foreright rarely with advbl. gen. -s forerights, adv., prep., a. and n.
(ˌfɔəˈraɪt)
[f. fore adv. + right adv. and adj.]
† A. adv. Directly forward, in or towards the front, straight ahead. fore-right against, directly opposite. Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxiv. (1495) 819 A yonge Cowe is..compellyd to folowe euen and foreryght the steppes and fores of oxen. 1548 Elyot, Aduersus..fore ryght againste. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xix. 30 The litell toune y{supt} ye see yonder foreright ayenst you. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 1 To looke fore-right I can not, because judgment out-lookes mee. 1659 J. Leak Water-wks. 30 The difference is that, this here is seen fore-right, and that other upon one side. 1663 Stapylton Slighted Maid 3 Fil. Hey boy! how sits the wind? Gios. Fore⁓right, and a brisk Gale. 1715–20 Pope Iliad xxii. 189 No less fore-right the rapid chace they held. 1761 Sterne Tr. Shandy III. xl, Surveying it transversely..then foreright,—then this way, and then that. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. xii. (1813) 166 Let them [shoots] not advance far foreright. |
B. prep. † 1. Straight along.
Obs.—1| 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. v. vii. 156 Sailing (not athwart the breadth..but) almost foreright the length of the lake. |
2. Opposite, over against.
dial.| 1858 in Hughes Scouring White Horse 140 Vp, vorights the Castle round They did zet I on the ground. |
C. adj. † 1. a. Of a path, road, etc.: Directly in front of one, straight forward.
Obs.| 1624 Massinger Parl. Love iii. iii. Plays (1868) 179/2 You did but point me out a fore-right way To lead to certain happiness. a 1669 Somner Roman Ports & Forts 50 A direct and foreright continued current and passage. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 145 A straight or Foreright Ascent. 1748 Richardson Clarissa Wks. (1883) VII. 315 You have only had the foreright path you were in overwhelmed. |
† b. Of a wind: Straight on the line of one's course, favourable.
Obs.| 1605 Chapman, etc. Eastw. Hoe iii. ii, Ther's a foreright winde continuall wafts vs till we come at Virginia. 1615 ― Odyss. iii. 244 Nor ever left the wind his foreright force. 1632 Quarles Div. Fancies ii. xciv. (1660) 95 His sayle Being fill'd and prosper'd with a fore-right Gale. |
2. Of a branch, etc.: Shooting straight out.
| 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece ii. iii. 388 Take off all fore-right or trailing Branches. 1802 W. Forsyth Fruit Trees ii. (1824) 34 They will frequently throw out small dugs, or foreright shoots. 1882 Gard. Chron. XVII. 675 Removing..all foreright shoots. |
3. dial. Of persons:
a. Going straight ahead without regard of consequences, headstrong.
b. Honest, straightforward; also, plain-spoken, blunt.
| a. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.) s.v. (given as a ‘Hants’ word). 1853 Cooper Sussex Gloss. (ed. 2). |
| b. 1810 Devon & Cornw. Voc. in Monthly Mag. June 436 ‘A foreright man’, that is, a plain honest man. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve II. 213 Be foreright in all you do. |
D. n. [The
adj. used absol.]
† a. Something straightforward (
obs.).
b. A foreright shoot;
cf. C. 2.
c. dial. (see
quot.).
| a. 1754 Richardson Grandison VII. xiii. 75 We women sometimes choose to come at a point by the round-abouts, rather than by the fore-rights. |
| b. 1882 Jrnl. Horticulture 6 Apr. 288 The forerights unless strong being treated similarly. |
| c. 1797 R. Polwhele Old Eng. Gentl. 54 Then..Cut from the buttock a convenient slice, And..Salute the fore⁓right with as keen a knife. Note, ‘Foreright’ is the coarsest sort of wheaten bread, made of the meal, with all the bran. |