Definition of "forewoman" [fore•wom•an]

• A woman who serves as the leader of a work crew, as in a factory. (noun)
• A woman who chairs and speaks for a jury. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Their forewoman was the daughter of a rich farmer at Donnemarie, burdened with nine children, to whom he had endeavored to give a good start in life, being aware that at his death his property, divided into nine parts, would be but little for any one of them."
• "The equivalent of a sergeant is a "forewoman," and there are quartermistresses in charge of stores."
• "The girls spin on; a kind of forewoman, Mary, upbraids Senta with idling and staring at the picture and dreaming away her life -- for the girl is quite open about her sympathy with the accursed seafaring man."