FRONT

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French frunt, ~, from Latin ~-, frons Date: 13th century 1. forehead , external and often feigned appearance especially in the face of danger or adversity, 2. a. vanguard , a line of battle, a zone of conflict between armies, b. a stand on an issue ; policy , an area of activity or interest , a movement linking divergent elements to achieve common objectives, a side of a building, 4. the forward part or surface, b. ~age , a beach promenade at a seaside resort, dickey 1a, the boundary between two dissimilar air masses, beginning , 6. a. a position ahead of a person or of the foremost part of a thing, (2) — used as a call by a hotel desk clerk in summoning a bellhop a position of leadership or superiority, 7. a person, group, or thing used to mask the identity or true character or activity of the actual controlling agent, a person who serves as the nominal head or spokesman of an enterprise or group to lend it prestige, II. verb Date: 1523 intransitive verb to have the ~ or principal side adjacent to something, to serve as a ~ , transitive verb 1. con~ , to appear before , 2. to be in ~ of , to be the leader of (a musical group) , to face toward or have ~age on , to supply a ~ to , 5. to articulate (a sound) with the tongue farther forward, to move (a word or phrase) to the beginning of a sentence, to play in ~ of (an opposing player) rather than between the player and the basket, advance 7 , III. adjective Date: 1600 1. of, relating to, or situated at the ~, acting as a ~ , articulated at or toward the ~ of the oral passage , constituting the first nine holes of an 18-hole golf course, ~ adverb IV. abbreviation ~ispiece