forehead
nounUK /ˈfɔːhɛd/ · US /ˈfɔɹ.hɛd/
Etymology From Middle English forhed, forheed, from Old English forehēafod, from Proto-West Germanic *forēhaubid, corresponding to fore- + head. Cognate with Scots foreheid (“forehead”), Dutch voorhoofd (“forehead”), German Vorhaupt (“forehead”), Danish forhoved (“brow; forehead; face”). Compare also West Frisian foarholle (“forehead”), German Low German Vörkopp (“forehead”).
1
The part of the face above the eyebrows and below the hairline.
- 'This question the Dodo could not answer without a great deal of thought, and it sat for a long time with one finger pressed upon its forehead (the position in which you usually see Shakespeare, in the pictures of him), while the rest waited in silence. At last the Dodo said, ‘everybody has won, and all must have prizes.’'1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan:
- Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.[…]She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
1 more example
- The face which emerged was not reassuring. It was blunt and grey, the nose springing thick and flat from high on the frontal bone of the forehead, whilst his eyes were narrow slits of dark in a tight bandage of tissue.[…].1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2
confidence; audacity; impudence.
- Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty; For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood, Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debilityc. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], lines 691-93:
3
The upper part of a mobile phone, above the screen.
- Synonyms
- brow
- Derived terms
- fivehead, foreheaded, forehead thermometer, midforehead