forthdraw

forth·draw
F4O1R1T1H4D2R1A1W4
UK/fɔːθˈdɹɔː/US/fɔɹθˈdɹɔ/

verb

To draw or bring forth.

Scrabble 19

Meanings

verbforthdraw (third-person singular simple present forthdraws, present participle forthdrawing, simple past forthdrew, past participle forthdrawn)

present singular third person forthdraws · participle present forthdrawing · past forthdrew · participle past forthdrawn · alternative forth-draw

  1. obsoletepoetictransitiveTo draw or bring forth.

    He spoke; and from the bleeding neck the copper lance forthdrew, And threw 't aside […]

    1866, Homer, translated by John Stuart Blackie, Homer and the Iliad, volumes III (The Iliad in English Verse. Books XIII.–XXIV.), Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, →OCLC, book XXII, page 343
    4 more examples

    Vpon a day as ſhe him ſate beſide, By chance he certaine miniments forth drew, Which yet with him as relickes did abide Of all the bounty which Belphebe threw On him, whilſt goodly grace ſhe did him ſhew: […]

    1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene: Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, →OCLC, book IV, canto VIII, stanza VI, page 109

    Forthdrawing from his unexhausted store, 'Twas his to bid the burden'd heart o'erflow, Infusing joys it never knew before, And melting it with soft luxuriant woe!

    1841, Anton Schindler, in Ignaz Moscheles, editor, The Life of Beethoven, including His Correspondence with His Friends, Numerous Characteristic Traits, and Remarks on His Musical Works, London: Henry Colburn, OCLC 1284695; quoted in T[homas] Hanly Ball, Sketch of Handel and Beethoven. Two Lectures, Delivered in the Lecture Hall of the Wimbledon Village Club, on Monday Evening, Dec. 14, 1863; and Monday Evening, Jan. 11, 1864, London: Charles J. Skeet, 10, King William Street, Charing Cross, 1864, OCLC 556454839, page 89

    Half-formed and colourless, root and stem, leaflet and leaf there slept, Their charmèd life all safe from harm by the arid kernel kept, Till gentle dews and genial rain forthdrew the swelling might, That shoots elastic from its bed of circumambient night.

    1860, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “The Metamorphosis of Plants. (From the German of Goethe.)”, in John Stuart Blackie, transl., Lyrical Poems, Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, book III (Erato), page 192

    And Brunhild looked, and saw, with down-crushed pride, Forthdrawn from Chriemhild's robe of silken fold, A ring she knew too well and zone of burnished gold.

    1894, Maxwell Gray [pseudonym; Mary Gleed Tuttiett], “The Strife of the Sister Queens”, in Lays of the Dragon Slayer, London: Bliss, Sands and Foster, →OCLC, stanza LXI, page 157

Origin

  1. Middle Englishforthdrawen
  2. Englishforthdraw

From Middle English forthdrawen, equivalent to forth- + draw.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

forthdraw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forthdraw

MLA

“forthdraw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forthdraw. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forthdraw,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forthdraw.

Source: forthdraw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.