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more about force
force |
8 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Force \Force\, v. t. [See {Farce} to stuff.] To stuff; to lard; to farce. [R.] Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit. --Shak. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Force \Force\, n. [Of Scand. origin; cf Icel. fors, foss, Dan. fos.] A waterfall; a cascade. [Prov. Eng.] To see the falls for force of the river Kent. --T. Gray. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Force \Force\, n. [F. force, LL forcia fortia, fr L. fortis strong. See {Fort}, n.] 1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might often an unusual degree of strength or energy; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. He was in the full force of the words a good man. --Macaulay. 2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion. Which now they hold by force, and not by right --Shak. 3. Strength or power for war; hence a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action -- an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the plural; hence a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as the laboring force of a plantation. Is Lucius general of the forces? --Shak. 4. (Law) a Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things violence. b Validity; efficacy. --Burrill. 5. (Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind as the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force. {Animal force} (Physiol.), muscular force or energy. {Catabiotic force} [Gr. ? down (intens.) + ? life.] (Biol.), the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures. {Centrifugal force}, {Centripetal force}, {Coercive force}, etc See under {Centrifugal}, {Centripetal}, etc {Composition of forces}, {Correlation of forces}, etc See under {Composition}, {Correlation}, etc {Force and arms} [trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an expression in old indictments, signifying violence. {In force}, or {Of force}, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of full virtue; not suspended or reversed. ``A testament is of force after men are dead.'' --Heb. ix 17. {Metabolic force} (Physiol.), the influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body. {No force}, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account; hence to do no force, to make no account of not to heed. [Obs.] --Chaucer. {Of force}, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. ``Good reasons must of force, give place to better.'' --Shak. {Plastic force} (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues. {Vital force} (Physiol.), that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished from the physical forces generally known Syn: Strength; vigor; might energy; stress; vehemence; violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion. Usage: {Force}, {Strength}. Strength looks rather to power as an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength, strength of emotion, etc Force, on the other hand, looks more to the outward; as the force of gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit, etc We do indeed, speak of strength of will and force of will but even here the former may lean toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the latter toward the outward expression of it in action But though the two words do in a few cases touch thus closely on each other there is on the whole, a marked distinction in our use of force and strength. ``Force is the name given in mechanical science, to whatever produces, or can produce, motion.'' --Nichol. Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty man. --Heywood. More huge in strength than wise in works he was --Spenser. Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above, new hope to spring Out of despair. --Milton. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Force \Force\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Forced}; p. pr & vb n. {Forcing}.] [OF. forcier, F. forcer, fr LL forciare fortiare See {Force}, n.] 1. To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means to coerce; as masters force slaves to labor. 2. To compel, as by strength of evidence; as to force conviction on the mind. 3. To do violence to to overpower, or to compel by violence to one;s will especially, to ravish; to violate; to commit rape upon To force their monarch and insult the court. --Dryden. I should have forced thee soon wish other arms. --Milton. To force a spotless virgin's chastity. --Shak. 4. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress. 5. To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get etc., by main strength or violence; -- with a following adverb, as along away from into through out etc It stuck so fast so deeply buried lay That scarce the victor forced the steel away --Dryden. To force the tyrant from his seat by war. --Sahk. Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion. --Fuller. 6. To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce. [Obs.] What can the church force more? --J. Webster. 7. To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence to strain; to urge to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action to produce by unnatural effort; as to force a consient or metaphor; to force a laugh; to force fruits. High on a mounting wave my head I bore, Forcing my strength, and gathering to the shore. --Dryden. 8. (Whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit of which he has none. 9. To provide with forces; to re["e]nforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison. [Obs.] --Shak. 10. To allow the force of to value; to care for [Obs.] For me I force not argument a straw. --Shak. Syn: To compel; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce; drive; press; impel. From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Force \Force\, v. i. [Obs. in all the senses.] 1. To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to endeavor. Forcing with gifts to win his wanton heart. --Spenser. 2. To make a difficult matter of anything to labor; to hesitate; hence to force of to make much account of to regard. Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear. --Shak. I force not of such fooleries. --Camden. 3. To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter. It is not sufficient to have attained the name and dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how --Udall. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: force n 1: a powerful effect or influence: "the force of his eloquence easily persuaded them" 2: the physical influence that produces a change in a physical quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration" 3: physical energy or intensity: "he hit with all the force he could muster"; "it was destroyed by the strength of the gale"; "a government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man" [syn: {forcefulness}, {strength}] 4: group of people willing to obey orders "a public force is necessary to give security to the rights of citizens" [syn: {personnel}] 5: a unit that is part of some military service; "he sent Caesar a force of six thousand men" [syn: {military unit}, {military force}] 6: an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists); "he may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one" [syn: {violence}] 7: one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority: "the mysterious presence of an evil power"; "may the force be with you"; "the forces of evil" [syn: {power}] 8: a group of people having the power of effective action "he joined forces with a band of adventurers" 9: (of a law) having legal validity; "the law is still in effect" [syn: {effect}] v 1: to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :"She forced him to take a job in the city" [syn: {coerce}, {pressure}] 2: urge or force (a person) to an action constrain or motivate [syn: {impel}] 3: move with force, "He pushed the table into a corner"; "She pushed her chin out" [syn: {push}] [ant: {pull}] 4: impose or thrust urgently, importunately, or inexorably; "She forced her diet fads on him" [syn: {thrust}] 5: squeeze like a wedge into a tight space; "I squeezed myself into the corner" [syn: {wedge}, {squeeze}] 6: physical or metaphorical, as in "She rammed her mind into focus" [syn: {run}, {drive}, {ram}] 7: cause to move along the ground by pulling; "draw a wagon"; "pull a sled" [syn: {pull}, {draw}] [ant: {push}] 8: do forcibly; exert force; "Don't force it!" 9: take by force; "Storm the fort" [syn: {storm}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: Force A {dBASE} dialect for {MS-DOS}. From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]: FORCE, n. "Force is but might," the teacher said -- "That definition's just." The boy said naught but through instead, Remembering his pounded head: "Force is not might but must!"
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