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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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

Improvements in rigging enabled the construction of larger, more maneuverable ships with both square-rigged and fore-and-aft sails.

From Time Magazine Archive

Aft, the boat deck is as solid as a concrete sidewalk, and easily holds a 14-foot Zodiac tender on fore-and-aft fiberglass ribs.

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

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

Large fore and aft cargo doors can malfunction and leak.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 8, 2020

They move by bending their bodies from side to side, called lateral undulation, in a fish-like manner while “walking” their arms and legs fore and aft.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Mrs. Johnson loved it; she was in love with the redwood paneling, the wall-to- wall carpeting, the picture windows fore and aft, the view that the rear window provided—hills, a valley, then sky and ocean.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote