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.
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Only they would that we should remember the poor;
the same which I also was forward to do. --Gal. ii.
10.
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Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. --Shak.
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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.
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I have known men disagreeably forward from their
shyness. --T. Arnold.
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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.
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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 WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
forward
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: forward,
forwards, frontward, frontwards, forrad,
forrard] [ant: back, backward, backwards,
rearward, rearwards]
2: forward in time or order or degree; "from that time forth";
"from the sixth century onward" [syn: forth, forward,
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, forward] [ant: back,
backward]
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, forward, 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, forward] [ant: abaft, aft, astern]
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: used of temperament or behavior; lacking restraint or
modesty; "a forward child badly in need of discipline" [ant:
backward]
3: of the transmission gear causing forward movement in a motor
vehicle; "in a forward gear" [ant: reverse]
4: moving forward [syn: advancing, forward, {forward-
moving}]
n 1: the person who plays the position of forward in certain
games, such as basketball, soccer, or hockey
2: a position on a basketball, soccer, or hockey team
v 1: send or ship onward from an intermediate post or station in
transit; "forward my mail" [syn: forward, send on]
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008) [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)