forebear

English

Alternative forms

• forbear

Etymology

From fore- +‎ beer (“one who is or exists”). More at beer.

Noun

forebear (plural forebears)

1. An ancestor.
   • [1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr.

     Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold [...]

   • [1936] 2004, Raymond William Firth, We the Tikopia [1]

     One does not take one’s family name therefrom, and again the position of the mother in that group is determined through her father and his male forbears in turn; this too is a patrilineal group.

   • 1997, H. L. Hix, Understanding W. S. Merwin [2]

     Beginning with the bald declaration “I think I was cold in the womb,” the speaker in “The Forbears” then decides that his brother (who died soon after birth) must also have been cold in the womb, like his grandfather John and the forbears who antedated John.

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with: forbear verb.

Antonyms

• afterbear

Translations

ancestor

• Dutch: voorvader (nl)

• French: ancêtre (fr) m
• Spanish: ancestro (es) m and f, antepasado (es) m and f

Verb

forebear (third-person singular simple present forebears, present participle forebearing, simple past forebore, past participle foreborne)

1. Obsolete spelling of forbear.

Anagrams

• forbeare