Forward, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Forwarded; p.pr. & vb.n. Forwarding.]
1. To help onward; to advance; to promote; to accelerate; to quicken; to hasten; as, to forward the growth of a plant; to forward one in improvement.
2. To send forward; to send toward the place of destination; to transmit; as, to forward a letter.
3 other Webster entries under this spelling
Forward, n.
An agreement; a covenant; a promise. [Obs.] Tell us a tale anon, as forward is. Chaucer.
Forward, Forwards, adv.
Toward a part or place before or in front; onward; in advance; progressively; -- opposed to backward.
Forward, a.
1. Near, or at the fore part; in advance of something else; as, the forward gun in a ship, or the forward ship in a fleet.
2. Ready; prompt; strongly inclined; in an ill sense, overready; to hasty. Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do. Gal. ii. 10. Nor do we find him forward to be sounded. Shak.
3. Ardent; eager; earnest; in an ill sense, less reserved or modest than is proper; bold; confident; as, the boy is too forward for his years. I have known men disagreeably forward from their shyness. T. Arnold.
4. Advanced beyond the usual degree; advanced for season; as, the grass is forward, or forward for the season; we have a forward spring. early. The most forward bud Is eaten by the canker ere it blow. Shak.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for forward; he lists it under previous, promote, send.
Where he writes about it:
We can say former times, a former chapter, etc., but not the former part of a garden; we should say the front part of the garden, the forward car of a train. — from previous