forelight

From fore- +‎ light.

forelight (plural forelights)

1. A forward positioned or forward facing light, especially one used to guide, direct, or navigate; beacon; (by extension) a signal; indicator
   • 1864, John Cumming, The Great Consummation:

     Each miracle was a foretoken, and forelight, and firstfruit of the restoration of all creation. When he healed the sick, that cure was a forelight of the sickless state.

   • 1907, Joseph Stenson Hooker, The Higher Medicine:

     [...] but the indications thus outlined of this improvement seem to me but foreshadowings of still better things to come — nay, rather are they forelights — Forelights Of A More Radiant Health That Is To Be.

   • 1914, Congressional Series of United States Public Documents:

     The Government regulations provide that the forelight on the large freighters shall be 40 feet above the main deck, and that the rear light shall be 15 feet above the forelight.

2. Light emitted prior to or in anticipation of an event; a previous, former, or early light
   • 2003, Kathleen Ann Goonan, Queen City Jazz:

     The City, it seemed to her, knew it dimly, with a yearning faint as dawn's forelight, which grew stronger with each passing hour, inevitably.

   • 2014, Samuel Hopkins Adams, Success:

     Early in the morning, before the first forelight of dawn had started the birds to prophetic chirpings, the recluse heard light movements in the outer room.

• afterlight

• foreglow