A gift given in advance, or a preliminary offering; a tribute or payment made upfront before a transaction.
Compound of 'fore-' (before) and 'gift' (something given). Developed in archaic legal and mercantile contexts for advance payments or preliminary offerings.
In some medieval cultures, a 'foregift' was essentially a bribe or down payment to secure a deal—it's fascinating how even the concept of 'gift-giving' had different legal meanings depending on timing, creating entire vocabularies for advance versus reciprocal giving.
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