fore and aftadv.adj.n.
Nautical.
A. adv.
1. Of position: In or at both bow and stern; hence, along the length of or all over the ship.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > either extremity of vessel > from stem to stern [phrase] > at both bow and stern
fore and aft1626
1626 J. Smith Accidence Young Sea-men 25 A health to you all fore and afte.
1743 J. Bulkeley & J. Cummins Voy. to South-seas 9 My Rigging is all gone, and broke fore and aft.
1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §123 Her deck raised, and laid flush fore and aft.
1822 G. W. Manby Voy. Greenland (1823) 63 And the bulwark, fore and aft, was washed away.
1836 F. Marryat Pirate vii, in Pirate & Three Cutters 60 Awnings were spread fore and aft to protect the crew from the powerful rays of the sun.
2. Of motion or direction: Alternately towards the bow and stern, backwards and forwards.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > either extremity of vessel > from stem to stern [phrase] > alternately
fore and aft1726
1726 G. Shelvocke Voy. round World xiii. 395 So incommoded by them that we could hardly move fore and aft through the throng of them [sc. Indians].
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxiii. 73 To walk fore and aft in the waist.
1865 D. Livingstone & C. Livingstone Narr. Exped. Zambesi vi. 151 Every night they [rats] went fore and aft rousing with impartial feet every sleeper.
3. From stem to stern, lengthwise.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > either extremity of vessel > from stem to stern [phrase]
from post to stem1548
from stern to stem1548
fore and afta1618
from stem to stern1697
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > either extremity of vessel > from stem to stern [phrase] > along the length of the vessel
fore and afta1618
a1618 W. Raleigh Disc. Invention Shipping 29 in Judicious & Select Ess. (1650) Needing no other addition..then a slight spar Decke, fore and afte as the Seamen call it.
1709 London Gaz. No. 4543/2 He..raked her fore and aft with his Cannon.
1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 208 The pontons should be..sharpish fore and aft.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Fore and aft..also implies in a line with the keel.
B. adj.
a. (usually with hyphens). Placed or directed in the line of the vessel's length. Of sails (see quot. 1867); hence, of a vessel rigged with such sails. Also in combination fore-and-aft rigged adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > parts of vessels > body of vessel > either extremity of vessel > [adjective] > in the line of the vessel's length
fore and aft1820
1820 W. Scoresby Acct. Arctic Regions II. 197 (note) I have confined the term..gaff sails to the fore and aft sails.
1836 M. Scott Cruise of Midge xvii. 294 A large fore-and-aft rigged vessel.
1856 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 426 The Dean Richmond is a fore-and-aft schooner of 380 tons register.
1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Fore-and-aft sails, jibs, staysails, and gaffsails; in fact, all sails which are not set to yards.
1877 M. Foster Text Bk. Physiol. ii. i. 192 The grinding action of the molar teeth with a certain amount of lateral and fore and aft movement.
1879 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. (new ed.) I: Pt. i. §325 ‘Fore-and-aft’ rig is any rig in which..the chief sails come into the plane of mast or masts and keel, by the action of the wind upon the sails when the vessel's head is to wind.
b. spec. Applied to a field service cap.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [adjective] > like a cap > types of cap
lugged1489
marabas1538
tarfed1545
unbanded1570
high-crowned1598
brimless1615
Phrygian1618
poked1631
round-eared1724
winkered1804
peakless1844
shadeless1852
Mother Hubbard1877
visorless1889
fore and aft1940
visored1950
1940 War Illustr. 5 Jan. 571/2 Boys in the same battle~kit that the British Army wears, but with a maple-leaf badge in their fore-and-aft caps.
1950 A. Baron There's No Home viii. 87 He wore a British soldier's fore-and-aft cap with the flaps buttoned under his chin.
C. n.
? A cap with peaks both before and behind.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > headgear > [noun] > cap > types of > peaked > types of
tiar1513
tiara1555
jockey-cap1748
Mary Queen of Scots cap1813
baseball cap1865
baseball hat1867
cheese-cutter1870
fore and aft1888
staff cap1902
Mao cap1967
1888 Harper's Mag. Sept. 494 Women in jockey caps and fore-and-afts.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online December 2018).
<
adv.adj.n.a1618