- Front
- Front Front (fr[u^]nt), n. [F. frant forehead, L. frons,
frontis; perh. akin to E. brow.]
1. The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes;
sometimes, also, the whole face.
[1913 Webster]
Bless'd with his father's front, his mother's tongue. --Pope. [1913 Webster]
Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
His front yet threatens, and his frowns command. --Prior. [1913 Webster]
2. The forehead, countenance, or personal presence, as expressive of character or temper, and especially, of boldness of disposition, sometimes of impudence; seeming; as, a bold front; a hardened front; hence, an attitude and demeanor intended to represent one's feelings, even if not actually felt; as, to put on a good front. [1913 Webster +PJC]
With smiling fronts encountering. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The inhabitants showed a bold front. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
3. The part or surface of anything which seems to look out, or to be directed forward; the fore or forward part; the foremost rank; the van; -- the opposite to back or rear; as, the front of a house; the front of an army. [1913 Webster]
Had he his hurts before? Ay, on the front. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
4. A position directly before the face of a person, or before the foremost part of a thing; as, in front of un person, of the troops, or of a house. [1913 Webster]
5. The most conspicuous part. [1913 Webster]
The very head and front of my offending. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
6. That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women. [1913 Webster]
Like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears s front. --Mrs. Browning. [1913 Webster]
7. The beginning. ``Summer's front.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]
8. (Fort.) All the works along one side of the polygon inclosing the site which is fortified. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
9. (Phon.) The middle of the upper part of the tongue, -- the part of the tongue which is more or less raised toward the palate in the pronunciation of certain sounds, as the vowel i in machine, e in bed, and consonant y in you. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect]10. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
10. The call boy whose turn it is to answer the call, which is often the word ``front,'' used as an exclamation. [Hotel Cant] [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
{Bastioned front} (Mil.), a curtain connerting two half bastions.
{Front door}, the door in the front wall of a building, usually the principal entrance.
{Front of fortification}, the works constructed upon any one side of a polygon. --Farrow.
{Front of operations}, all that part of the field of operations in front of the successive positions occupied by the army as it moves forward. --Farrow.
{To come to the front}, to attain prominence or leadership. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
