Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective At, near, or belonging to the front or forepart; fore.
  • adjective Located ahead or in advance.
  • adjective Going, tending, or moving toward a position in front.
  • adjective Sports Advancing toward an opponent's goal.
  • adjective Moving in a prescribed direction or order for normal use.
  • adjective Ardently inclined; eager.
  • adjective Lacking restraint or modesty; presumptuous or bold.
  • adjective Being ahead of current economic, political, or technological trends; progressive.
  • adjective Deviating radically from convention or tradition; extreme.
  • adjective Exceptionally advanced; precocious.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or done in preparation for the future.
  • adverb Toward or tending to the front; frontward.
  • adverb Into consideration.
  • adverb In or toward the future.
  • adverb In the prescribed direction or sequence for normal use.
  • adverb In an advanced position or a configuration registering a future time.
  • adverb At or to a different time; earlier or later.
  • noun A player in certain games, such as basketball, soccer, or hockey, who is part of the forward line of the offense.
  • noun The position played by such a person.
  • transitive verb To send on to a subsequent destination or address. synonym: send.
  • transitive verb To help advance; promote. synonym: advance.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Situated in the front or fore part; anterior; fore; directed toward some point or position in advance from the starting-point: as, a forward cabin in a ship; the forward movement of an army.
  • Being in a condition of advancement; well advanced with respect to progress, attainment, development (as the season), growth (as vegetation), or (rarely) position or rank: as, the building is in a forward state; he is forward in his studies; a forward crop.
  • Ready in action or disposition; prompt; earnest; also, in a derogatory sense, over-confident; assuming; presumptuous; pert; as, to be forward in good works; a forward chit.
  • Foremost.
  • Synonyms Willing, zealous; presuming, presumptuous, impertinent.
  • In cricket, in front of the batsman's wicket: said of a fielder's position.
  • To send forward; send toward the place of destination; transmit: as, to forward a letter or despatches.
  • To advance; help onward; promote; further; encourage: as, to forward the growth of a plant.
  • In bookbinding, to fit (a book) with back and covers, and prepare it for the finisher.
  • noun In foot-ball, basket-ball, and other games, a player in the front line of the team.
  • Toward a part, place, or point of time before or in advance; onward: with reference either to motion or to position: opposed to backward.
  • With advancing steps; with good progress.
  • Toward the terminal point.
  • noun Agreement; covenant.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete An agreement; a covenant; a promise.
  • transitive verb To help onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to quicken; to hasten
  • transitive verb To send forward; to send toward the place of destination; to transmit.
  • adverb Toward a part or place before or in front; onward; in advance; progressively; -- opposed to backward.
  • adjective Near, or at the fore part; in advance of something else.
  • adjective Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense, overready; too hasty.
  • adjective Ardent; eager; earnest; in an ill sense, less reserved or modest than is proper; bold; confident.
  • adjective Advanced beyond the usual degree; advanced for the season

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Agreement; covenant.
  • adjective Toward the front or at the front.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English foreweard : fore-, fore- + -weard, -ward.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English foreweard ("condition, bargain, agreement, contract, treaty, assurance"), equivalent to fore- +‎ ward (“ward, keeping”). Cognate with Scots forward ("covenant, compact"), Dutch voorwaarde ("condition, terms, proviso, stipulation"). More at fore-, ward.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English foreward, from Old English foreweard ("forward, inclined to the front, fore, early, former"), from Proto-Germanic *fura- (“fore-”), *warþaz (“turned”), equivalent to fore +‎ -ward. Cognate with Dutch voorwaarts ("forward"), German vorwärts ("forward").

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Examples

  • We now look forward to the latter part of the present campaign for the World Cup in 2010 and certainly look ­forward to the

    Football news, match reports and fixtures | guardian.co.uk 2009

  • A boy, they believe, will be able to look after them in old age, he will carry the name forward of the family - and that's very, very important to Indian families.

    Researchers: Indians Increasingly Use Abortion to Ensure Male Child 2011

  • When the Calcutta intelligence chief suggested someone go on an “errand-boy visit” to check out the neighboring MO operation in Kandy, Betty had immediately put her name forward in hopes of seeing her friend again.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • When he was deputy mayor of the eastern port of Xiamen, he put his name forward as a candidate to be promoted for mayor—without the approval of the party leadership, according to people who knew him at the time.

    Early Hardship Shaped Xi's World View Jeremy Page 2012

  • While Grant may rue the missed opportunity, perhaps he should think of putting his name forward for a different gong – Fleet Street's scoop of the year.

    Rebekah Brooks in firing line as phone-hacking scandal refuses to go away 2011

  • When the Calcutta intelligence chief suggested someone go on an “errand-boy visit” to check out the neighboring MO operation in Kandy, Betty had immediately put her name forward in hopes of seeing her friend again.

    A Covert Affair Jennet Conant 2011

  • Glendening D, first successfully put her name forward for the job 10 years ago.

    No objections raised as Judge O'Malley appears before Md. Senate panel 2011

  • In 1817 he retired to Dublin, where in 1818 he put his name forward for the vacant Catholic archbishopric of Armagh and was astonished when the pope said yes.

    American Connections James Burke 2007

  • In 1817 he retired to Dublin, where in 1818 he put his name forward for the vacant Catholic archbishopric of Armagh and was astonished when the pope said yes.

    American Connections James Burke 2007

  • Following the events I will refer to only as The Monica Aspel Debacle, and with no Ginny Pascoe around with whom to find comfort, I decided at the age of twenty-seven that enough was enough and put my name forward for a transfer from the London office of C-Tec to its New York base.

    Turning Thirty Mike Gayle 2000

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