noun.
The part of a scene or picture that is nearest to and in front of the viewer.
noun.
undefined
transitive verb.
To place in the foreground; call attention to.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
That part of a landscape or other scene, as actually perceived or as represented in a picture, which is nearest the eye of the observer: opposed to background or distance.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
On a painting, and sometimes in a bas-relief, mosaic picture, or the like, that part of the scene represented, which is nearest to the spectator, and therefore occupies the lowest part of the work of art itself. Cf. distance, n., 6.