forehold
Syllables: fore·hold/ˈfɔːhəʊld/US/ˈfɔɹˌhoʊld/
forehold noun: the forward or front part of the hold of a ship.
Noun
forehold (plural foreholds)
- The forward or front part of the hold of a ship.
- It freezes very hard, and we find it extreamly cold. The next Day, the ſame Weather, we went aboard, and ſcuttled for Flower in the Forehold. The 25th, little Wind at N.E. and froſty Weather, went aboard again, and got out of the Forehold eight Barrels of Flower, one Cask of Peaſe, with ſome Brandy...1743, John Bulkeley, John Cummins, A Voyage to the South-Seas, in the Years 1740–1. Containing, a Faithful Narrative of the Loss of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager on a Desolate Island in the Latitude...
- At nine in the evening, the Rippon, which ſtill remained aground, ran her larboard guns over the ſtarboard ſide, ſtarted thirty tun of water in the forehold, to lighten her forward, and employed all her boats in endeavouring to tow off: […]1761, John Barrow, “Containing the Naval Transactions in the Year 1759”, in The Naval History of Great Britain; with the Lives of the Most Illustrious Admirals and Commanders, Deduced from the...
Verb
UK/fɔːˈhəʊld/US/fɔɹˈhoʊld/
forehold (third-person singular simple present foreholds, present participle foreholding, simple past foreheld, past participle foreheld or (obsolete) foreholden)
- To hold or believe (something) beforehand; to assume; to anticipate, to predict.
- Instead of that he has encountered nothing but harsh criticism, unkindly dispositions, even on the part of his relatives, and he naturally drifted into places and surroundings where legitimate sympathy was not foreheld.1902, J. F. Hultgen, “Infantile Hemiplegia and Inebriety”, in Bulletin of Iowa Institutions (under the Board of Control), volume IV, Dubuque, Iowa: Herald Printing Company, →OCLC, page 463
- Or he may call "he who foreholds" the one who wants and receives, rather than the one who confers first: he calls […]2001, Aspasius, [anonymous], Michael of Ephesus, translated by David Konstan, On Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 8–9 (The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle), London: Duckworth, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- foredeem, presage, prognosticate, anticipate, augur, bode, call, divine, forecast, foresee
Examples of forehold in a sentence
- The next Day, the ſame Weather, we went aboard, and ſcuttled for Flower in the Forehold.1743, John Bulkeley, John Cummins, A Voyage to the South-Seas, in the Years 1740–1. Containing, a Faithful Narrative of the Loss of His...
- The salt provision rooms are on either side of the forehold amidships.1847 November 6, “The Blenheim, Steam Guardship”, in The Patent Journal, and Inventors’ Magazine, volume III, number 76, London: […] Patent...
- I knew there was no other bulkhead in the ship but the collision bulkhead separating the forepeak from the forehold.1899 September – 1900 July, Joseph Conrad, chapter IV, in Lord Jim: A Tale, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1900...
- The foreholds were crammed with ammunition, dhurra, wool and fuel, […]1965, Julian Symons, “The Steamers Arrive: The Delay”, in England’s Pride: The Story of the Gordon Relief Expedition, Looe, Cornwall: House...
Synonyms of forehold
Forms of forehold
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | foreholds |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | foreholds |
| present participle | foreholding |
| past | foreheld |
| past participle | foreheld |
| past participle (obsolete) | foreholden |
Origin of forehold
From fore- (prefix meaning ‘positioned at or near the front’) + hold (“the cargo area of an aircraft or ship”). Hold is a variant of hole (influenced by hold (verb)), from Middle English hole, hol (“perforation, hole; cave, cavern; hiding place, shelter; cell, compartment”), from Old English hol (“hole (in the ground)”), from Proto-West Germanic *hol (“hollow”), from Proto-Germanic *hulą (“depression, hollow; hole”), from Proto-Germanic *hulaz (“hollow”); further etymology uncertain, possibly either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”) or *ḱewh₁- (“to be strong; to swell”).
From fore- (prefix meaning ‘occurring beforehand; earlier, prior to’) + hold (“to maintain; to consider, opine”). Hold is derived from Middle English holden (“to grasp; to possess; to hold (a belief or opinion”), from Old English healdan (“to grasp, hold fast; to possess”), from Proto-West Germanic *haldan (“to hold; to keep”), from Proto-Germanic *haldaną (“to hold; to keep”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover; to conceal, hide”).
Words formed from forehold
Words that rhyme with forehold
Questions about forehold
- What does forehold mean?
- Forehold means the forward or front part of the hold of a ship.
- How do you use forehold in a sentence?
- The next Day, the ſame Weather, we went aboard, and ſcuttled for Flower in the Forehold.
- What part of speech is forehold?
- Forehold can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce forehold?
- Forehold is pronounced /ˈfɔːhəʊld/ (UK).
- What is the plural of forehold?
- The plural of forehold is foreholds.
Words near forehold in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: forehold (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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