ahead

adv

1. (not-comparable)At or towards the front; in the direction one is facing or moving.

   “The island was directly ahead.”

   “Just ahead you can see the cliffs.”

   “Keep going straight ahead.”

2. (not-comparable)So as to be further advanced, either spatially or in an abstract sense; to be superior.

   “He finished two laps ahead of me.”

   “In all of his classes Jack was ahead.”

3. (not-comparable)In or for the future.

   “There may be tough times ahead.”

   “You've got to think ahead so as not to be unprepared.”

4. (not-comparable)To a later time.

   “Set the clock ahead an hour.”

   “Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 20th to the 21st.”

   “Then the customer would set a rebidding deadline ahead a month - for example from September 1 to October 1 - and give everybody four weeks to submit […]”

   “When we saw that wasn't working in 1976, we moved the deadline ahead to 1978.”

5. (not-comparable)At an earlier time; beforehand; in advance.

   “He paid his rent ahead.”

6. (not-comparable)To an earlier time.

   “Push the deadline ahead a day, from the 21st to the 20th.”

   “[…] committees in Congress hae a March 15 deadline for reporting their "views and estimates" to the budget committees. The Senate Republican leadership, eager to get a jump on the annual budget process, moved the deadline ahead to March 1 for Senate committees.”

   “[…] the Department is responding to the statutory requirement in the USA Patriot Act that moved the deadline ahead to 2003 from 2007.”