From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
forward
adj 1: at or near or directed toward the front; "the forward
section of the aircraft"; "a forward plunge down the
stairs"; "forward motion" [ant: backward]
2: moving toward a position ahead; "forward motion"; "the
onward course of events" [syn: onward]
3: used of temperament or behavior; lacking restraint or
modesty; "a forward child badly in need of discipline"
[ant: backward]
4: of the transmission gear causing forward movement in a motor
vehicle; "in a forward gear" [ant: reverse]
5: moving forward [syn: advancing, forward-moving]
6: situated at or toward the front; "the fore cabins"; "the
forward part of the ship"
7: situated in the front; "the forward section of the aircraft"
n 1: the person who plays the position of forward on a basketball
team
2: a position on a basketball team
adv 1: at or to or toward the front; "he faced forward"; "step
forward"; "she practiced sewing backward as well as
frontward on her new sewing machine"; (`forrad' and
`forrard' are dialectal variations) [syn: forwards,
frontward, frontwards, forrad, forrard] [ant:
back]
2: forward in time or order or degree; "from that time forth";
"from the sixth century onward" [syn: forth, onward]
3: toward the future; forward in time; "I like to look ahead in
imagination to what the future may bring"; "I look forward
to seeing you" [syn: ahead] [ant: back]
4: in a forward direction; "go ahead"; "the train moved ahead
slowly"; "the boat lurched ahead"; "moved onward into the
forest"; "they went slowly forward in the mud" [syn:
ahead, onward, onwards, forwards, forrader]
5: near or toward the bow of a ship or cockpit of a plane; "the
captain went fore (or forward) to check the instruments"
[syn: fore] [ant: aft]
v : send or ship onward from an intermediate post or station in
transit; "forward my mail" [syn: send on]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forward \For"ward\, n. [OE., fr. AS. foreweard; fore before +
weard a ward. See Ward, n.]
An agreement; a covenant; a promise. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Tell us a tale anon, as forward is. --Chaucer.
Forward
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forward \For"ward\, Forwards \For"wards\, adv. [AS. forweard,
foreweard; for, fore + -weardes; akin to G. vorw[aum]rts. The
s is properly a genitive ending. See For, Fore, and
-ward, -wards.]
Toward a part or place before or in front; onward; in
advance; progressively; -- opposed to backward.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forward \For"ward\, a.
1. Near, or at the fore part; in advance of something else;
as, the forward gun in a ship, or the forward ship in a
fleet.
[1913 Webster]
2. Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense,
overready; too hasty.
[1913 Webster]
Only they would that we should remember the poor;
the same which I also was forward to do. --Gal. ii.
10.
[1913 Webster]
Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. Ardent; eager; earnest; in an ill sense, less reserved or
modest than is proper; bold; confident; as, the boy is too
forward for his years.
[1913 Webster]
I have known men disagreeably forward from their
shyness. --T. Arnold.
[1913 Webster]
4. Advanced beyond the usual degree; advanced for the season;
as, the grass is forward, or forward for the season; we
have a forward spring.
[1913 Webster]
The most forward bud
Is eaten by the canker ere it blow. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Forward \For"ward\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Forwarded; p. pr. &
vb. n. Forwarding.]
1. To help onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to
quicken; to hasten; as, to forward the growth of a plant;
to forward one in improvement.
[1913 Webster]
2. To send forward; to send toward the place of destination;
to transmit; as, to forward a letter.
[1913 Webster]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
forward
<messaging> (verb) To send (a copy of) an electronic mail
message that you have received on to one or more other
addressees. Most e-mail systems can be configured to do
this automatically to all or certain messages, e.g. Unix
sendmail looks for a ".forward" file in the recipient's
home directory.
A mailing list server (or "mail exploder") is designed to
forward messages automatically to lists of people.
Unix manual page: aliases(5).
(2000-03-22)