Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A man who serves as the leader of a work crew, as in a factory.
- noun A man who chairs and speaks for a jury.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To direct or oversee as a foreman.
- noun The first or chief man, or leader; one who is appointed to preside over a number of others.
- noun Specifically— The chief man of a jury, who acts as the spokesman.
- noun The chief or superintendent of a set of operatives or work-people employed in a shop or on work of any kind; an overseer of work: as, the foreman of a composing-room in a printing-office.
- noun An ancestor.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The chief man of a jury, who acts as their speaker.
- noun The chief of a set of hands employed in a shop, or on works of any kind, who superintends the rest; an overseer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun management The leader of a work crew.
- noun law The member of a
jury who presides over it and speaks on its behalf. - noun historical, US A black (
slave ) assistant to the whiteoverseer who managed fieldhands .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who exercises control over workers
- noun a man who is foreperson of a jury
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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They are men usually employed at the public works, and their foreman is a man of great ability and energy, so that after five days 'work a neat erection stands a little way to the left of our house.
Insulinde: Experiences of a Naturalist's Wife in the Eastern Archipelago 1887
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Even when he calls the foreman names and walks off the job, they always take him back because he will go where no one else will.
Circling '84 2010
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The crew's foreman is a player recovering from drug addiction after having been suspended from baseball — Texas Rangers star Josh Hamilton.
Shark sighting likely gives ABC a boost in British Open ratings 2008
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When I asked about why there were so few workers, A CVA official showing us the farm explained that the idea is to create primary production units where there is no organized peasant group and he called the foreman to attention ordering an end to domino sessions and strict compliance with the agreed timetable.
Venezuela's Agrarian Reform in Action - INTI vs. Sigala in Barquisimeto 2009
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"Juror #12 and foreman is the actual perpetrator of the crime you stand accused of and isn't in the mood to confess."
Trial And Error 2006
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"Juror #12 and foreman is the actual perpetrator of the crime you stand accused of and isn't in the mood to confess."
September 2006 2006
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When they were up and going strong, he called his foreman and gave an order that made the foreman think that David Burpee had gone crazy.
The Leader In You Stuart R. Levine 1993
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"Either I knock off and eat," said Astro confidently, "or I call the foreman and you talk to Lactu."
The Revolt on Venus Carey Rockwell
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I called the foreman, and said, "Mr. Chapin, please to set this up and pull half-a-dozen proofs."
Memoirs Charles Godfrey Leland 1863
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It was reported and repeated and printed and everybody heard it, saw and I recorded it and I’ll make you all a tape and send it to you, a foreman from the mine made two cell phone calls to his wife and to a friend inside the church and that did it.
lampbane commented on the word foreman
The surname assumed by the Doctor's granddaughter Susan, taken from the owner of the junkyard where they had parked the TARDIS while Susan attended school (Doctor Who).
September 9, 2008
plethora commented on the word foreman
Prompted the first use of the phrase Doctor who? When Susan's teachers - Ian and Barbara - meet the Doctor, Ian calls him Doctor Foreman and he says 'Hmm? What's that? Doctor who?"
September 9, 2008