front

Etymology

From Middle English front, frunt, frount, from Old French front, frunt, from Latin frōns, frontem (“forehead”).

noun

1. The foremost side of something or the end that faces the direction it normally moves.
2. The side of a building with the main entrance.
   Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path […]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
3. A field of activity.
   Becoming more aware of the progress that scientists have made on behavioral fronts can reduce the risk that other natural scientists will resort to mystical agential accounts when they exceed the limits of their own disciplinary training. 2012-01, Stephen Ledoux, “Behaviorism at 100”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 60
4. A person or institution acting as the public face of some other, covert group.
   Officially it's a dry-cleaning shop, but everyone knows it's a front for the mafia.
5. (meteorology) The interface or transition zone between two airmasses of different density, often resulting in precipitation. Since the temperature distribution is the most important regulator of atmospheric density, a front almost invariably separates airmasses of different temperature.
   We need to take the clothes off the line. The news reported a front is coming in from the east, and we can expect heavy rain and maybe hail.
6. (military) An area where armies are engaged in conflict, especially the line of contact.
7. (military) The lateral space occupied by an element measured from the extremity of one flank to the extremity of the other flank.
8. (military) The direction of the enemy.
9. (military) When a combat situation does not exist or is not assumed, the direction toward which the command is faced.
10. (historical) A major military subdivision of the Soviet Army.
11. (dated) Cheek; boldness; impudence.
12. (informal) An act, show, façade, persona: an intentional and false impression of oneself.
    He says he likes hip-hop, but I think it's just a front.
    You don't need to put on a front. Just be yourself.
13. (historical) That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.
14. The most conspicuous part.
15. The beginning.
    So the faulty bridge was moved to the front of the song, creating in the process one of the most striking opening moments in Beatles music. 2012, Kenneth Womack, Todd F. Davis, Reading the Beatles, page 43
16. (UK) A seafront or coastal promenade.
17. (obsolete) The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.
    His front yet threatens, and his frowns command. c. 1700, Matthew Prior, Seeing the Duke of Ormond's Picture at Sir Godfrey Kneller's
18. (slang, hotels, dated) The bellhop whose turn it is to answer a client's call, which is often the word "front" used as an exclamation.
19. (slang, in the plural) A grill (jewellery worn on front teeth).
    I'm saying, man, them fronts? That car? Who is you, Chiron? 2016, 1:41:25, in Barry Jenkins, director, Moonlight, spoken by Kevin (André Holland)

adj

1. Located at or near the front.
   The front runner was thirty meters ahead of her nearest competitor.
2. (comparable, phonetics) Pronounced with the highest part of the body of the tongue toward the front of the mouth, near the hard palate (most often describing a vowel).
   The English word dress has a front vowel in most dialects.
3. Closest or nearest, of a set of futures contracts which expire at particular times, or of the times they expire; (typically, the front month or front year is the next calender month or year after the current one).
   Contracts are available for every month in the front year but do not extend over a year. 1995, Ignacio Mas, Jesús Saá-Requejo, Using Financial Futures in Trading and Risk Management, World Bank Publications, page 11
   Contract months : March, June, September and December[.] Minimum price fluctuation : 0.005 Index Point (1/2 basis point) equivalent to USD 12.50 per tick for the front-year Eurodollar futures[…] 2000, The Handbook of World Stock, Derivative & Commodity Exchanges
   The contract that will expire next is called the front contract or front month contract. The other contracts are called the back contracts. In financial and industrial commodities, traders mostly trade only the front month contract. 2003, Larry Harris, Trading and Exchanges: Market Microstructure for Practitioners, OUP USA, page 54
   Buying the security for the earlier (or “front”) month, and owning (and financing) it for the period ending with the latter (or “back” month) settlement date. 2010-12-30, Frank J. Fabozzi, Anand K. Bhattacharya, William S. Berliner, Mortgage-Backed Securities: Products, Structuring, and Analytical Techniques, John Wiley & Sons, page 35
   To a speculator, a front month future is attractive. Refer to Figure 6-1 to see that both the open interest and the trading volume of the front-month contract exceeds that of all the other contracts. 2016-08-08, Steve Bell, Quantitative Finance For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, page 113
   An alternative definition would estimate the slope using the front futures contract and the contract expiring 1 year after (these contracts are relatively liquid in the commodity markets). 2017-10-17, Emmanuel Jurczenko, Factor Investing: From Traditional to Alternative Risk Premia, Elsevier, page 359
   When the back contract has a higher PVBP than the front contract, fewer back contracts need to be bought or sold than front contracts are sold or bought. The PVBP-neutral roll ratio is simply the ratio of the front and back contracts[…] 2021-03-22, Alexander During, Fixed Income Trading and Risk Management: The Complete Guide, John Wiley & Sons, page 324
   This means that in absolute terms, the number of transactions that is triggered by external sources is highest for the front contract of corn. 2021-06-03, Mogens Steffensen, Risks: Feature Papers 2020, MDPI, page 109
   Going long the front futures contract and holding it a month in the example now produces a loss of $1 per barrel as the futures market converges to spot. And as long as the market is in a carry, this loss will happen continuously over[…] 2021-09-28, Todd E. Petzel, Modern Portfolio Management: Moving Beyond Modern Portfolio Theory, John Wiley & Sons, page 471

