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The Collaborative International Dictionary
To come to the front

Front \Front\ (fr[u^]nt), n. [F. frant forehead, L. frons, frontis; perh. akin to E. brow.]

  1. The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.

    Bless'd with his father's front, his mother's tongue.
    --Pope.

    Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.
    --Shak.

    His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.
    --Prior.

  2. The forehead, countenance, or personal presence, as expressive of character or temper, and especially, of boldness of disposition, sometimes of impudence; seeming; as, a bold front; a hardened front; hence, an attitude and demeanor intended to represent one's feelings, even if not actually felt; as, to put on a good front.

    With smiling fronts encountering.
    --Shak.

    The inhabitants showed a bold front.
    --Macaulay.

  3. The part or surface of anything which seems to look out, or to be directed forward; the fore or forward part; the foremost rank; the van; -- the opposite to back or rear; as, the front of a house; the front of an army.

    Had he his hurts before? Ay, on the front.
    --Shak.

  4. A position directly before the face of a person, or before the foremost part of a thing; as, in front of un person, of the troops, or of a house.

  5. The most conspicuous part.

    The very head and front of my offending.
    --Shak.

  6. That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.

    Like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears s front.
    --Mrs. Browning.

  7. The beginning. ``Summer's front.''
    --Shak.

  8. (Fort.) All the works along one side of the polygon inclosing the site which is fortified.

  9. (Phon.) The middle of the upper part of the tongue, -- the part of the tongue which is more or less raised toward the palate in the pronunciation of certain sounds, as the vowel i in machine, e in bed, and consonant y in you. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect

  10. 10. The call boy whose turn it is to answer the call, which is often the word ``front,'' used as an exclamation.

    Bastioned front (Mil.), a curtain connerting two half bastions.

    Front door, the door in the front wall of a building, usually the principal entrance.

    Front of fortification, the works constructed upon any one side of a polygon.
    --Farrow.

    Front of operations, all that part of the field of operations in front of the successive positions occupied by the army as it moves forward.
    --Farrow.

    To come to the front, to attain prominence or leadership.