fore and aft

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Wikipedia.

Related to fore and aft: Fore and aft sail

fore and aft

1. At the front and back of something. This phrase is nautical in origin, referring to the bow (located at the front) and the stern (located at the back) of a ship. We need to change the locks fore and aft, I'm afraid.

2. Everywhere; all over. There are people fore and aft—I'll never be able to find you!

fore and aft

at the front and the back, usually of a boat or ship. They had to attach new lights fore and aft because the old ones were not bright enough to meet the new regulations. The captain ordered a watch stationed fore and aft.

fore and aft

Both front and back, everywhere, as in The children clung to the teacher fore and aft. This expression is nautical terminology for the bow, or front, and the stern, or back, of a vessel. Today it is also used more broadly. [First half of 1600s]

See also: aft, and, fore

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

See also:

References in periodicals archive ?

The size of the cargo hold can be estimated by the requirement for tonnage at approximately 12 feet fore and aft between bulkheads (3.66 m).

The reconstruction of the vessel Indeavour

"At the time, the Langley's arresting gear consisted of wires running fore and aft suspended about 10 inches above the deck," wrote Polmar.

It all began with sand bags: a look back at U.S. Navy carrier arresting gear

Plywood strips were screwed and bonded to the top outside edge contour of the top deck, as well as the fore and aft of the cockpit.

Doubling up: two old sailboats become one new duck boat

All will be achieved by lessening the number of cows required to provide nice juicy rump steaks, after a lifetime of each expelling more damaging methane (fore and aft) than a stadium of drunken pop fans.

We'll meat again

The company says, along with these new looks, the redesigned headgear features improved ventilation along with fore and aft adjustments for a more individualized fit.

Lincoln Electric Company

The tray and front pad have greater (fore and aft) depth adjustment and greater height adjustment.

Standing frame with tray

The body is 211mm longer and gets bigger rear doors, a more flexible middle bench seat that now slides fore and aft plus a panoramic fixed sunroof.

Qashqai stretched!

The rubber element of Cushyfloat is configured to combine flexibility in the vertical and lateral modes, together with good longitudinal stiffness fore and aft. This, says Trelleborg, offers excellent vibration isolation properties with minimum movement under thrust forces.

Tough engine mount will ride the waves: biodiesel boat needed special engine mounting system to cope with battering from sea on round-the-world race

This machine comes standard with a front counter weight for greater fore and aft stability.

Terex Construction Americas

Armament: Two Bushmaster II 30 mm close-in guns, fore and aft; two Rolling Airframe missile launchers, fore and aft.

Building New York: twenty-four tons of steel from the fallen World Center was used to cast a piece of the USS New York, the fifth in a new class of U.S. Navy warships

The fore and aft sections of the 43,000 dwt vessels will be built at the Damen Shipyards Okean in Ukraine, while the mid-section will be built at the recently acquired Aker Yards Floro shipyard in Norway.

Aker Yards ASA receives USD350m contract for four parcel tankers from Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group

The car's flexibility is also enhanced by the ability to slide the rear bench fore and aft to vary the bias between passenger space and luggage space.

Motors: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED Honda CR-V 2.0 VTEC SE (below left) pounds 17,400

Table speed is controlled in both fore and aft directions by an AC variable-speed drive with a minimum speed of 5 ft/min and maximum speed of 180 ft/min.

Horizontal slitter

All supplies including food were carried on board the boat, stored in watertight containers below the main deck or in the fore and aft cabins.

Practical matters

Plus, there is a new, tiny Micro-Compact 1911, with grip-frame shortened fore and aft to take advantage of the shorter overall length of the .45 GAP cartridge.