram of Lyonesse 49 Forthright upon his steed [he] Leapt. |
B. adj.
1. Proceeding in a straight course, directly in front of one, straight forward.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 222/30 Directanei, forðrihte. 1398 Trevisa tr. Barth. De P.R. ix. i. (1495) 345 Streyghte and forthryghte meuynge. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. 190 Having two points forth-right, not barbed like a Bees. 1824 Scott St. Ronan's xxxvi, Now in making feints, now in making forthright passes. 1865 C. J. Vaughan Words fr. Gosp. 71 Must thine eye be thus roving thy forthright vision thus distracted? 1878 Stevenson Inland Voy. 145 A headlong, forth-right tide. |
2. fig. Going straight to the point, straightforward, unswerving, outspoken; also, unhesitating, dexterous.
| 1855 Browning Men & Women II. Andrea del Sarto 5 This low-pulsed forthright craftsman's hand of mine. 1867 Swinburne in Fortn. Rev. July 22 In clear forthright manner of procedure..it resembles the work of Chaucer. 1870 Lowell Study Wind. 261 The home-thrust of a forth⁓right word. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 422 The practical, forthright, non-argumentative turn of his mind. |
C. n. A straight course or path; lit. and fig. (Chiefly after Shakespeare.)
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 158 If you giue way Or hedge aside from the direct forth right. 1610 ― Temp. iii. iii. 3 Here's a maze trod indeede Through fourth rights, and Meanders. 1880 Browning Dram. Idylls Ser. ii. Clive 12 Thought..Notes this forthright, that meander. 1884 Bp. Barry in Contemp. Rev. Sept. 409 Materialism with its maze of ‘forthrights and meanders’ is utterly at fault. 1887 Lowell Pr. Wks. (1890) VI. 186 He has not allowed him⁓self to be lured from the direct forthright by any [etc.]. |
Hence ˈforthrightly adv.; ˈforthrightness, the quality of being forthright; straightforwardness.
| 1873 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. ii. 123 Dante's concise forthrightness of phrase. 1879 Farrar St. Paul I. 225 He..carried into his arguments that intensity and forthrightness which awaken dormant opposition. 1934 Webster. Forthrightly. 1957 G. Ashe King Arthur's Avalon i. 32 The druids fortified their flocks with the doctrine of immortality. They taught it more forthrightly and dogmatically than any other priesthood in Europe. 1965 S. Gibbons in J. Gibb Light on C. S. Lewis 98 These qualities come out forthrightly—as if, with a sigh of pleasure, all the brakes had been taken off—in his seven books for children, the Narnia stories. 1979 Daily Tel. 28 July 10/5 We might take the initiative..in forthrightly defending our principles in the international fora. 1985 New Yorker 11 Mar. 68/1 He bought a rubber plantation..and forthrightly christened it Fordlandia. |