What is "to come to the front"

Front \Front\ (fr[u^]nt), n. [F. frant forehead, L. frons, frontis; perh. akin to E. brow.]

1. The forehead or brow, the part of the face above the eyes; sometimes, also, the whole face.

   Bless'd with his father's front, his mother's tongue.
   --Pope.

   Grim-visaged war hath smoothed his wrinkled front.
   --Shak.

   His front yet threatens, and his frowns command.
   --Prior.

2. The forehead, countenance, or personal presence, as expressive of character or temper, and especially, of boldness of disposition, sometimes of impudence; seeming; as, a bold front; a hardened front; hence, an attitude and demeanor intended to represent one's feelings, even if not actually felt; as, to put on a good front.

   With smiling fronts encountering.
   --Shak.

   The inhabitants showed a bold front.
   --Macaulay.

3. The part or surface of anything which seems to look out, or to be directed forward; the fore or forward part; the foremost rank; the van; -- the opposite to back or rear; as, the front of a house; the front of an army.

   Had he his hurts before? Ay, on the front.
   --Shak.

4. A position directly before the face of a person, or before the foremost part of a thing; as, in front of un person, of the troops, or of a house.

5. The most conspicuous part.

   The very head and front of my offending.
   --Shak.

6. That which covers the foremost part of the head: a front piece of false hair worn by women.

   Like any plain Miss Smith's, who wears s front.
   --Mrs. Browning.

7. The beginning. ``Summer's front.''
   --Shak.

8. (Fort.) All the works along one side of the polygon inclosing the site which is fortified.

9. (Phon.) The middle of the upper part of the tongue, -- the part of the tongue which is more or less raised toward the palate in the pronunciation of certain sounds, as the vowel i in machine, e in bed, and consonant y in you. See Guide to Pronunciation, [sect

10. 10. The call boy whose turn it is to answer the call, which is often the word ``front,'' used as an exclamation.

    Bastioned front (Mil.), a curtain connerting two half bastions.

    Front door, the door in the front wall of a building, usually the principal entrance.

    Front of fortification, the works constructed upon any one side of a polygon.
    --Farrow.

    Front of operations, all that part of the field of operations in front of the successive positions occupied by the army as it moves forward.
    --Farrow.

    To come to the front, to attain prominence or leadership.