Foreshow v.

[OE. forescéawian, f. FORE- pref. + scéawian to SHOW.]

  † 1.  trans. To look out for; to provide; to contemplate in the future. Only OE. and early ME.

c. 1000.  Ælfric, Judg. vi. 8. He him foresceawode sumne heretoȝan.

c. 1175.  Cott. Hom., 227. Se time com þe god forescewede.

c. 1200.  Vices & Virtues (1888), 17. Ðare hierte ðe ne wile forsceawin h(w)ider he seal ðanne he henen farð.

  2.  To show or make known beforehand; chiefly, to foretell, prognosticate.

1561.  T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., II. 82. God there foresheweth some peculiar thing concerning his electes.

1642–6.  in J. Quincy, Hist. Harvard Univ. (1840), I. 517. No scholar shall, under any pretence of recreation or other cause whatever (unless foreshowed and allowed by the President or his Tutor), be absent from his studies or appointed exercises, above an hour, &c.

1651.  C. Cartwright, Certamen Religiosum, I. 110. He foreshews that many should come in his name, pretending themselves to be Christ, and forewarnes to beware of them.

1711.  Pope, Temp. Fame, 462.

1826.  E. Irving, Babylon, II. 316. He gave Enoch a commission to foreshow the deluge, and warn that wicked generation to turn from their iniquity.

1879.  Butcher & Lang, Odyssey, 196. If thou hurtest them, I foreshow ruin for thy ship and for thy men, and even though thou shouldest thyself escape, late shalt thou return in evil plight with the loss of all thy company.

  b.  Of things: To indicate beforehand, give promise or warning of; to foreshadow, prefigure.

1601.  Chester, Love’s Mart., cix. (1878), 71.

1704.  J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Barometer.… In very hot Weather the Falling of the Mercury foreshews Thunder.

1776.  G. Horne, Psalms, xlvii. 3. This is that great conquest, foreshewed by the victories of Joshua, David, and all the faithful heroes of old time, and foretold in language borrowed from their histories.

1834.  Good, Study Med. (ed. 4), II. 245. Towards the close of the disease, aphthæ frequently affect the interior of the mouth, and generally foreshow imminent death.

1860.  Pusey, The Minor Prophets, 40. God had Himself, after the fall, enjoined sacrifice, to foreshow and plead to Himself the one meritorious Sacrifice of Christ.

  † 3.  To show forth, betoken, display. Obs.

1590.  [Tarlton], News Purgat. (1844), 91. Glances that foreshewed good will.

1607.  H. Arthington, Princ. Points, I. v.

1608.  Shaks., Per., IV. i. 86.

  Hence Foreshown ppl. a. Also Foreshower, one who or that which foreshows.

1555.  Watreman, Fardle Facions, Pref. 13. Then sette he vp pilgrimages to deuilles, foreshewers of thynges, that gaue aduertisemente and answere to demaundes in sondrie wise.

1584.  R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XI. vi. 157. Pretending that everie Bird and Beast, &c., should be sent from the Bods as fore-shewers of somewhat.

1585.  Abp. Sandys, Serm. (1841), 388. The signs mentioned by Christ in the gospel, which should be the foreshewers of this terrible day, are almost already all fulfilled.

1658.  Bromhall, Treat. Specters, IV. 258. No sign in the Zodiack more fortunate then Gemini, and were were fore-shewers of a happy voyage.

1755.  Johnson, Foreteller, predicter, foreshower.

1844.  Mrs. Browning, Drama of Exile, Poems (1850), I. 68.

1852.  Peacock, Wks. (1875), III. 380.