Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Forerunner \Fore*run"ner\, n.
   1. A messenger sent before to give notice of the approach of
      others; a harbinger; a sign foreshowing something; a
      prognostic; as, the forerunner of a fever.

            Whither the forerunner in for us entered, even
            Jesus.                                --Heb. vi. 20.

            My elder brothers, my forerunners, came. --Dryden.

   2. A predecessor; an ancestor. [Obs.] --Shak.

   3. (Naut.) A piece of rag terminating the log line.

Source : WordNet®

forerunner
     n 1: anything that precedes something similar in time;
          "phrenology was an antecedent of modern neuroscience"
          [syn: {antecedent}]
     2: a person who goes before or announces the coming of another
        [syn: {precursor}]
     3: an indication of the approach of something or someone [syn:
        {harbinger}, {herald}, {precursor}]