front

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French frunt, front, from Latin front-, frons Date: 13th century 1. a. forehead; also the whole face b. external and often feigned appearance especially in the face of danger or adversity 2. a. (1) vanguard (2) a line of battle (3) a zone of conflict between armies b. (1) a stand on an issue ; policy (2) an area of activity or interest <

progress on the educational front

> (3) a movement linking divergent elements to achieve common objectives; especially a political coalition 3. a side of a building; especially the side that contains the principal entrance 4. a. the forward part or surface b. (1) frontage (2) a beach promenade at a seaside resort c. dickey 1a d. the boundary between two dissimilar air masses 5. archaic beginning 6. a. (1) a position ahead of a person or of the foremost part of a thing (2) — used as a call by a hotel desk clerk in summoning a bellhop b. a position of leadership or superiority 7. a. a person, group, or thing used to mask the identity or true character or activity of the actual controlling agent b. a person who serves as the nominal head or spokesman of an enterprise or group to lend it prestige II. verb Date: 1523 intransitive verb 1. to have the front or principal side adjacent to something; also to have frontage on something <

a ten-acre plot fronting on a lake — Current Biography

> 2. to serve as a front <

fronting for special interests

> transitive verb 1. a. confront <

went to the woods because I wished…to front only the essential facts of life — H. D. Thoreau

> b. to appear before <

daily fronted him in some fresh splendor — Alfred Tennyson

> 2. a. to be in front of <

a lawn fronting the house

> b. to be the leader of (a musical group) <

appeared as a soloist and fronted bands

> 3. to face toward or have frontage on <

the house fronts the street

> 4. to supply a front to <

fronted the building with bricks

> 5. a. to articulate (a sound) with the tongue farther forward b. to move (a word or phrase) to the beginning of a sentence 6. basketball to play in front of (an opposing player) rather than between the player and the basket 7. advance 7 <

fronted him the cash

> III. adjective Date: 1600 1. a. of, relating to, or situated at the front b. acting as a front <

front company

> 2. articulated at or toward the front of the oral passage <

front vowels

> 3. constituting the first nine holes of an 18-hole golf course • front adverb IV. abbreviation frontispiece