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Webster 1913 Edition
Forerunner
Fore-run′ner
,Noun.
1.
A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic;
as, the
. forerunner
of a feverWhither the
forerunner
in for us entered, even Jesus. Heb. vi. 20.
My elder brothers, my
forerunners
, came. Dryden.
2.
A predecessor; an ancestor.
[Obs.]
Shak.
3.
(Naut.)
A piece of rag terminating the log line.
Webster 1828 Edition
Forerunner
FORERUN'NER
,Noun.
1.
A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of others; a harbinger.My elder brothers, my forerunners came.
2.
An ancestor or predecessor. Obs.3.
A prognostic; a sign foreshowing something to follow. Certain pains in the head, back and limbs are the forerunners of a fever.Definition 2024
forerunner
forerunner
English
Noun
forerunner (plural forerunners)
- A runner at the front or ahead.
- (sports) By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who runs/rides the course prior to competitor trials, usually testing or checking the way.
- A precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead.
- 1922, Michael Arlen, chapter 3/1/1, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
- How meek and shrunken did that haughty Tarmac become as it slunk by the wide circle of asphalt of the yellow sort, that was loosely strewn before the great iron gates of Lady Hall as a forerunner of the consideration that awaited the guests of Rupert, Earl of Kare, […] .
-
- A forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor.
- Bakelite is a forerunner of today's plastics.
- (philately) A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.
Translations
runner at the front or ahead
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precursor, harbinger
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