forerunner

Meaning

Noun

• A runner at the front or ahead.
• By extension, a non-competitor who leads out the competitors on to the circuit, or who runs/rides the course prior to competitor trials, usually testing or checking the way.
• A precursor or harbinger, a warning ahead.
• A forebear, an ancestor, a predecessor.
• A postage stamp used in the time before a region or area issues stamps of its own.

Origin

• From Middle English forrenner, foreriner. . Equivalent to fore- + runner and/or forerun + -er.