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Webster 1913 Edition


Forefather

Fore′faˊther

(?; 277)
,
Noun.
One who precedes another in the line of genealogy in any degree, but usually in a remote degree; an ancestor.
Respecting your
forefathers
, you would have been taught to respect yourselves.
Burke.
Forefathers’ Day
,
the anniversary of the day (December 21) on which the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts (1620). On account of a mistake in reckoning the change from Old Style to New Style, it has generally been celebrated on the 22d.

Webster 1828 Edition


Forefather

FOREF'ATHER

,
Noun.
An ancestor; one who precedes another in the line of genealogy, in any degree; usually in a remote degree.

Definition 2024


forefather

forefather

English

Noun

forefather (plural forefathers)

  1. Ancestor.Wp
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter II”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional menphysicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill; an only brother at Montauk Point having sickened in the trenches before Santiago.
  2. Cultural ancestor; one who originated an idea or tradition.

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