Foreshorten

WORD OF THE DAY

 

FORESHORTEN \ for-SHORT-un \ verb

 

Definition

1: to shorten by proportionately contracting in the direction of depth so that an illusion of projection or extension in space is obtained

 

2a: to make more compact

2b: abridge, shorten

 

Examples

"The past is a giant foreshortened with his feet towards us; and sometimes the feet are of clay."
— G. K. Chesterton, A Short History of England, 1917

"A low vantage point provides the opportunity to dramatically foreshorten the dimensions of the building, drawing the eye upward to the dome."
— Mary McNaughton, The Little Book of Drawing, 2007

 

Did You Know?

Foreshorten first appeared in a 1606 treatise on art by the British writer and artist Henry Peacham: "If I should paint ... an horse with his brest and head looking full in my face, I must of necessity foreshorten him behinde."

Peacham's foreshorten comes from fore- (meaning "earlier" or "beforehand") plus shorten. The addition of fore- to verbs was a routine practice in Peacham's day, creating such words as fore-conclude, fore-consider, fore-instruct, and fore-repent.

Foreshorten, along with words like foresee and foretell, is one of the few fore- combinations to still survive.