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forelock

nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #14,725 of 15,258neutral

A forelock is the lock of hair falling over a horse's forehead. Trim the forelock, the forelock over its eyes, part the forelock.

Of a person it is the piece of hair over the brow, and touching your forelock is the old gesture of deference to a social superior. Tugging the forelock is still used for anybody being servile.

Unknown · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of forelock

  1. 1nounforelockThe lock of hair falling over a horse's forehead.C2

    “The pony shook its head, and its long forelock fell over its eyes.”

forelock is a hair.

Where it comes from

Old English forelocc is fore plus lock, a tress of hair.

  1. Old English

    forelocc

  2. Middle English

    *forelock

  3. English, today

    forelock

From Middle English forelock, forelok, from Old English forelocc, equivalent to fore- + lock.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Horses & Riding

Practise this word

forelock in the wild

  • In English Showmanship, horses often have a braided mane, tail, and forelock.

    Horse showmanship

  • The forelock or foretop is a part of a horse's mane, that grows from the animal's poll and falls forward between the ears and onto the forehead.

    Forelock

  • A frentera can be split at the top to pass on either side of the forelock, or on either side of the ears.

    Frentera

  • Type 1 results in early graying and white forelock and a notable distance between the eyes, noted as dystopia canthorum.

    Waardenburg syndrome type 1

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

  • lock
  • locker
  • unlock
  • overlock