verb

1. (intransitive, dated) To face (on, to); to be pointed in a given direction.
   The door fronted on a narrow run, like a footbridge over a gully, that filled the gap between the house wall and the edge of the bank. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 35
   They emerged atop the broad curving steps that fronted on the Street of the Sisters, near the foot of Visenya's Hill. 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 312
   The palazzo has always fronted on a bus stop—but this putative man of the people has kindly put an end to that public service. 2010, Ingrid D Rowland, "The Siege of Rome", New York Review of Books, Blog, 26 March
2. (transitive) To face, be opposite to.
3. (transitive) To face up to, to meet head-on, to confront.
   But Dagley immediately fronted him, and Fag at his heels growled low […]. 1872, George Eliot, Middlemarch, Part IV, chapter 39
4. (transitive) To adorn with, at the front; to put on the front.
   Three tiers of balconies fronted with roped columns supporting arched openings looked down on the marble hall. 2001, Terry Goodkind, The Pillars of Creation, page 148
5. (phonetics, transitive, intransitive) To pronounce with the tongue in a front position.
   The velar plosives are often fronted through the influence of a following front vowel, and retracted through the influence of a following back vowel. 2005, Paul Skandera, Peter Burleigh, A Manual of English Phonetics and Phonology, page 48
6. (linguistics, transitive) To move (a word or clause) to the start of a sentence (or series of adjectives, etc).
   […] in the clause, only the adjective may be fronted; but if both a past participle and a verbal particle are present, either may be fronted. Topicalization, in which maximal projections are fronted to express pragmatics such as contrast, emphasis, ... 2001, Arthur J. Holmer, Jan-Olof Svantesson, Åke Viberg, Proceedings of the 18th Scandinavian Conference of Linguistics
   A problem facing any syntactic analysis of hyperbaton is that nonconstituent strings are fronted […] In cases where the adjective is fronted with the determiner, the determiner is not doubled […] 2010, George Melville Bolling, Bernard Bloch, Language
7. (intransitive, slang) To act as a front (for); to cover (for).
   Everybody knew Skopas fronted for the fight mob even though he was officially the arena manager. 2007, Harold Robbins, A Stone for Danny Fisher, page 183
8. (transitive) To lead or be the spokesperson of (a campaign, organisation etc.).
   Ray Winstone is fronting a campaign for the Football Association that aims to stop pushy parents shouting abuse at their children during the grassroots football season. September 1 2009, Mark Sweney, The Guardian
9. (transitive, intransitive) Of an alter in dissociative identity disorder: to be the currently actively presenting member of (a system), in control of the patient's body.
   Fronting can be understood as a representation of who controls the system, that is, the person to whom you are speaking. Emilia was typically the person fronting her system. 2018, Eric Yarbrough, Transgender Mental Health, page 160
10. (transitive, colloquial) To provide money or financial assistance in advance to.
    I'm prepared to say that I fronted you the money for a business deal with me, and the investment paid off brilliantly. 2004, Danielle Steele, Ransom, page 104
11. (intransitive, slang) To assume false or disingenuous appearances.
    So when I tell people where I'm from and check their reactions, I know in my heart I'm just frontin’. Because the way and where I lived then pales when compared to the way and where many youths are living today. November 19, 1993, Bobby Hill, “Mad Real”, in Washington City Paper, archived from the original on 2013-02-05
    What's with these homies dissin' my girl? / Why do they gotta front? 1994, Rivers Cuomo (lyrics and music), “Buddy Holly”, performed by Weezer
    Boy don't try to front, / I-I know just-just what you are, are-are. 2008, Briscoe/Akinyemi, ‘Womanizer’
    You know damned straight what this is about, or you ain't as smart as you been frontin'. 2008, Markus Naerheim, The City, page 531
12. (transitive, slang) To deceive or attempt to deceive someone with false or disingenuous appearances (on).
    You think that you can front when revelation comes? / You can't front on that 1992, “So What'cha Want”, performed by The Beastie Boys
13. (transitive) To appear before.
    to front court