[f. FORE- pref. + LEG sb.] One of the front legs of a quadruped; also, rarely one of the anterior limbs of a biped.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg. (1692), 1079. A grete wulfe syttyng & embracyng the heed betwene his forleggys.
1509. Hawes, The Pastime of Pleasure, XXXVII. iii.
| His necke silver, and thicke as a bull; | |
| His breste stele, and like an olyphant; | |
| His forelegges latyn, and of fethers full; | |
| Ryght lyke a grype was every tallaunt. |
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 133. That it is called a Tramell when a Horses neere fore-legge and his neere hinder-legge, two handfull aboue the pasterne ioynts, are so fastened together with leathers and cords, that he cannot put forward his fore-legge.
1658. Osborn, Adv. Son (1682), 68. This a Carver at Court, formerly in good esteem with King James, found to his prejudice, who being laughed at by him, for saying The wing of a Rabbet, maintained it as congruous as the fore-leg of a Capon, a Phrase used in Scotland, and by himself here.
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XI. ii. The beast now, unluckily making a false step, fell upon his fore legs, and threw his fair rider from his back.
1862. Huxley, Lect. Wrkg. Men, 23. Strange, is it not, that the Porpoise should have in this queer-looking affair—its flapper (as it is called), the same fundamental elements as the fore-leg of the Horse or the Dog, or the Ape or Man; and here you will notice a very curious thing,—the hinder limbs are absent.
1875. W. S. Hayward, Love agst. World, 13. Though he got his fore legs well on the bank he was short with his hind ones.
