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FOREST

 - 8 dictionary results

for⋅est

[fawr-ist, for-]
–noun
1. a large tract of land covered with trees and underbrush; woodland.
2. the trees on such a tract: to cut down a forest.
3. a tract of wooded grounds in England formerly belonging to the sovereign and set apart for game.
4. a thick cluster of vertical objects: a forest of church spires.
–verb (used with object)
5. to supply or cover with trees; convert into a forest.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME < OF < LL forestis (silva) an unenclosed wood (as opposed to a park), deriv. of L forīs outside. Cf. foreign


for⋅est⋅al, fo⋅res⋅tial [fuh-res-chuhl] , adjective
for⋅est⋅ed, adjective
for⋅est⋅less, adjective
for⋅est⋅like, adjective


1. Forest, grove, wood refer to an area covered with trees. A forest is an extensive area, preserving some or all of its primitive wildness and usually having game or wild animals in it: Sherwood Forest; the Black Forest. A grove is a group or cluster of trees, usually not very large in area and cleared of underbrush. It is usually tended or cultivated: a shady grove; a grove of pines; an orange grove; a walnut grove. Woods (or a wood) resembles a forest but is a smaller tract of land, less wild in character, and generally closer to civilization: lost in the woods; a wood covering several acres.

fore

1[fawr, fohr]
–adjective
1. situated at or toward the front, as compared with something else.
2. first in place, time, order, rank, etc.; forward; earlier.
3. Nautical.
a. of or pertaining to a foremast.
b. noting a sail, yard, boom, etc., or any rigging belonging to a fore lower mast or to some upper mast of a foremast.
c. noting any stay running aft and upward to the head of a fore lower mast or to some specified upper mast of a foremast: fore topmast stay.
d. situated at or toward the bow of a vessel; forward.
–adverb
4. Nautical. at or toward the bow.
5. forward.
6. Obsolete. before.
–noun
7. the forepart of anything; front.
8. the fore, Nautical. the foremast.
–preposition, conjunction
9. Also, 'fore. Informal. before.
10. fore and aft, Nautical. in, at, or to both ends of a ship.
11. to the fore,
a. into a conspicuous place or position; to or at the front.
b. at hand; ready; available.
c. still alive.

Origin:
by construal of fore- as an adj., hence nominalized; fore and aft perh. as trans. of D or LG; sense “before” (defs. 6, 9) perh. continuation of ME, OE fore in this sense, or as aph. form of afore
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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for·est   (fôr'ĭst, fŏr'-)   
n.  
  1. A dense growth of trees, plants, and underbrush covering a large area.

  2. Something that resembles a large, dense growth of trees, as in density, quantity, or profusion: a forest of skyscrapers.

  3. A defined area of land formerly set aside in England as a royal hunting ground.

tr.v.   for·est·ed, for·est·ing, for·ests
To plant trees on.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin forestis (silva), outside (forest), from Latin forīs, outside; see dhwer- in Indo-European roots.]
for'est·al, fo·res'tial (fə-rěs'chəl) adj., for'es·ta'tion n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

fore 
O.E. fore (prep.) "before, in front of;" (adv.) "before, previously," common Gmc. (cf. O.H.G. fora, O.Fris. fara, Ger. vor, Goth. faiura, O.N. fyrr "for"); from PIE *per-/*pr- (cf. Skt. pura "before, formerly;" Avestan paro "before;" Hittite para- "on, forth;" Gk. paros "before," para "from beside, beyond," peri "around, about, toward," pro "before;" L. pro "before, for, on behalf of, instead of," prae "before," per "through, for;" O.C.S. pra-dedu "great-grandfather"). The warning cry in golf is first recorded 1878, probably a contraction of before. The forehand tennis stroke is from 1889. Sexual sense of foreplay is first recorded 1929. Foreshadow is from 1577, on the notion of a shadow thrown before an object and suggesting what is to come; forebode "feel a secret premonition" is from 1603; foretell and forethought are both from c.1300. Foreshorten is from 1606; forever (adv.) is first recorded 1670. Forefather "ancestor" first attested c.1300, perhaps from O.N. forfaðir.

forest 
1297, "extensive tree-covered district," especially one set aside for royal hunting and under the protection of the king, from O.Fr. forest, probably from L.L./M.L. forestem silvam "the outside woods," a term from the Capitularies of Charlemagne denoting "the royal forest;" perhaps via O.H.G. forst, from L. foris "outside," with a sense of "beyond the park," the park being the main or central fenced woodland. Another theory traces it through M.L. forestis, originally "forest preserve, game preserve," from L. forum in legal sense "court, judgment;" in other words "land subject to a ban." Replaced O.E. wudu.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: fore
Pronunciation: 'fO(&)r, 'fo(&)r
Function: adjective
: situated in front of something else
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Bible Dictionary

Forest

Heb. ya'ar, meaning a dense wood, from its luxuriance. Thus all the great primeval forests of Syria (Eccl. 2:6; Isa. 44:14; Jer. 5:6; Micah 5:8). The most extensive was the trans-Jordanic forest of Ephraim (2 Sam. 18:6, 8; Josh. 17:15, 18), which is probably the same as the wood of Ephratah (Ps. 132:6), some part of the great forest of Gilead. It was in this forest that Absalom was slain by Joab. David withdrew to the forest of Hareth in the mountains of Judah to avoid the fury of Saul (1 Sam. 22:5). We read also of the forest of Bethel (2 Kings 2:23, 24), and of that which the Israelites passed in their pursuit of the Philistines (1 Sam. 14:25), and of the forest of the cedars of Lebanon (1 Kings 4:33; 2 Kings 19:23; Hos. 14:5, 6). "The house of the forest of Lebanon (1 Kings 7:2; 10:17; 2 Chr. 9:16) was probably Solomon's armoury, and was so called because the wood of its many pillars came from Lebanon, and they had the appearance of a forest. (See BAALBEC.) Heb. horesh, denoting a thicket of trees, underwood, jungle, bushes, or trees entangled, and therefore affording a safe hiding-place. place. This word is rendered "forest" only in 2 Chr. 27:4. It is also rendered "wood", the "wood" in the "wilderness of Ziph," in which david concealed himself (1 Sam. 23:15), which lay south-east of Hebron. In Isa. 17:19 this word is in Authorized Version rendered incorrectly "bough." Heb. pardes, meaning an enclosed garden or plantation. Asaph is (Neh. 2:8) called the "keeper of the king's forest." The same Hebrew word is used Eccl. 2:5, where it is rendered in the plural "orchards" (R.V., "parks"), and Cant. 4: 13, rendered "orchard" (R.V. marg., "a paradise"). "The forest of the vintage" (Zech. 11:2, "inaccessible forest," or R.V. "strong forest") is probably a figurative allusion to Jerusalem, or the verse may simply point to the devastation of the region referred to. The forest is an image of unfruitfulness as contrasted with a cultivated field (Isa. 29:17; 32:15; Jer. 26:18; Hos. 2:12). Isaiah (10:19, 33, 34) likens the Assyrian host under Sennacherib (q.v.) to the trees of some huge forest, to be suddenly cut down by an unseen stroke.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

forest

see can't see the forest for the trees.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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