Forhow

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To despise; scorn. obsolete, transitive
  2. 2
    To forsake; quit; abandon; desert. Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive

    "It was believed that handling any bird's eggs in the nest made the bird forhooie them, [...]"

  3. 3
    To cast off; scorn. Scotland, UK, dialectal, transitive

    "Mind what this lass has undergane for you, Since ye did her so treach'rously forhow, [...]"

Example

More examples

"It was believed that handling any bird's eggs in the nest made the bird forhooie them, [...]"

Etymology

From Middle English forhowien, from Old English forhogian (“to neglect, disregard, despise”), equivalent to for- + how. Cognate with Old Saxon farhuggjan, Old High German farhuggan.

Related phrases

cast off

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.