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the approach of others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a prognostic; as, the forerunner of a fever. Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even Jesus. Heb. vi. 20. My elder brothers, my forerunners, came. Dryden.

A forerunner; a precursor. [Obs.]

One who administers baptism; -- specifically applied to John, the forerunner of Christ. Milton.

Lamentable; doleful. [R.] "Funest and direful deaths." Coleridge. A forerunner of something very funest. Evelyn.

A forerunner; a precursor; a messenger. I knew by these harbingers who were coming. Landor.

A forerunner; a a precursor; a harbinger. It was the lark, the herald of the morn. Shak.

efix denoting priority (of time, place, or rank); as, precede, to go before; precursor, a forerunner; prefix, to fix or place before; preëminent eminent before or above others. Pre- is sometimes used intensively, as in prepotent, very potent. [Written also præ-.]

One who, or that which, precedes an event, and indicates its approach; a forerunner; a harbinger. Evil thoughts are the invisible, airy precursors of all the storms and tempests of the soul. Buckminster.

A forerunner; a precursor.

o indicate, the approach of death. [Obs.] Like the fearful tokens of the plague, Are mere forerunners of their ends. Beau. & Fl.

To introduce or escort, as an usher, forerunner, or harbinger; to forerun; -- sometimes followed by in or forth; as, to usher in a stranger; to usher forth the guests; to usher a visitor into the room. The stars that usher evening rose. Milton. The Examiner was ushered into the world by a letter, setting forth the grea…

d with light or satirical songs, set to familiar airs. The early vaudeville, which is the forerunner of the opera bouffe, was light, graceful, and piquant. Johnson's Cyc.