foreground

   [Unix;  common]  To  bring  a  task  to  the top of one's {stack} for
   immediate  processing,  and  hackers  often  use it in this sense for
   non-computer  tasks.  "If your presentation is due next week, I guess
   I'd better foreground writing up the design document."

   Technically,  on a timesharing system, a task executing in foreground
   is  one  able  to  accept  input  from and return output to the user;
   oppose  {background}. Nowadays this term is primarily associated with
   {Unix},  but  it  appears  first  to  have been used in this sense on
   OS/360.  Normally, there is only one foreground task per terminal (or
   terminal  window);  having  multiple processes simultaneously reading
   the keyboard is a good way to {lose}.

[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {background}]