forelock
English
Etymology 1
From Middle English *forelock, *forelok, from Old English forelocc, equivalent to fore- + lock.
Noun
forelock (plural forelocks)
- The part of a person's hairstyle which covers the forehead.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554, lines 300-303:
- His fair large front and eye sublime declared / Absolute rule; and hyacinthine locks / Round from his parted forelock manly hung / Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad:
- 1734, The Koran: Commonly Called the Alkoran of Mohammed, translated by George Sale, Sura 96, Congealed Blood,
- Doth he not know that GOD seeth? / Assuredly. Verily, if he forbear not, we will drag him by the forelock, / the lying, sinful forelock. / And let him call his council to assistance: / we also will call the infernal guards to cast him into hell.
- 1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, XXXVIII,
- Warm with the blood of lads I know / Comes east the sighing air. / / It fanned their temples, filled their lungs, / Scattered their forelocks free;
- 1978, Edmund White, Nocturnes for the King of Naples, New York: St. Martin's Press, Chapter VIII, p. 135,
- This little boy, still flicking his head to one side between sentences though the long blond forelock that once excused the tic had been cut […]
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- The part of a horse's (or similar animal's) mane that lies on its forehead.
- 1898, Ivan Turgenev, in A Lear of the Steppes and Other Stories, translated by Constance Garnett, New York: Macmillan: 1898, p. 146,
- […] the gates themselves slowly parted, there appeared a large horse's head, with a plaited forelock under a decorated yoke, and slowly there rolled into the road a small cart, like those driven by horse-dealers, and higglers.
- 1945, George Orwell, chapter 5, in Animal Farm:
- Even Boxer was vaguely troubled. He set his ears back, shook his forelock several times, and tried hard to marshal his thoughts; but in the end he could not think of anything to say.
- 1898, Ivan Turgenev, in A Lear of the Steppes and Other Stories, translated by Constance Garnett, New York: Macmillan: 1898, p. 146,
Synonyms
- (part of hairstyle): bangs (US), fringe (UK)
- (part of horse's mane): foretop
Derived terms
- forelocked
- forelocking
- take time by the forelock
- tug one's forelock, pull one's forelock, touch one's forelock
Translations
hair that hangs over the forehead
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front part of a mane
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Etymology 2
From Middle English forelok, equivalent to fore- + lock.
Noun
forelock (plural forelocks)
- A wedge pushed through a hole at the end of a bolt to hold it in place.
Verb
forelock (third-person singular simple present forelocks, present participle forelocking, simple past and past participle forelocked)
- To fix in place with a forelock (wedge)
- 1835, James Fenimore Cooper, chapter 14, in The Monikins:
- At one extremity each pair was firmly connected by a short, massive, iron link, of about two feet in length; and, at its opposite end, a large eye-bolt was driven into each stick, where it was securely forelocked.
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