From en.wiktionary.org:
** English
*** Etymology
From [en], [ang], from [en], from the locative stem [gem-pro], [gem-pro] + the
superlative suffix [gem-pro], stem ultimately from [en]. The suffix [gem-pro]
was a compound suffix, created from the rarer comparative suffix [gem-pro] (as
in Old English [ang]) + the regular superlative suffix [gem-pro] (English
[en]); [gem-pro] in turn is from [en].
Cognate with [ofs], [got]. See [en], [en] and Old English [ang] for more.
Partially cognate to [en], from [ine-pro] + Latin superlative suffix [la],
from [ine-pro].
A comparative [en] was back-formed analogically, leaving the _m_ from
[gem-pro] in place. Later the Old English suffix complex [ang] was conflated
with the word [en] through folk etymology, so that the word is now interpreted
as [en].
*** Pronunciation
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
*** Adjective
[-]
1. Positioned in front of (all) others in space, most forward .
2. * [book=2]
3. * [chapter= Chapter 12 (see https://archive.org/details/islandofdoctormo00welluoft/page/115/mode/1up?q=foremost) ]
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=2015 | author=w:John Irving | title=w:Avenue of Mysteries | url=https://archive.org/details/avenueofmysterie0000irvi_q3d4/page/70/mode/1up?q=foremost | chapter=7 | page=70 | publisher=Doubleday | location=London
|passage=Juan Diego hadn’t noticed the other people in the temple, except for
what appeared to be two mourners; they knelt in the FOREMOST pew.}}
1. Coming before (all) others in time.
2. * {{ quote-book | en | year=c. 1615 | translator=w:George Chapman | title= [Homer] ’s [Odyssey] | location=London | publisher=Nathaniel Butter | section=Book 7, p. 102 | url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A03515.0001.001
|passage=[...] of both them, she / (By _[Athena]_ counsell) was to haue the
grace / Of FOREMOST greeting.}}
1. * 1769 , [Oliver Goldsmith] , _The Roman History,_ London: S. Baker and G. Leigh _et al.,_ Volume [nbsp] 1, Chapter [nbsp] 16, p. [nbsp] 254, <sup> see http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004897260.0001.001 </sup>
2. *: He was the best horseman, and the swiftest runner of his time. He was ever the FOREMOST to engage, and the last to retreat;
3. * [1891] , [Herman Melville] , _[Billy Budd] ,_ in _The Shorter Novels of Herman Melville,_ New York: Fawcett Premier, 1956, Chapter [nbsp] 17, p. [nbsp] 244, <sup> see https://archive.org/details/shorternovelsofh0000melv_v9g5/page/244/mode/1up?q=foremost </sup>
4. *: a bright young schoolmate of his whom he had seen struck by much the same startling impotence in the act of eagerly rising in the class to be FOREMOST in response to a testing question put to it by the master
5. Of the high est rank or position ; of the greatest importance ; of the highest priority .
6. * [IV]
7. * 1759 , [George Colman] , _The Rolliad,_ Canto [nbsp] 1, in _Prose on Several Occasions: Accompanied with Some Pieces in Verse,_ London: T. Cadel, 1787, Volume [nbsp] 2, p. [nbsp] 292, <sup> see http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004896414.0001.002 </sup>
8. *: And have I then so oft, enrag’d she cried, / My longing soul its FOREMOST wish denied?
9. * 1846 , [Frederick Douglass] , Reception Speech at Finsbury Chapel, Moorfields, England, May [nbsp] 12, 1846, in _[My Bondage and My Freedom] ,_ New York: Miller, Orton & Mulligan, 1855, Appendix, pp. [nbsp] 410-411, <sup> see https://archive.org/details/mybondagemyfreed00douguoft/page/410/mode/1up?q=foremost </sup>
10. *: Of all things that have been said of slavery to which exception has been taken by slaveholders, this, the charge of cruelty, stands FOREMOST , and yet there is no charge capable of clearer demonstration, than that of the most barbarous inhumanity on the part of the slaveholders toward their slaves.
11. * 1993 , [Vikram Seth] , _[A Suitable Boy] ,_ New Delhi: Penguin India, 1994, Section [nbsp] 9.13, p. [nbsp] 580, <sup> see https://archive.org/details/suitableboy0000seth/page/580/mode/1up?q=foremost </sup>
12. *: She was thinking of other matters. What was FOREMOST on her mind was Haresh’s panama hat, which (though he had doffed it) she thought exceptionally stupid.
