To detect the scent of (something) before it is present.
(figuratively) To detect or become aware of (something) in advance.
1872, Henry Norman Hudson, Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, Boston: Ginn & Company, Othello, the Moor of Venice, p. 462,
the sagacity with which Iago feels and forescents his way into Roderigo
1915, Frederick Goodyear, letter to F.W. Leith Ross in Letters and Remains: 1887-1917, London: McBride, Nast, 1920, p. 94,
Possibly we instinctively forescented the war.