foretoken
verbEtymology From Middle English *foretoknen, fortaknen, from Old English foretācnian (“to foreshow”).
1
To betoken beforehand; prognosticate; foreshadow; give warning of; presage.
- Derived terms
- foretokening
foretoken
nounEtymology From Middle English foretokne, fortacne, from Old English foretācn, foretācen (“foretoken, presage, prognostic, prodigy, sign, wonder”), equivalent to fore- + token. Cognate with Dutch voorteken, German Low German Vörteken, German Vorzeichen.
1
A prognostic; a premonitory sign; warning or presentiment.
- Therefore know you Gentlemen (to whom from my harte I wish that it may not proue ominous foretoke[n] of misfortune to haue mette with such a miser as I am) that whatsoeuer my sonne (ô God, that trueth binds me to reproch him with the name of my sonne) hath said, is true.1590, Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, Book II, ch. 10: