Forspan
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Foresight; the ability to see, predict, or perceive future events. uncountable
"In a remote age and country we find Njal, the hero of the Njal's saga, credited with forspan, or the gift of beholding such shadowy apparitions of future events — a power carefully distinguished from ordinary clear-sighted wisdom."
- 1 To entice; seduce. obsolete, transitive
Example
More examples"In a remote age and country we find Njal, the hero of the Njal's saga, credited with forspan, or the gift of beholding such shadowy apparitions of future events — a power carefully distinguished from ordinary clear-sighted wisdom."
Etymology
From Middle English forspannen, forspanen, from Old English forspanan (“to mislead, lead astray, seduce, entice”), from Proto-Germanic *farspananą, *fraspananą (“to allure”), equivalent to for- + span. Cognate with Middle High German verspanen (“to tempt, entice”).
From fore- + span.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.