Definition of "form"

(heading, physical) To do with shape.

1. The shape or visible structure of a thing or person.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

     1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations‎

   • The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. […] Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume.

     1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid

   • As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.

     2013 May 10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30

2. A thing that gives shape to other things as in a mold.  examples

3. Regularity, beauty, or elegance.  examples

4. (philosophy) The inherent nature of an object; that which the mind itself contributes as the condition of knowing; that in which the essence of a thing consists.  examples

5. Characteristics not involving atomic components.  examples

6. (dated) A long bench with no back.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And there with syr Launcelot wrapped his mantel aboute his arme wel and surely and by thenne they had geten a grete fourme oute of the halle and there with all they rasshed at the dore"And therewith Sir Launcelot wrapped his mantle about his arm well and surely; and by then they had gotten a great form out of the hall, and therewithal they rashed at the door."

     1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iv, leaf 401v

   • In the hall. One large table, with frame. 10s. ij cobbordes 8s. j fourme, j chaire, and j kenninge measure, 12d.

     1585–1586 January 18, “LXIII. Testamentum Johannis Ogle. [63. Will of John Ogle.]”, in [William Greenwell], editor, Wills and Inventories from the Registry at Durham. Part II (The Publications of the Surtees Society; XXXVIII), Durham: Published for the Society by George Andrews, Durham; London: Whittaker and Co., 13 Ave Maria Lane; T. and W. Boone, 29 New Bond Street; Edinburgh: Blackwood and Sons, published 1860, page 132

   • I can see the old schoolroom yet: the broken-down desks and the worn-out forms with knots in that got stuck into your backside […].

     1981, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 10

   • The prefect grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me down a passageway, and down another and finally through a door that led into a long, low dining-room crowded with loudly breakfasting boys sitting on long, shiny oak forms, as benches used to be called.

     2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography

7. (fine arts) The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.  examples

8. (crystallography) The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.  examples

(social) To do with structure or procedure.

1. An order of doing things, as in religious ritual.  examples

2. Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Those whom form of laws Condemned to die.

     1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

3. Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system.  examples

4. Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Though well we may not pass upon his life Without the form of justice.

     c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene vii]

5. (archaic) A class or rank in society.  quotations

   Quotations

   • ladies of a high form

     1724, [Gilbert] Burnet, edited by [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] Thomas Ward […]

6. (UK) Past history (in a given area); a habit of doing something.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks.

     2011 May 4, Jane Martinson, The Guardian

   • As for the notion that it’s not how Sunak would have won, that doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from a guy whose recent form includes losing to Liz Truss.

     2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian‎

7. Level of performance.  examples

8. (UK, education) A class or year of school pupils (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the year, as in sixth form).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in? […]"

     1928, George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk

   • From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators.

     1976, Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education

A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.  examples

A specimen document to be copied or imitated.  examples

(grammar) A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.  examples

The den or home of a hare.  quotations  examples

(computing, programming) A window or dialogue box.  quotations  examples

(taxonomy) An infraspecific rank.  examples

(printing, dated) The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.  quotations  examples

(geometry) A quantic.  examples

(sports, fitness) A specific way of performing a movement.  examples

(transitive) To assume (a certain shape or visible structure).  quotations  examples

(transitive) To give (a shape or visible structure) to a thing or person.  examples

(intransitive) To take shape.  quotations  examples

To put together or bring into being; assemble.  examples

(transitive, linguistics) To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.  examples

(transitive) To constitute, to compose, to make up.  quotations  examples

To mould or model by instruction or discipline.  quotations  examples

To provide (a hare) with a form.  quotations  examples

(electrical, historical, transitive) 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.