forehanded

adj

1. (US)Looking to the future; displaying foresight; prudent.

   “‘I dun'no' whether it air night or no,’ she said [...]. ‘I mought be too forehanded a-gittin' supper fur aught I kin tell.’”

   “First, a U.S. President is being forehanded for once. The new Common Market tariff structure has not yet begun to hurt our exporters (many of them, even more forehanded, have sought sanctuary by building new plants in Europe).”

   “"You're so forehanded that all your presents went a week ago, I suppose," Eleanor swept clear a chair.”

2. (US, obsolete)Wealthy.

   “The conditions of the old-time Salisbury hill-farm, which fed its owners on its spare-ribs and corn meal, and sweetened their taste with the crystallized sap of its maples, and which reckoned a man with a savings-bank account and a hundred stonewalled and unmortgaged acres "forehanded" if not positively rich, have ceased to be typical conditions of the American present-day prosperity.”

   “...cause if you have, look at that forehanded man there, Deacon Westfall, and you see the rich man.”

   “No, he is not poor at all. My father has got a good farm, and is quite forehanded.”

3. (not-comparable)Executed with a forehand stroke.

   “She caught a last glimpse of the pattern of the carpet when the forehanded chop with the edge of the palm came down on the back of the neck.”

4. Direct, straightforward, sincere.

   “Known as a 'forehanded' (straightforward) man, Cushing became a landowner and an investor in local industries.”

   “I happen to think that it is not only the most significant liberal paper but also the best, so its over-representation in these pages is a forehanded, rather than backhanded, compliment.”

   “A compliment, forehanded, she thought. They were so rare in life and even less often believed.”

5. (obsolete)Paid or executed in advance.

   “...whilst the price of restoration was always forehanded, the brotherhood had never been known to break their guarantee of honour.”

6. (obsolete)Pertaining to the forequarters of a horse.

   “Jaq. ...Then, to say the truth, Mary's very well forehanded too. Sanc. Forehanded --- oons this Oaf makes a Mare of my Daughter.”

adv

1. With a forehand stroke.

   “In delivering it forehanded, the ball is dropped in front of the left foot, and is struck when about a foot or even less from the ground.”