v. Obs. [f. FORE- + DEEM.]
1. trans. To form a judgment of beforehand; to forecast, presage. Also intr. with of.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 288 b. And of a frende it was more standyng with humanitee & gentlenesse to hope the best, thenn to foredeme the wurst.
1557. N. T. (Genev.), Acts xvi. 16, marg. note. Which [mayde] could gesse & fordeme of things past, present & to come, which knowledge in many things God permitteth to the deuil.
a. 1639. Spottiswood, Hist. Ch. Scot., v. (1677), 272. His part was foul in the death of the Cardinal, and for it, when he was in his best estate, many did foredeem that he should not escape some misfortune.
1660. Plea Minist. Sequestration, 6. Too truly foredeeming their own turbulent subsequent actions if they regain their power.
2. To deem or account in advance.
1612. Webster, White Devil, I. i.
| Laugh at your misery, as fore-deeming you | |
| An idle meteor, which drawn forth, the earth | |
| Would be soon lost i’ the air. |
Hence Foredeemed ppl. a.; Foredeeming vbl. sb.
1587. T. Hughes, Misfort. Arthur, IV. iii. (1828), 67.
| We rashly rave, whiles from our present rage | |
| You frame a cause of long foredeemed doome. |
1587. Golding, De Mornay, Pref. 10. For foredeemings and foresetled opinions doo bring in bondage the reason of them that haue best wits.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 8. Who also hath adventured farther, and divulged under the name of autentike prophesies, grounded upon undoubted truth, the deceitfull conjectures and foredeemings of one Merline.
