Meanings
present singular third person forgrows · participle present forgrowing · past forgrew · participle past forgrown
- intransitiveobsoleteTo grow to excess or out of shape; grow unduly.
A terror to the new made folke, which neuer erst had knowne So foule a Dragon in their life, so monstrously foregrowne, So great a ground thy poyson paunch did vnderneath thée hide.
1567, Arthur Golding, transl., The XV Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, Book 1 - intransitiveobsoleteTo become grown over; overgrow; become covered with growth (usually one that is excessive or unsightly).
Plutarch saith that mens minds do rust and forgrow through idlenes […]
1595, Jacques Hurault, translated by Arthur Golding, Politicke, Moral and Martial Discourses, London: Adam Islip, Book 2, Chapter 9, p. 2981 more example
And after the floode was passed & Noy and his housholde come out of the arke, the worlde beyng deuided among his thre sonnes, Sem, Cham, and Iaphethe, and that the people began eftsones to multiplye and increase, the worlde was so forgrowen in wickednes, that there was none found, that truely worshipped god […]
1561, John Gough, “To the Christian Reader”, in A Godly Boke Wherein is Contayned Certayne Fruitefull, Godlye, and Necessarye Rules, London: William Seres
Origin
- Old Englishforgrōwan“to grow up, grow into, increase, overgrow”
- Middle Englishforgrowen
- Englishforgrow
From Middle English forgrowen, from Old English forgrōwan (“to grow up, grow into, increase, overgrow”), equivalent to for- + grow.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
forgrow. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgrow
“forgrow.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgrow. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forgrow,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forgrow.
Source: forgrow on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.