Obs. Forms: 1 fór, 3–5 fore, vore, 4 foore, 5 fowre. [OE. fór str. fem. = OHG. fuora (MHG. vuore, mod.Ger. fuhre):—OTeut. *fôrâ-, f. *fôr-, ablaut-var. of *far- to go: see FARE v.]
1. A going, journey, expedition. Also, an expeditionary force.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., V. ix. (1891), 412. He his fore ȝeȝearwede.
c. 1205. Lay., 5568.
| Brennes … mid starkere fore | |
| ferde toward Rome. | |
| Ibid., 5858. | |
| Þe cnihtes weoren on fore | |
| fer ut of Rome. |
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 386. Kyng Wyllam ysey … bote he adde help of hys men, hys fore nas ryȝt noȝt.
c. 1400. in Rel. Ant., I. 160.
| Sori is the fore | |
| Fram bedde to the flore. |
b. A rush, onset, charge.
c. 1205. Lay., 1676.
| & in þera ilke uore | |
| heo fælden of his iueren. |
c. 1300. K. Alis., 2355.
| Theose braken, at one fore, | |
| Heore launces on Nycanore. |
2. A track, trace.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 817. And so forleost þe hund his fore.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 227. Who folweth Cristes gospel and his fore.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 153. Þere were afterward i-sene foores and steppes of men and of hors. Ibid. (1398), Barth. De P. R., IX. viii. (1495), 353. The foores and the sygnes of Somer that is goon is all dystroyed.
3. The course of an affair; a proceeding, adventure.
c. 1205. Lay. 15578. For swa wes al þa uore. Ibid., 15810. Iwhiten þu wult þa uore nu þu hit scalt ihere.
c. 1320. Cast. Love, 1156. No tonge may tellen of þat fore.
