forth
- 1Forward or onward in time, place, or degree, continuing from a starting point.
From this day forth, the council will meet weekly.
From this time forth, I never will speak word.
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”Note
The oldest layer of the word: Old English forþ, kin to Dutch voort and German fort, from the same root as ford. In time it marks a starting point and all that follows, as in Shakespeare's Othello: "From this time forth." Everyday English keeps it mostly in set phrases like from this day forth, back and forth, and so forth. Used freely elsewhere, it sounds ceremonial or archaic. Do not confuse it with fourth.
- 2Out into view or into the open; outward from a particular place or position.
The witness stepped forth to give her account.
Warm spring rains brought forth blossoms across the orchard.
Note
This sense works mostly as a verb's companion rather than a word on its own. Plants put forth leaves, robbers leap forth, and in Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) a hero ventures forth into a region of supernatural wonder. Bring forth, call forth, set forth and come forth belong to the same family. Outside these pairings it reads as elevated or biblical, and plain English simply says out.
- 3Beyond a certain boundary; away from home or one's usual place; abroad; out.
The squire was forth on business when the summons arrived.
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night.
c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”Note
Where the other adverbs push outward, this one marks being away. In Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, "I have no mind of feasting forth to-night" means dining away from home. E. R. Eddison's archaizing romance The Worm Ouroboros (1922) uses forth of the wrastling ground for "out of," close to the prepositional use. Today the sense is purely period color, and away or abroad does the work.
Less common meaning
- 4Out of; from within or away from (a place).
She stepped forth the chamber without another word.
Some forth their cabins peepe.
a. 1631, John Donne, The StormeNote
A preposition with no from attached. In John Donne's The Storme, "Some forth their cabins peepe": they peep out of their cabins. Unlike the "out into view" adverb, it takes a noun directly as its object. Modern English no longer allows that and needs forth from or out of instead, so the bare pattern now survives only as a deliberate period effect.
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Origin
This sense comes from Middle English "forth," from Old English "forþ," from Proto-West Germanic "*forþ" and Proto-Germanic "*furþą," ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root "*per-." Related words include Dutch "voort" and German "fort."