fore and aft, adv., a., and n. Naut.
A. adv.
1. Of position: In or at both bow and stern; hence, along the length of or all over the ship.
| 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. xiii. 61 A health to you all fore and aft. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 9 My Rigging is all gone, and broke fore and aft. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §123 Her deck raised, and laid flush fore and aft. 1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 63 And the bulwark, fore and aft, was washed away. 1835 Marryat Pirate vii, Awnings were spread fore and aft to protect the crew from the rays of the sun. |
2. Of motion or direction: Alternately towards the bow and stern, backwards and forwards.
| 1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World (1757) 406 So incommoded by them, that we could hardly move, fore and aft, through the throng of them [Indians]. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxiii. 73 To walk fore and aft in the waist. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi vi. 151 Every night they [rats] went fore and aft rousing with impartial feet every sleeper. |
3. From stem to stern, lengthwise.
| a 1618 [see aft 2 c]. 1709 Lond. Gaz. No. 4543/2 He..raked her fore and aft with his Cannon. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 208 The pontons should be..sharpish fore and aft. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fore and aft..also implies in a line with the keel. |
B. adj. a. (usu. with hyphens). Placed or directed in the line of the vessel's length. Of sails (see quot. 1867); hence, of a vessel rigged with such sails. Also Comb. fore-and-aft rigged ppl. adj.
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 197 note, I have confined the term..gaff sails to the fore and aft sails. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 329 A large fore-and-aft rigged vessel. 1856 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 426 The Dean Richmond is a fore-and-aft schooner of 380 tons register. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Fore-and-aft sails, jibs, staysails, and gaffsails; in fact, all sails which are not set to yards. 1878 [see aft 2 c]. 1879 Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §325 ‘Fore-and-aft’ rig is any rig in which..the chief sails come into the plane of mast or masts and keel, by the action of the wind upon the sails when the vessel's head is to wind. |
b. spec. Applied to a field service cap.
| 1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 571/2 Boys in the same battle⁓kit that the British Army wears, but with a maple-leaf badge in their fore-and-aft caps. 1950 A. Baron There's no Home viii. 87 He wore a British soldier's fore-and-aft cap with the flaps buttoned under his chin. |
C. n. ? A cap with peaks both before and behind.
| 1888 Harper's Mag. Sept. 494 Women in jockey caps and fore-and-afts. |