Dictionary
An American Dictionary of the English Language
Revised and enlarged (Goodrich & Porter)
Springfield, Mass. · G. & C. Merriam · 1865
- Entries
- 95,912
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Look up a word as the writers of the time used it.
Fōr'me-don, n. p. 536(O. Eng. Law.) A writ of right for a tenant in tail in case of a discontinuance of the estate-tail. This writ has been abolished.Fōrm'er, n. p. 536One who forms; a maker; an author. 2. (Mach.) A pattern in or upon which any thing is shaped by pressure. 3. A piece of wood used for shaping cartridges and wads. R. H. Dana.Fōr'mer, a. compar. p. 536Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior; earlier; hence, ancient; long past. “For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age.” Job viii. 8. “The latter and the former rain.” Hosea vi. 3.…Fôr'mer-ly, adv. p. 536In time past, either in time immediately preceding, or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore.Fōrm'ful, a. p. 536Full of, or productive of, forms; creative; imaginative. Thomson.Fôr'mi-ate, n. p. 536(Chem.) A salt composed of formic acid and a base. — Ure.Fôr'mic, a. p. 536(Chem.) Pertaining to ants; as, the formic acid, an acid obtained originally from red ants, but now formed by artificial distillation.Fôr'mi-că, n. p. 536(Entom.) A Linnæan genus of hymenopterous insects, including the ant.Fôr'mi-cate, a. p. 536Resembling an ant.Fôr'mi-eā'tion, n. p. 536(Med.) A sensation of the body resembling that made by the creeping of ants on the skin. Dunglison.Fôr'mi-da-bil'i-ty, n. p. 536The quality of being formidable; formidableness. H. Walpole.Fôr'mi-da-ble, a. p. 536Exciting fear or apprehension; impressing dread; adapted to excite fear and deter from approach, encounter, or undertaking; alarming. They seemed to fear the formidable sight. Dryden. I swell my…Fôr'mi-da-ble-ness, n. p. 536The quality of being formidable, or adapted to excite dread.Fôr'mi-da-bly, adv. p. 536In a formidable manner.Fôr-mid’o-lōse, a. p. 536Fearing greatly; very much afraid. [Obs.] Bailey.Fôr'mill, v. t. p. 536To order. [Prov. Eng.]Fōrm'less, a. p. 536Shapeless; without a determinate form; wanting regularity of shape. The conception of a formless infinite, whether in time or space. Carlyle.Fôrm'less-ness, n. p. 536The state of having no form.Fōr'mu-lā, n. p. 536A prescribed or set form; an established rule; a fixed or conventional method in which any thing is to be done, arranged, said, or the like. 2. (Eccl.) A written confession of faith; a formal…Fôr'mu-la-rĭst'ic, a. p. 536Pertaining to, or exhibiting, formularization. R. W. Emerson.Fôr'mu-lā-rĭ-zā'tion, n. p. 536The act of formularizing; a formularized or formulated statement or exhibition. C. Kingsley.Fôr'mu-lar-îze, v. t. p. 536To reduce to a formula; to formulate.Fôr'mu-la-ry, n. p. 536A book containing stated and prescribed forms, as of oaths, declarations, prayers, and the like; a book of precedents. 2. Prescribed form or model; formula.Fôr'mu-la-ry, a. p. 536Stated; prescribed; ritual.Fôr'mu-lāte, v. t. p. 536To reduce to a formula; to express in a formula; to put in a clear and definite form of statement or expression. G. P. Marsh. Lord Dufferin.Fôr'mûle, n. p. 536A set or prescribed model; formula. [Obs.] Johnson.Fôr'mu-līze, v. t. p. 536To reduce to a formula; to formulate. R. W. Emerson.Fôr'myl, n. p. 536(Chem.) The hypothetical base of formic acid. — Ure.Fôr'ni-ēâte or Fôr'ni-ēâ'ted, a. p. 536Vaulted like an oven or furnace; arched. 2. (Bot.) Arching over; over-arched. Gray.Fôr'ni-cāte, v. i. p. 536To commit lewdness; to have unlawful sexual intercourse.Fôr'ni-cā'tion, n. p. 536The incontinence or lewdness of an unmarried person, male or female; also, the criminal conversation of a married man with an unmarried woman. 2. (Script.) (a.) Adultery. (b.) Incest. (c.) Idolatry.…Fôr'ni-cā'tor, n. p. 536An unmarried person, male or female, who has criminal conversation with the other sex; also, a married man who has sexual commerce with an unmarried woman; one guilty of fornication.Fôr'ni-cā'tress, n. p. 536An unmarried female guilty of lewdness. Shak.For-pâss’, v. i. p. 536To forepass. [Obs.] Spenser.For-pīne', v. i. p. 536To pine or waste away. [Obs.] Spenser.Fôr'rāy or For-rāy', v. t. p. 536To ravage. [Obs.] For they that morn had forraged all the land. Fairfax.Fôr'rây or For-rây', n. p. 536The act of ravaging; a ravaging; a predatory excursion. See FORAY.Fōr'rill, n. p. 536A kind of parchment; forel. Simmonds.For-sāke', v. t. p. 536To quit or leave entirely; to desert; to abandon; to depart or withdraw from; to leave; as, friends and flatterers forsake us in adversity. Forsake the foolish, and live. Prov. ix. 6. 2. To abandon…For-sāk'en-ness, n. p. 536State of being forsaken.For-sāk'er, n. p. 536One who forsakes or deserts.For-sāy', v. t. p. 536To forbid; to renounce. [Obs.]For-shāpe’, v. t. p. 536To render misshapen. [Obs.]For-slăck', v. t. p. 536To foreslack, q. v. [Obs.] Spenser.For-slōw', v. t. p. 536To foreslow, q. v. [Obs.] Spenser.For-sōoth', adv. p. 536In truth; in fact; certainly; very well; — often used ironically. A fit man, forsooth, to govern a realm! Hayward. Forsooth appears to have been formerly a term used much with and by women, in a…For-spēak’, v. t. p. 536To forbid; to prohibit. Shak. 2. To injure by undue praise. 3. To forespeak, q. v.For-spĕnt', a. p. 536Forespent, q. v. [Obs.] Shak.For-stall', v. t. p. 536To forestall, q. v. Spenser.Fôr'ster, n. p. 536A forester. [Obs.] Chaucer.For-swat', a. p. 536Foreswat. See FORESWAT. Spenser.For-swêar', v. t. p. 536To reject or renounce upon oath; hence, to renounce earnestly, determinedly, or with protestations. “I . . . do forswear her?” Shak. 2. To deny upon oath. Like innocence, and as serenely bold As…For-sweâr', v. i. p. 536To swear falsely; to commit perjury. Shak.For-sweâr'er, n. p. 536One who rejects or denies upon oath; one who swears a false oath.For-swōnk', a. p. 536Overlabored. [Obs.]For-swōre', imp. p. 536of forswear.For-swōrn’, p. p. p. 536of forswear. Renounced on oath; perjured.For-swōrn'ness, n. p. 536The state of being forsworn.Fôrt, n. p. 536(Mil.) A fortified place; usually, a small fortified place, occupied only by troops, surrounded with a ditch, rampart, and parapet, or with palisades, stockades, or other means of defense; a…Fōrt'al-īçe, n. p. 536(Mil.) A small outwork of a fortification; a fortilage; — called also fortelace. W. Scott.