form
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: fôrm
ipa: /fɔːm/
enpr: fôrm
ipa: /fɔɹm/
ipa: [fo̞ɹm]
note: without the horse–hoarse merger, rhotic
ipa: /fo(ː)ɹm/
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m
Forms: form: forms
form: forming
form: formed
form: formed
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: form
form: form
form: formed
form: form
form: formest
form: formed
form: formedst
form: forms
form: formeth
form: formed
form: form
form: formed
form: form
form: formed
form: form
form: -
form: forming
form: formed
form: forme
Etymology: From Middle English forme (“shape, figure, manner, bench, frame, seat, condition, agreement, etc.”), borrowed from Old French forme, from Latin fōrma (“shape, figure, image, outline, plan, mold, frame, case, etc., manner, sort, kind, etc.”).
In sense "division grouping school students" (now dated), derived from public school nomenclature later adopted by state schools. It is sometimes said to be from the sense of "bench", where students of certain ages would sit together, though this is disputed, or alternatively from the sense of "established method of expression or practice".
Senses: examples: text: When you kids form a straight line I'll hand out the lollies.
text: Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
ref: 2013 May–June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:
glosses: To assume (a certain shape or visible structure).
examples: text: Roll out the dough to form a thin sheet.
glosses: To give (a shape or visible structure) to a thing or person.
examples: text: When icicles start to form on the eaves you know the roads will be icy.
text: As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time.
ref: 2013 July–August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist:
glosses: To take shape.
examples: text: The socialists did not have enough MPs to form a government.
text: Paul McCartney and John Lennon formed The Beatles in Liverpool in 1960.
glosses: To put together or bring into being; assemble.
examples: text: By adding "-ness", you can form a noun from an adjective.
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
glosses: To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.
examples: text: Teenagers form the bulk of extreme traffic offenders.
text: the diplomatic politicians[…]who formed by far the majority
ref: 1795–1797, Edmund Burke, “(please specify |letter=1 to 4)”, in [Letters on a Regicide Peace], London: [Rivington]:
text: But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge,[…].
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: Insects form the biggest family group in nature's kingdom, and also the oldest.
ref: 1948 May, Stanley Pashko, “The Biggest Family”, in Boys' Life, Volume 38, Number 5, Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, p.10
glosses: To constitute, to compose, to make up.
examples: text: Singing in a choir helps to form a child's sociality.
text: 1731–1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays
'Tis education forms the common mind.
text: Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “The Fourth Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To mould or model by instruction or discipline.
examples: text: The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers.
ref: 1612, Michael Drayton, chapter 2, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC:
text: This is the time that the horseman are flung out, not having the cry to lead them to the death. When quadruped animals of the venery or hunting kind are at rest, the stag is said to be harboured, the buck lodged, the fox kennelled, the badger earthed, the otter vented or watched, the hare formed, and the rabbit set. When you find and rouse up the stag and buck, they are said to be imprimed: […]
ref: 1819, John Mayer, The Sportsman's Directory, or Park and Gamekeeper's Companion:
glosses: To provide (a hare) with a form.
topics: business
electrical-engineering
electricity
electromagnetism
energy
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: To treat (plates) to prepare them for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but later the plates or grids were coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.
Synonyms: sense: give shape
word: beshape
word: transmogrify
sense: take shape
word: take form
word: take shape
word: come into being
sense: constitute
word: compose
word: make up
word: compose
word: forshape
word: form
word: mold
word: shape
word: turn
Hypernyms: word: alter
word: manipulate
word: metamorphose
word: transform
Hyponyms: word: foreshape
word: overshape
word: bend
word: bifurcate
word: coil
word: curl
word: crinkle
word: dent
word: depress
word: emboss
word: engrave
word: entwine
word: fold
word: fork
word: flatten
word: gouge
word: press
word: raise
word: roll up
word: roughen
word: round
word: scallop
word: sharpen
word: smoothen
word: straighten
word: wad
Derived terms: cold forming
colony-forming unit
disform
fireform
foreform
formability
formable
habit-forming
malform
misform
orbital forming
rollform
skin forming alloy
star-forming
unform
Related terms: format
formation