foreman Hear it!

foreman Definition

fore·man (fôrmən)

noun pl. -·men-mən

  1. the chairman and spokesman of a jury
  2. a person in charge of a department or group of workers in a factory, mill, etc.

Etymology: orig., foremost man, leader

foreman Related Forms
fore·man·ship′ noun
foreman Synonyms

foreman

n.

overseer, manager, supervisor, boss, superintendent, taskmaster, head, headman, shop foreman, gang foreman, straw boss*, bossman*, slavedriver*.

foreman Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • become: On his return he became a supervisory foreman at the King's Cross Goods Yard.
  • ask: I asked the foreman: ' Are these men skilled?
  • make: On his return to East Tilbury he was made foreman of Department 407 which position he holds at the present time.
  • have: I worked with them, and they had an Italian foreman called Carlo.

Adjective modifier

  • general: I was young but he took a chance and put me on as general foreman, my father's job.
  • new: And we are lucky to have our new foreman in Iain Duncan Smith.

Modifies a noun

  • builder: He had asked the foreman builder if he could get me a job, which he did.
  • grill: However, give him a george foreman grill and some steak, and he's the master!

Noun used with modifier

  • george: With george foreman he won this which is featuring their salsa gets.
  • ranch: The film then cuts sharply to a sterile mortuary and the rough face of ranch foreman Pete Perkins ( Tommy Lee Jones ).
  • jury: The court clerk will ask the jury foreman for the verdict.
  • yard: He was the son of yard foreman W Harvey.
  • farm: In 1924, Mr Ivan Palmer, a farm foreman from near Bury St Edmunds, became licensee.
  • shop: Calf in the mash house, poet in the kitchens Machine shop foreman in an artists ' studio.

Possessives

  • office: A typical example is the foreman's office partitioned out of warehouse or workshop accommodation.

Preposition: in

  • charge: Weil's disease G was a foreman in charge of works by the side of a London canal.

Preposition: of

  • jury: The jury were kept waiting for a quarter of an hour pending the arrival of the foreman of the jury.
  • department: He made further progress during the same year when he was made chief foreman of the assembly departments.
  • work: These houses were built by the Lundy Granite Company in the 1860s for the company surgeon, the engineer and the foreman of works.
  • gang: He was the foreman of a road gang repairing the footpath outside our house.