FORMS
Noun
forms
plural of form
Verb
forms
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of form
Anagrams
• MoRFs
Source: Wiktionary
FORM
form (. Etym: [See Form, n.]
Definition: A suffix used to denote in the form or shape of, resembling,
etc.; as, valiform; oviform.
Form (form; in senses 8 & 9, often form in England), n. Etym: [OE. &
F. forme, fr. L. forma; cf. Skr. dhariman. Cf. Firm.]
1. The shape and structure of anything, as distinguished from the
material of which it is composed; particular disposition or
arrangement of matter, giving it individuality or distinctive
character; configuration; figure; external appearance.
The form of his visage was changed. Dan. iii. 19.
And woven close close, both matter, form, and style. Milton.
2. Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system;
as, a republican form of government.
3. Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of
proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula; as, a form of
prayer.
Those whom form of laws Condemned to die. Dryden.
4. Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial,
or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality; as, a matter of
mere form.
Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of
justice. Shak.
5. Orderly arrangement; shapeliness; also, comeliness; elegance;
beauty.
The earth was without form and void. Gen. i. 2.
He hath no form nor comeliness. Is. liii. 2.
6. A shape; an image; a phantom.
7. That by which shape is given or determined; mold; pattern; model.
8. A long seat; a bench; hence, a rank of students in a school; a
class; also, a class or rank in society. "Ladies of a high form." Bp.
Burnet.
9. The seat or bed of a hare.
As in a form sitteth a weary hare. Chaucer.
10. (Print.)
Definition: The type or other matter from which an impression is to be
taken, arranged and secured in a chase.
11. (Fine Arts)
Definition: The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more
generally, the human body.
12. (Gram.)
Definition: The particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech;
as, participial forms; verbal forms.
13. (Crystallog.)
Definition: The combination of planes included under a general
crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.
14. (Metaph.)
Definition: That assemblage or disposition of qualities which makes a
conception, or that internal constitution which makes an existing
thing to be what it is; -- called essential or substantial form, and
contradistinguished from matter; hence, active or formative nature;
law of being or activity; subjectively viewed, an idea; objectively,
a law.
15. Mode of acting or manifestation to the senses, or the intellect;
as, water assumes the form of ice or snow. In modern usage, the
elements of a conception furnished by the mind's own activity, as
contrasted with its object or condition, which is called the matter;
subjectively, a mode of apprehension or belief conceived as dependent
on the constitution of the mind; objectively, universal and necessary
accompaniments or elements of every object known or thought of.
16. (Biol.)
Definition: The peculiar characteristics of an organism as a type of
others; also, the structure of the parts of an animal or plant.
Good form or Bad form, the general appearance, condition or action,
originally of horses, atterwards of persons; as, the members of a
boat crew are said to be in good form when they pull together
uniformly. The phrases are further used colloquially in description
of conduct or manners in society; as, it is not good form to smoke in
the presence of a lady.
Form, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Formed; p. pr. & vb. n. Forming.] Etym: [F.
former, L. formare, fr. forma. See Form, n.]
1. To give form or shape to; to frame; to construct; to make; to
fashion.
God formed man of the dust of the ground. Gen. ii. 7.
The thought that labors in my forming brain. Rowe.
2. To give a particular shape to; to shape, mold, or fashion into a
certain state or condition; to arrange; to adjust; also, to model by
instruction and discipline; to mold by influence, etc.; to train.
'T is education forms the common mind. Pope.
Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind. Dryden.
3. To go to make up; to act as constituent of; to be the essential or
constitutive elements of; to answer for; to make the shape of; --
said of that out of which anything is formed or constituted, in whole
or in part.
The diplomatic politicians . . . who formed by far the majority.
Burke.
4. To provide with a form, as a hare. See Form, n., 9.
The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers. Drayton.
5. (Gram.)
Definition: To derive by grammatical rules, as by adding the proper
suffixes and affixes.
Form, v. i.
1. To take a form, definite shape, or arrangement; as, the infantry
should form in column.
2. To run to a form, as a hare. B. Jonson. To form on (Mil.), to form
a lengthened line with reference to (any given object) as a basis.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition