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• fore-and-aft
  fore-and-aft

  adjective

  located along or parallel to a line from the stem to the stern.
• 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]

fore-and-aft

American  

[fawr-uhnd-aft, -ahft, fohr-] / ˈfɔr əndˈæft, -ˈɑft, ˈfoʊr- /

adjective

1. located along or parallel to a line from the stem to the stern.

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adverb

1. fore.

fore and aft Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of fore-and-aft

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

He noticed that the fore-and-aft stick movement, which raises or lowers the nose of the aircraft in flight, was slightly stiff, but he thought nothing of it at the time.

From Time Magazine Archive

An extended flying bridge deck provides good cover for the cockpit and fore-and-aft storage for the shore boat.

From Time Magazine Archive

The wave would rise through the keel and cradle the hull at its fore-and-aft point of balance.

From Time Magazine Archive

Eddie Allen tucked up her legs and she whisked away from the field, slim, slick, slightly bent in her fore-and-aft line so that her nose drooped like an ant-eater's.

From Time Magazine Archive

The little ship, like most traders of the Inmost Sea, bore the high fore-and-aft sail that can be turned to catch a headwind, and her master was a handy seaman, proud of his skill.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin