foremother

English

Etymology

From fore- +‎ mother.

Noun

foremother (plural foremothers)

  1. A female ancestor.
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 172:
      “My strain has remained clearer than the rest because for countless ages my foremothers were high priestesses—the sacred office descends from mother to daughter.”
  2. (figurative) A female predecessor, especially one of an earlier generation.
    • 1990 April 28, Patricia Roth Schwartz, “The Odd Couple”, in Gay Community News, page 7:
      This compelling narrative [The Other Sappho by Ellen Fry] is a historical romance, a colorful tapestry of a time gone by in which the author has endeavored to share her version of the lives of women-identified women who were our foremothers.

Translations

See also

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