forelock

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)lɒk/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)

Etymology 1

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

Noun

forelock (plural forelocks)

  1. The part of a person's hairstyle which covers the forehead.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 300-303:
      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:
    • 1734, The Koran: Commonly Called the Alkoran of Mohammed, translated by George Sale, Sura 96, Congealed Blood, [1]
      Doth he not know that god seeth?
      Assuredly. Verily, if he forbear not, we will drag him by the forelock,
      the lying, sinful forelock.
      And let him call his council to assistance:
      we also will call the infernal guards to cast him into hell.
    • 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad‎[2], section XXXVIII:
      Warm with the blood of lads I know
      Comes east the sighing air.
      It fanned their temples, filled their lungs,
      Scattered their forelocks free;
    • 1978, Edmund White, chapter VIII, in Nocturnes for the King of Naples, New York: St. Martin's Press, page 135:
      This little boy, still flicking his head to one side between sentences though the long blond forelock that once excused the tic had been cut […]
    • Part 1 published in 1605, Part 2 in 1615, translated in 2003, Miguel de Cervantes and translated by Edith Grossman, Don Quixote, page 193:
      " […] And since the terrain is appropriate for achieving that end, there is no reason not to seize Opportunity by the forelock5 when it is convenient to do so." […] 5. The figure of Opportunity was traditionally represented as bald except for one lock of hair, which, like the proverbial brass ring, one had to grasp and hold on to.
  2. The part of a horse's (or similar animal's) mane that lies on its forehead.
    • 1898, Ivan Turgenev, translated by Constance Garnett, A Lear of the Steppes and Other Stories‎[3], New York: Macmillan, page 146:
      […] 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 higglers.
    • 1945, George Orwell, chapter 5, in Animal Farm‎[4]:
      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.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

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

Noun

forelock (plural forelocks)

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

Verb

forelock (third-person singular simple present forelocks, present participle forelocking, simple past and past participle forelocked)

  1. To fix in place with a forelock (wedge)
    • 1835, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 14, in The Monikins‎[5], Philadelphia: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard:
      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.
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