13. [en] Closest to the bow .
14. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1900 | author=w:Joseph Conrad | title=w:Lord Jim | location=Edinburgh | publisher=William Blackwood | chapter=10 | page=133 | url=https://archive.org/details/lordjimtale00conrrich/page/133/mode/1up?q=foremost
|passage=I let fall the tiller, turned my back on them, and sat down on the
FOREMOST thwart.}}
**** Derived terms
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
**** Translations
[checktrans-top]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Chinese:
- Dutch: [nl]
- Egyptian: [ḫntj]
- French: [fr]
- German: [de]
- Gothic: [got]
- Irish:
- Italian: [it] , [it]
- Karakhanid: [xqa]
- Latin: [la] , [la]
- Polish: [pl]
- Russian: [ru] , [ru]
- Sanskrit: [sa] , [sa] , [sa]
- Sorbian:
- Turkish: [tr]
[trans-bottom]
[closest to the bow]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Finnish: [fi]
- Polish: [pl]
- Russian: [ru]
[trans-bottom]
*** Adverb
[-]
1. In front , prominently forward .
2. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1704 | author= [Jonathan Swift] | title= [A Tale of a Tub] | location=London | publisher=John Nutt | chapter=The Conclusion | pages=215-216 | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_VNROAAAAcAAJ/page/n233/mode/1up
|passage=No Man hath more nicely observed our Climate, than the Bookseller who
bought the Copy of this Work; He knows to a Tittle what Subjects will best go
off in a _dry Year,_ and which it is proper to expose FOREMOST, when the
Weather-glass is fallen to _much Rain_.}}
1. * 1820 , [John Keats] , “ [Lamia (poem)] ,” Part [nbsp] 1, in _Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems,_ London: Taylor and Hessey, p. [nbsp] 15, <sup> see https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89089198006&view=1up&seq=33&skin=2021&q1=foremost </sup>
2. *: She saw the young Corinthian Lycius / Charioting FOREMOST in the envious race,
3. * [en]
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1946 | author=w:Mervyn Peake | title=w:Titus Groan | url=https://archive.org/details/titusgroan0000peak_v4k2/page/137/mode/1up | page=137 | publisher=Penguin | year_published=1981
|passage=[...] what haunts the heart will, when it is found, leap FOREMOST,
blinding the eye and leaving the main of Life in darkness.}}
1. First in time.
2. * [1618] , [Philip Massinger] , [Thomas Middleton] and [William Rowley] , _[The Old Law] ,_ London: Edward Archer, 1656, Act [nbsp] III, Scene [nbsp] 1, p. [nbsp] 41, <sup> see https://archive.org/details/excellentcomedyc00mass/page/41/mode/1up </sup>
3. *: Alwayes the worst goes FOREMOST , so twill prove I hope
4. * {{ quote-text | en | year=1791 | translator=w:William Cowper | title=The [Iliad] of [Homer] | location=London | publisher=J. Johnson | section=Book 11, lines 946-947, p. 299 | url=https://archive.org/details/iliadodysseyofho01home/page/298/mode/1up
|passage=Our thirst, at length, and hunger both sufficed, / I, FOREMOST
speaking, ask’d you to the wars}}
1. Most importantly .
2. * [chapter=51]
3. * {{ quote-book | en | year=1951 | author=w:William Styron | title=w:Lie Down in Darkness | location=Indianapolis | publisher=Bobbs-Merrill | chapter=5 | page=214 | url=https://archive.org/details/liedownindarknes00styr/page/214/mode/1up?q=foremost
|passage=It seemed as if he had been gently awakened from a long sleep. The
corners of his mouth hung down, drugged and paralyzed, and through the gray
light of this soft, new-born consciousness it occurred to him first, prime and
FOREMOST (order, order, he found himself pleading) that he was not properly
articulating.}}
**** Derived terms
- [en]
- [en]
**** Translations
[in front]
- Esperanto: [eo]
[trans-bottom]
[first in time] [trans-bottom]
[most importantly]
- Esperanto: [eo]
[trans-bottom]
[checktrans-top]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Polish: [pl] , [pl]
[trans-bottom]