forethink
(fɔəˈθɪŋk)
Also for-.
[OE. foreþęnc(e)an, f. fore- prefix + þęnc(e)an to think.]
† 1. trans. To consider or think out beforehand, contrive, plan. Obs.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xv. §5. 95 Se lareow sceal..foreðencean..ðæt he nane ðinga ðæt ryht to suiðe..ne bodiᵹe. a 1300 Cursor M. 845 (Cott.) Our lauerd had ranscond [man] On suilk a wis, als he for-thoght. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. civ. (1869) 141 Ther is no time no thing wel doon..but it be forthouht bi my wit. 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 759 He long time in king Edwardes life, forethought to be king. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1394/1 If he..did now forethink the treason. 1715 Rowe Lady Jane Gray 111, My brain fore⁓thought And fashion'd every action of my life. |
| absol. 1634 Ford P. Warbeck iv. iv, You're men know how to do, not to forethink. |
2. To think of or contemplate beforehand; to anticipate in the mind, to presage (evil). Now
rare.
| 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 106 Humility & gentlenes will rather of a friend hope the best, then fore⁓thinke the worst. 1627 P. Fletcher Locusts iv. xxxvi, Oh how my dauncing heart leapes in my breast But to fore-thinke that noble tragedie. 1724 R. Welton 28 Disc. 20 It [is] very unaccountable for a man so little to fore⁓think what will shortly befall him. 1890 Illustr. Lond. News 4 Oct. 426/2 Each forethinks, as the full cups circle, how well he may take his next meal in Paradise. |
† 3. intr. To think beforehand
of.
Obs.| 1587 Greene Euphues his Censure Wks. (Grosart) VI. 248 Age and time..men may forethink of, but not preuent. 1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 62 Thou dost not forethink of the difficulty. 1701 J. Norris Ideal World i. ii. 27 He could not make it without forethinking of it. |
Hence
foreˈthinking vbl. n., forethought; also,
† a contrivance, plot.
foreˈthinking ppl. a. Also
foreˈthinker, one who forethinks.
| 1632 [I. L.] Womens Rights 352 Felonies..forethinkings, and all that is against the Kings peace. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxxi. 360 Concerning which, conscientious and fore⁓thinking Men had very Melancholy Thoughts. 1846 Grote Greece i. iii. I. 102 Prometheus and Epimetheus the fore⁓thinker and the after-thinker. 1874 M. Collins Frances I. 182 Hope is the fire that the Forethinker stole. |