foretoken
noun, verb
Forms foretokens foretokening foretokened
- noun A prognostic; a premonitory sign; warning or presentiment.
- verb (transitive) To betoken beforehand; prognosticate; foreshadow; give warning of; presage.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English foretokne, fortacne, from Old English foretācn, foretācen (“foretoken, presage, prognostic, prodigy, sign, wonder”), equivalent to fore- + token. Cognate with Dutch voorteken, German Low German Vörteken, German Vorzeichen.
From Middle English *foretoknen, fortaknen, from Old English foretācnian (“to foreshow”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Prognostic; previous omen. Sir P. Sidney.
- verb To foreshow; to presignify; to prognosticate.
Etymology [AS. foretacen. See Token.]
Etymology [AS. foretacnian; fore + tacnian.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “foretoken”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details