| 释义 |
foreman|ˈfɔəmən|
Pl. foremen. Also for-.
[f. fore- prefix + man; cf. ON. formaðr, gen. -manns (perh. the source), also Du. voorman, Ger. vormann.]
†1. One who goes in front; a leader. Obs.
c1425Eng. Conq. Irel. lvii. 134 Steuenessone was forman, & opened the wey to þe Erl. 1580Baret Alv., A foreman, a guide, auspex. 1592G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 8 They cannot..bellow lustely like the foreman of the Heard. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 8 In the practice of this duty, the Apostle requireth that the Minister be the foreman. 1674tr. Scheffer's Lapland 117 The men are led up by a Laplander, whom they call Automwatze, or foreman, then follows the Bridegroom.
†b. pl. The front rank. Obs.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1619) 387 When..they had foiled the foremen, they turned themselves back. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. i. ii. (1622) 21 The enemy..lightly skirmishing with the flanks and the foremen; set amaine on the hindmost.
†c. The man in front (of another). Obs.
1598Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 36 Keeping the lower end of his pike on the one side of his foremans legge. 1607Dekker & Webster Sir T. Wyat D.'s Wks. 1873 III. 113 Euerie face Is lifted vp aboue his foremans head.
2. The principal juror, who presides at the deliberations of the jury, and communicates their verdict to the court.
1538Fitzherb. Just. Peas 89 The counterpane of the offyce..to remayne with the forman of the enquest. 1607Dekker Northw. Hoe ii. i. Wks. 1873 III. 20, I will looke grauely..like the fore-man of a Jury. 1711Addison Spect. No. 122 ⁋3 He..has been several times Foreman of the Petty-Jury. 1818Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiv, The foreman, called in Scotland the chancellor of the jury. 1840Hood Kilmansegg, Her Death xvi, At the Golden Lion the Inquest met, Its foreman a carver and gilder.
transf.1697C. Leslie Snake in Grass (ed. 2) 221 It is Subscrib'd by a Bakers Dozen of them; and George Fox the Fore-Man, in the Name of themselves.
3. One who takes the most prominent part; the chief or leader (of a party); the president (of a deliberative body). Obs. exc. locally in municipal use.
1603Florio Montaigne ii. xii. 294 Socrates, the foreman of his Dialogues doth ever aske and propose his disputation. 1643Prynne Sov. Power Parl. i. (ed. 2) 17 The Kings principall wicked Counsellers; of whom Winchester being the foreman, appealed. 1702S. Parker tr. Cicero's De Finibus 280 The Old Peripatetics too, and among them Aristotle, their Foreman. 1790Porson Lett. Travis 379 The foreman of the Apostles, Peter. 1805Southey Lett. (1856) I. 307 At length all the inhabitants of the grave arose, St. John at their head for foreman. 1835Rep. Commiss. Municip. Corp. XXVI. 2287 The Foreman of the commons [of Huntingdon] is appointed by a committee of burgesses.
4. The principal workman; spec., one who has charge of a department of work. foreman of the yard: one who superintends the gangers. working foreman: one who divides his time between labour and supervision.
1574Life Abp. Canterb. Pref. to Rdr. E v, It was but rough hewen by one of the prentises, and wanted sum polishing by the forman. 1631T. Powell Tom All Trades 174 Thomas the fore-man of the shop. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 46 The foreman, whose office is to mowe and place the sheaues aright. 1691Dryden K. Arthur Epil. Wks. 1884 VIII. 200 This precious fop Is foreman of a haberdasher's shop. 1703Moxon Mech. Exerc. 257 The Master-Bricklayer, or his Foreman, must take care to see all the Foundations set truly out. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §164 One of the masons..offered himself as foreman over the stone-cutters. 1863P. Barry Dockyard Econ. 79 Mr. Brown is the foreman of all the framework. 1878Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 38 Foremen plan out the work, and allot it to the artisans. 1893Labour Commission Gloss., Foremen of the Yards, a class of officers next above the ‘leading men’..and to whom the leading men are directly responsible.
b. ? An overseer or bailiff.
1774J. Q. Adams Fam. Lett. (1876) 7, I sometimes think I must come to this—to be the foreman upon my own farm. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. II. xxix. 294 Petersen had been foreman of the settlement. 1894–5Kelly's Oxford Direct. 342 J. Belcher, foreman to John Birt esq. Wood End farm.
†5. ? slang. ? A goose. Obs.
1622Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. iii, Ile soile you euer[y] long vacation a brace of foremen, that at Michaelmas shall come vp fat and kicking. [Differently in 1st ed.]
¶6. ? Used as ad. Du. voerman, carrier.
1641Evelyn Diary (1871) 25, I tooke wagon to Rotterdam, where we were hurried in lesse than an hour..so furiously do these Foremen drive. 1699R. L'Estrange Colloq. Erasm. (ed. 3) 260 We wait for the Antwerp Waggon..You must rise betimes to find a Fore-man [L. aurigam] Sober.
Hence ˈforeman v. trans. rare, to direct or oversee as a foreman. ˈforemanship, the office, post, or position of a foreman.
1853‘Mark Twain’ Let. (1917) I. 24 If he cannot get a foremanship. 1859Smiles Self-Help 17 The foremanship of a large workshop. 1886T. Wright in 19th Cent. XX. 534 The all-round workman requires as a rule very little foremaning. 1941H. J. Massingham Remembrance viii. 74 The craftsman..drilled the thin slabs with the slat⁓pick..in tune with the foremanship of the seasons. |