Forgrow
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To grow to excess or out of shape; grow unduly. intransitive, obsolete
"A terror to the new made folke, which neuer erst had knowne So foule a Dragon in their life, so monstrously foregrowne, So great a ground thy poyson paunch did vnderneath thée hide."
- 2 To become grown over; overgrow; become covered with growth (usually one that is excessive or unsightly). intransitive, obsolete
"And after the floode was passed & Noy and his housholde come out of the arke, the worlde beyng deuided among his thre sonnes, Sem, Cham, and Iaphethe, and that the people began eftsones to multiplye and increase, the worlde was so forgrowen in wickednes, that there was none found, that truely worshipped god […]"
Example
More examples"A terror to the new made folke, which neuer erst had knowne So foule a Dragon in their life, so monstrously foregrowne, So great a ground thy poyson paunch did vnderneath thée hide."
Etymology
From Middle English forgrowen, from Old English forgrōwan (“to grow up, grow into, increase, overgrow”), equivalent to for- + grow.
More for "forgrow"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.