Definition of "forehanded"

‘I dun'no' whether it air night or no,’ she said [...]. ‘I mought be too forehanded a-gittin' supper fur aught I kin tell.’

1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 88

First, a U.S. President is being forehanded for once. The new Common Market tariff structure has not yet begun to hurt our exporters (many of them, even more forehanded, have sought sanctuary by building new plants in Europe).

1962 February 2, “High Aim: Freer World Trade”, in LIFE, volume 52, number 5, page 6

"You're so forehanded that all your presents went a week ago, I suppose," Eleanor swept clear a chair.

2012, Grace Margaret Gallaher, “The Queerest Christmas”, in The Children's Book Of Christmas Stories - The Original Classic Edition

The conditions of the old-time Salisbury hill-farm, which fed its owners on its spare-ribs and corn meal, and sweetened their taste with the crystallized sap of its maples, and which reckoned a man with a savings-bank account and a hundred stonewalled and unmortgaged acres "forehanded" if not positively rich, have ceased to be typical conditions of the American present-day prosperity.

1926, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, Monroe Emanuel Deutsch, The Abundant Life: Benjamin Ide Wheeler, page 85

...cause if you have, look at that forehanded man there, Deacon Westfall, and you see the rich man.

1838, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, The Clockmaker, Or, The Sayings and Doings of Samuel Slick, page 96

No, he is not poor at all. My father has got a good farm, and is quite forehanded.

1842, Jacob Abbott, Cousin Lucy Among the Mountains, page 100

She caught a last glimpse of the pattern of the carpet when the forehanded chop with the edge of the palm came down on the back of the neck.

2010, Frederick Forsyth, The Day Of The Jackal, page 350

Known as a 'forehanded' (straightforward) man, Cushing became a landowner and an investor in local industries.

2005, Michael Bliss, Harvey Cushing : A Life in Surgery, page 12

I happen to think that it is not only the most significant liberal paper but also the best, so its over-representation in these pages is a forehanded, rather than backhanded, compliment.

2008, Andrew Anthony, The Fallout: How a guilty liberal lost his innocence, page 296

A compliment, forehanded, she thought. They were so rare in life and even less often believed.

2014, Lorrie Moore, Bark

...whilst the price of restoration was always forehanded, the brotherhood had never been known to break their guarantee of honour.

1833, Second series of a caution to bankers, merchants and manufacturers, etc, page 242

Jaq...Then, to say the truth, Mary's very well forehanded too. Sanc. Forehanded --- oons this Oaf makes a Mare of my Daughter.

1729, Thomas D'Urfey, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Henry Purcell, The Comical History of Don Quixote: As it was Acted at the Queen's Theatre

In delivering it forehanded, the ball is dropped in front of the left foot, and is struck when about a foot or even less from the ground.

2014, John Moyer Heathcote, Classic Guide to Tennis, page 122