English

Adjective

forehanded ‎(comparative more forehanded, superlative most forehanded)

1. (now US) Looking to the future; displaying foresight; prudent.
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 88:

     ‘I dun'no' whether it air night or no,’ she said [...]. ‘I mought be too forehanded a-gittin' supper fur aught I kin tell.’

   • 1962 February 2, “High Aim: Freer World Trade”, in LIFE, volume 52, page 6:

     First, a U.S. President is being forehanded for once. The new Common Market tariff structure has not yet begun to hurt our exporters (many of them, even more forehanded, have sought sanctuary by building new plants in Europe).

   • 2012, Grace Margaret Gallaher, “The Queerest Christmas”, in The Children's Book Of Christmas Stories - The Original Classic Edition:

     "You're so forehanded that all your presents went a week ago, I suppose," Eleanor swept clear a chair.

2. (obsolete, US) Wealthy.
   • 1926, Benjamin Ide Wheeler & ‎Monroe Emanuel Deutsch, The Abundant Life: Benjamin Ide Wheeler, page 85:

     The conditions of the old-time Salisbury hill-farm, which fed its owners on its spare-ribs and corn meal, and sweetened their taste with the crystallized sap of its maples, and which reckoned a man with a savings-bank account and a hundred stonewalled and unmortgaged acres "forehanded" if not positively rich, have ceased to be typical conditions of the American present-day prosperity.

   • 1838, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, Or, The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, page 96:

     ...cause if you have, look at that forehanded man there, Deacon Westfall, and you see the rich man.

   • 1842, Jacob Abbott, Cousin Lucy Among the Mountains, page 100:

     No, he is not poor at all. My father has got a good farm, and is quite forehanded.

3. (not comparable) Executed with a forehand stroke.
   • 2010, Frederick Forsyth, The Day Of The Jackal, ISBN 1407095994, page 350:

     She caught a last glimpse of the pattern of the carpet when the forehanded chop with the edge of the palm came down on the back of the neck.

4. Direct, straightforward, sincere.
   • 2005, Michael Bliss, Harvey Cushing : A Life in Surgery, ISBN 0195346955, page 12:

     Known as a 'forehanded' (straightforward) man, Cushing became a landowner and an investor in local industries.

   • 2008, Andrew Anthony, The Fallout: How a guilty liberal lost his innocence, ISBN 1407017144, page 296:

     I happen to think that it is not only the most significant liberal paper but also the best, so its over-representation in these pages is a forehanded, rather than backhanded, compliment.

   • 2014, Lorrie Moore, Bark, ISBN 0571273939:

     A compliment, forehanded, she thought. They were so rare in life and even less often believed.

5. (obsolete) Paid or executed in advance.
   • 1833, Second series of a caution to bankers, merchants and manufacturers, etc, page 242:

     ...whilst the price of restoration was always forehanded, the brotherhood had never been known to break their guarantee of honour.

6. (obsolete) Pertaining to the forequarters of a horse.
   • 1729, Thomas D'Urfey, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, & Henry Purcell, The Comical History of Don Quixote: As it was Acted at the Queen's Theatre:

     Jaq. ...Then, to say the truth, Mary's very well forehanded too. Sanc. Forehanded --- oons this Oaf makes a Mare of my Daughter.

Adverb

forehanded ‎(comparative more forehanded, superlative most forehanded)

1. With a forehand stroke.
   • 2014, John Moyer Heathcote, Classic Guide to Tennis, ISBN 1445641305, page 122:

     In delivering it forehanded, the ball is dropped in front of the left foot, and is struck when about a foot or even less from the ground.