Meanings
forestage1
plural forestages
- The part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain.
- A preliminary or developmental stage.
The formation of exogenous uric acid is largely within our power; the amount can be diminished by limiting the forestages of uric acid-nucleins and purin derivatives—in the food.
1905, AMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association3 more examples
The various foot abnormalities have been found to belong to a series of specific types (I to V), all of which have their forestages in embryonic blebs, the final location of which has proved to be decisive for the type of abnormality.
1934, The journal of experimental zoology - Volume 67, page 515The antecedents of exhange are the subjective forms of appropriation of alien possessions, robbery and gift-giving - just as presents given to the chief and penalties imposed by the chief represent forestages of taxation.
2001, Jeffrey C Alexander, Mainstream and Critical Social Theory, →ISBNThe explanation of Gnostic ideas “in terms of themselves,” i.e., in terms of their historical foundations, is futile, for in that way they are reduced only to their less developed forestages but not understood in their actual significance.
2013, Alfred Ribi, The Search for Roots: C. G. Jung and the Tradition of Gnosis, →ISBN, page 150 - obsoleteForecastle.
Another letter of 1462 also mentions 'great forestages out of Spain'.
1977, Leonard George Carr Laughton, Roger Charles Anderson, William Gordon Perrin, The Mariner's Mirror - Volume 63, page 3673 more examples
Ships of Forecastle were ships with Forestages, and carried about 150 men each ; they were the largest ships then in use.
1787, John Fenn, Original letters, written during the reigns of Henry VI.This account differs from that in the Cottonian Roll, as well as from that given by Hackluyt, which are both 14,956. In neither of these, however, is any mention of the ships of forstage, the barges, ballengers, or victuallers.
1838, The United Service Magazine, page 22The oldest have single-decked and open forestages and the hulls are clinker-built for the characteristic nail pattern is shown; the planks are short.
1979, Frank Howard, Sailing Ships of War, 1400-1860, page 19
present singular third person forestages · participle present forestaging · participle past forestaged · past forestaged
- entertainmentTo block so that someone or something appears in the forestage.
There is subtle thought, even profound thought, not so much in the working out of the plots as in the selection and forestaging of such humorous situations as make the plots work themselves out.
1925, O. Henry, Works - Volume 13, page xxiii1 more example
Yet, despite the invocation of cultural practices in images, the facade setting preventing the spectators' attention from wandering to an outside environment, prevented spectators from seeing the action as a natural aspect of a total environment by forestaging the action as a construct in response to particular situations.
1991, Susan Lisbeth Chast, Ellen Stewart and La Mama: A Study of Theatrical Spaces - broadlyTo make prominent; to bring into focus.
Not only was Binodlal one of the first to forestage sontap (“heat”) as the key element in fevers, but he was also one of the first to try to understand sontap as "motion."
2016, Projit Bihari Mukharji, Doctoring Traditions: Ayurveda, Small Technologies, and Braided Sciences, →ISBN1 more example
It forestages the insistent presence of patterns of centre/periphery relations within Chicanidad, or rather the presence of multi-tier Chicanidades, with substantial disparities regarding the needs and problems of their members, increasing the gap between the centred and the peripheral ones.
2016, Züleyha Çetiner-Öktem, Mythmaking across Boundaries, →ISBN, page 61
forestage2
plural forestages
- UKhistoricallawA service paid by foresters to the king.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe part of a modern theater stage between the curtain and the orchestra (i.e., in front of the curtain)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
forestage · noun, verb
- Middle Englishforstage
- Englishforestage
From Middle English forstage, equivalent to fore- + stage.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian авансце́на
- авансце́на (avanscéna)the part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Catalan prosceni
- proscenithe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
French avant-scène
- avant-scènethe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
German Vorbühne
- Vorbühnethe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Italian ribalta
- ribaltathe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Latin proscēnium
- proscēniumthe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Portuguese ribalta
- ribaltathe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Russian авансце́на
- авансце́на (avanscéna)the part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Turkish perde arkası
- perde arkasıthe part of a theatre stage in front of the closed curtain
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
forestage. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forestage
“forestage.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forestage. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forestage,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forestage.
Source: forestage on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.