The waiting-room was now less empty than Watt had at first supposed, to judge by the presence, some two paces to Watt'sfore, and as many to his right, of what seemed to be an object of some importance.
2002, Mark Bevir,The Logic of the History of Ideas:
People face a dilemma whenever they bring to thefore an understanding that appears inadequate in the light of the other beliefs they bring to bear on it.
late 13th century,Guido Guinizelli,Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore [Love always dwells in the noble heart][1], lines11–12, 15–17; republished in Gianfranco Contini, editor,Poeti italiani del Duecento, volume 2, Milan; Naples: Riccardo Ricciardi,1960:
Foco d’amore in gentil cor s’aprende come vertute in petra prezïosa, […] poi che n’ha trattofòre per sua forza lo sol ciò che li è vile, stella li dà valore
The flame of love seizes the noble heart like virtue [does] a gem,[…] after the Sun has broughtout of it, through its might, what of it is lowly; a star gives it value
Formally present active infinitive corresponding tofuī(“I have been”), irregular perfect indicative ofsum(“I am”). FromProto-Italic*fuiezi (s-derivative verbal noun of*fuiō), fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH-(“to become, be”), cognate withOld Englishbēo(“I become, I will be, I am”). In classical Latin, the fu- forms ofsum are mostly limited to the perfect tenses, but old Latin has alternate present and imperfect subjunctive formsfuam andforem (for classicalsim andessem) suggesting the root could once be fully conjugated. After being incorporated in the conjugation ofsum, the meaning offore shifted from the original "to become" to the classical "to be going to be".
“fore”, inCharlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879),A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“fore”, inCharlton T. Lewis (1891),An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"fore", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’sGlossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
