[f. FRONT v. + -ING2.] That fronts (in senses of the vb.).
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., IV. iv. 66. Oh, with what Wings shall his Affections flye Towards fronting Perill, and oppos’d Decay?
a. 1711. Ken, Hymns Evang., Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 82. They made supernal Waves asunder start, And into fronting liquid Bastions part.
1797. Coleridge, This Lime-Tree Bower, etc., 54. Those fronting elms.
1816. Keatinge, Trav. (1817), I. 192. Their military (infantry) is formed in a long and close lane of two fronting ranks, the great drums are beaten, and the standards are displayed.
1844. Mrs. Browning, Lady Geraldine’s Courtship, 65.
| Then, she smiled around right childly, then, she gazed around right queenly; | |
| And I bowed—I could not answer! Alternated light and gloom— | |
| While as one who quells the lions, with a steady eye serenely, | |
| She, with level fronting eyelids, passed out stately from the room. |
1846. Ld. Houghton, Men of Old, iv. Content, as men-at-arms, to cope Each with his fronting foe.
Hence Frontingly adv.
1859. Chamb. Jrnl., XI. 128. Hostile armies … On dimly tented fields, stand frontingly.
