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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

See Examples For:

fore-and-aft fore and aft

The starboard stateroom has fore-and-aft twins, while the port is fitted with an athwartship queen berth.

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

The two lines defined a void in between, where a continuous wall of sliding panels, fore and aft, opened to gardens between the facade and the rooms.

From New York Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

In Montana, the GPS searches for my salvation, fore and aft.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 20, 2020

Her 20-foot fiberglass boat, with snarling teeth painted on the bow, had fore and aft cabins and an open space in the middle where she could work the oars.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2020

Unlike the British specialty aircraft, the NC-4 and its sister seaplanes were built to be submarine chasers with machine gun mounts fore and aft.

From Washington Times ● May 16, 2019

A pair of half-men waited at the gangway, keeping guard and another pair were on the ship fore and aft.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi