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Near the beginning; preceeding; as, the former part of a discourse or argument.

A Linnæan genus of hymenopterous insects, including the common ants. See Ant.

To deny upon oath. Like innocence, and as serenely bold As truth, how loudly he forswears thy gold! Dryden. To forswear one's self, to swear falsely; to peforswear thyself."

Throughly; from beginning to end. [Obs.] Shak. And so forth, Back and forth, From forth. See under And, Back, and From. -- Forth of, Forth from, out of [Obs.] Shak. -- To bring forth. See under Bring.

the ffirst steps or measures in erecting or building up; to furnish the materials for beginning; to begin to raise; to originate; as, to found a college; to found a family. There they shall found Their government, and their great senate choose. Milton.

The act of founding, fixing, establishing, or beginning to erect.

, to certain machines built upon or within framework; as, a stocking frame; lace frame; spinning frame, etc.

Clear of offense or crime; guiltless; innocent. My hands are guilty, but my heart is free. Dryden.

oint of space or time at which the action, state, etc., are regarded as setting out or beginning; also, less frequently, the source, the cause, the occasion, out of which anything proceeds; -- the aritithesis and correlative of to; as, it, is one hundred miles from Boston to Springfield; he took his sword from his side…

The beginning. "Summer's front." Shak. Bastioned front (Mil.), a curtain connerting two half bastions. -- Front door, the door in the front wall of a building, usually the principal entrance. -- Front of fortification, the works constructed upon any one side of a polygon. Farrow. -- Front of operations, all that par…

an soweth strife. Prov. xvi. 28. A froward retention of custom is as turbulent a thing as innovation. Bacon.

A hinny.

To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition; as, to gain a battle; to gain a case at law; to gain a prize.

Manner of walking or stepping; bearing or carriage while moving. 'T is Cinna; I do know him by his gait. Shak.

, or belt, which is seen at night stretching across the heavens, and which is composed of innumerable stars, so distant and blended as to be distinguishable only with the telescope. The term has recently been used for remote clusters of stars. Nichol.

ntest, physical or mental, according to certain rules, for amusement, recreation, or for winning a stake; as, a game of chance; games of skill; field games, etc. But war's a game, which, were their subject wise, Kings would not play at. Cowper.

games. When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner. Shak.

e Ganoidei. Ganoid scale (Zoöl.), one kind of scales of the ganoid fishes, composed of an inner layer of bone, and an outer layer of shining enamel. They are often so arranged as to form a coat of mail.

That part of blastoderm where the hypoblast appears like a small disk on the inner face of the epibladst.

ning or mouth (the blastopore) which leads into the cavity (the archenteron) lined by the inner wall (the hypoblast). See Illust. under Invagination. In a more general sense, an ideal stage in embryonic development. See Gastræa. -- a.