to the fore

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.
   1. of or relating to a foremast.
   2. noting a sail, yard, boom, etc., or any rigging belonging to a fore lower mast or to some upper mast of a foremast.
   3. 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.
   4. 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.

Idioms

10. fore and aft, Nautical. in, at, or to both ends of a ship.
11. to the fore,
    1. into a conspicuous place or position; to or at the front.
    2. at hand; ready; available.
    3. still alive.

adjective

1. (usually in combination) located at, in, or towards the frontthe forelegs of a horse

noun

2. the front part
3. something located at, in, or towards the front
4. short for foremast
5. fore and aft located at or directed towards both ends of a vessela fore-and-aft rig
6. to the fore
   1. to or into the front or conspicuous position
   2. Scot and Irishalive or activeis your grandfather still to the fore?

adverb

7. at or towards a ship’s bow
8. obsolete before

preposition, conjunction

9. a less common word for before

interjection

1. (in golf) a warning shout made by a player about to make a shot

adv.Old English fore (prep.) “before, in front of;” (adv.) “before, previously,” common Germanic (cf. Old High German fora, Old Frisian fara, German vor, Gothic faiura, Old Norse fyrr “for”); from PIE *pr-, from root *per- (1) “forward, through” (see per). As a noun, from 1630s. The warning cry in golf is first recorded 1878, probably a contraction of before. adj.mid-15c., “forward;” late 15c., “former, earlier;” early 16c., “at the front;” all senses apparently from fore- compounds, which frequently were written as two words in Middle English. In, into, or toward a position of prominence, as in A new virtuoso pianist has come to the fore. [First half of 1800s] In addition to the idioms beginning with fore

fore and aft

also see:

to the fore