forelock

The part of a person's hairstyle which covers the forehead.

Noun

  1. The part of a person's hairstyle which covers the forehead.
    • His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks / Round from his parted forelock manly hung / Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad: - 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in...
    • 1734, The Koran: Commonly Called the Alkoran of Mohammed, translated by George Sale, Sura 96, Congealed Blood, http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/7440/pg7440-images.html Doth he not know that GOD seeth? / Assuredly....
    • Warm with the blood of lads I know / Comes east the sighing air. / / It fanned their temples, filled their lungs, / Scattered their forelocks free; - 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, section XXXVIII:
  2. The part of a horse's (or similar animal's) mane that lies on its forehead.
    • […] the gates themselves slowly parted, there appeared a large horse's head, with a plaited forelock under a decorated yoke, and slowly there rolled into the road a small cart, like those driven by horse-dealers, and...
    • Even Boxer was vaguely troubled. He set his ears back, shook his forelock several times, and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end he could not think of anything to say. - 1945, George Orwell, chapter 5, in...

Origin

From Middle English *forelock, *forelok, from Old English forelocc, equivalent to fore- + lock.

Forms

forelocks

Synonyms

bangs fringe foretop

Derived

forelocked forelocking take time by the forelock tug one's forelock pull one's forelock touch one's forelock

Noun Entry 2

  1. A wedge pushed through a hole at the end of a bolt to hold it in place.

Origin

From Middle English forelok, equivalent to fore- + lock.

Forms

forelocks

Verb

  1. To fix in place with a forelock (wedge)
    • At one extremity each pair was firmly connected by a short, massive, iron link, of about two feet in length; and, at its opposite end, a large eye-bolt was driven into each stick, where it was securely forelocked. -...

Forms

forelocks forelocking forelocked