forehead

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English

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A human forehead.

Alternative forms

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”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈfɔː(ɹ)hɛd/, /ˈfɔːɹɛd/, /ˈfɒɹɪd/, /ˈfɒɹɛd/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈfɔɹˌhɛd/, (somewhat dated) /ˈfɔɹɛd/, /ˈfɔɹɪd/, /ˈfɑɹɪd/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)hɛd, -ɒɹɪd, -ɔɹɪd, -ɑɹɪd

Noun

forehead (countable and uncountable, plural foreheads)

  1. (countable) The part of the face above the eyebrows and below the hairline.
    • 1865, Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan:
      '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.’'
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      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.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      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. […].
  2. (uncountable) confidence; audacity; impudence.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , lines 691-93:
      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 debility
  3. The upper part of a mobile phone, above the screen.

Synonyms

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Translations

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