Force

10 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Force \Force\, v. t. [See {Farce} to stuff.]
     To stuff; to lard; to farce. [R.]
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           Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
                                                    --Shak.


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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Force \Force\, n. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. fors, foss, Dan.
     fos.]
     A waterfall; a cascade. [Prov. Eng.]
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           To see the falls for force of the river Kent. --T.
                                                    Gray.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Force \Force\, n. [F. force, LL. forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis
     strong. See {Fort}, n.]
     1. Capacity of exercising an influence or producing an
        effect; strength or energy of body or mind; active power;
        vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or
        energy; 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.
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              He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
                                                    --Macaulay.
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     2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power;
        violence; coercion; as, by force of arms; to take by
        force.
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              Which now they hold by force, and not by right.
                                                    --Shak.
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     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; the armed
        forces.
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              Is Lucius general of the forces?      --Shak.
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     4. (Law)
        (a) Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary
            to law, upon persons or things; violence.
        (b) Validity; efficacy. --Burrill.
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     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.
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     {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.
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                  Thy tears are of no force to mollify
                  This flinty man.                  --Heywood.
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                  More huge in strength than wise in works he was.
                                                    --Spenser.
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                  Adam and first matron Eve
                  Had ended now their orisons, and found
                  Strength added from above, new hope to spring
                  Out of despair.                   --Milton.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     2. To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force
        conviction on the mind.
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     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.
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              To force their monarch and insult the court.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              I should have forced thee soon wish other arms.
                                                    --Milton.
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              To force a spotless virgin's chastity. --Shak.
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     4. To obtain, overcome, or win by strength; to take by
        violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault;
        to storm, as a fortress; as, to force the castle; to force
        a lock.
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     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.
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              It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay
              That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
                                                    --Dryden.
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              To force the tyrant from his seat by war. --Sahk.
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              Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into
              religion.                             --Fuller.
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     6. To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding;
        to enforce. [Obs.]
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              What can the church force more?       --J. Webster.
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     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 conceit or metaphor; to
        force a laugh; to force fruits.
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              High on a mounting wave my head I bore,
              Forcing my strength, and gathering to the shore.
                                                    --Dryden.
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     8. (Whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a
        trick by leading a suit of which he has none.
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     9. To provide with forces; to re["e]nforce; to strengthen by
        soldiers; to man; to garrison. [Obs.] --Shak.
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     10. To allow the force of; to value; to care for. [Obs.]
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               For me, I force not argument a straw. --Shak.
  
     Syn: To compel; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce;
          drive; press; impel.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Force \Force\, v. i. [Obs. in all the senses.]
     1. To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to
        endeavor.
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              Forcing with gifts to win his wanton heart.
                                                    --Spenser.
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     2. To make a difficult matter of anything; to labor; to
        hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account of; to
        regard.
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              Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear.
                                                    --Shak.
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              I force not of such fooleries.        --Camden.
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     3. To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter.
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              It is not sufficient to have attained the name and
              dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how. --Udall.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  force
       n 1: a unit that is part of some military service; "he sent
            Caesar a force of six thousand men" [syn: {military unit},
             {military force}, {military group}]
       2: 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}]
       3: (physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical
          quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration"
       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 powerful effect or influence; "the force of his eloquence
          easily persuaded them"
       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: 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}]
       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"; "He squeezed her for information"
            [syn: {coerce}, {hale}, {squeeze}, {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" [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: force into or from an action or state, either physically or
          metaphorically; "She rammed her mind into focus"; "He
          drives me mad" [syn: {drive}, {ram}]
       7: do forcibly; exert force; "Don't force it!"
       8: cause to move along the ground by pulling; "draw a wagon";
          "pull a sled" [syn: {pull}, {draw}] [ant: {push}]
       9: take by force; "Storm the fort" [syn: {storm}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  538 Moby Thesaurus words for "force":
     Niagara, abuse, actuate, acuteness, administer, adventuresomeness,
     adventurousness, affective meaning, aggression, aggressiveness,
     ambitiousness, amount, amperage, amplitude, animality, animate,
     apply, arm, armed forces, armipotence, army, ascendancy, assault,
     atrocity, authoritativeness, authority, backlash, backset,
     backwash, barbarity, bear, bear upon, bearing, beef, bestow,
     betray, big battalions, bind, binding, bite, bitingness,
     black power, bloodlust, boost, break, brutality, brute force, buck,
     bulk, bull, bulldoze, bump, bump against, bunt, butt, butt against,
     carat, cascade, cataract, cause, cause to, centigram, charge,
     charisma, charm, chute, clout, coerce, coercion, cogence, cogency,
     coloring, command, compel, compulsion, concuss, connotation,
     consequence, constrain, constraint, control, crack, cram, cram in,
     credit, crew, crowd, crowd in, cultivate, culture, current, cut,
     cuttingness, debauch, decagram, deceive, decigram, decisiveness,
     defile, deflorate, deflower, delve, demand, demonic energy,
     denotation, despoil, destructiveness, dig, dint, dominance,
     domination, dose, dose with, drag, dragoon, dram, dram avoirdupois,
     dress, drift, drive, drive in, duress, dynamism, dyne, effect,
     effective, effectiveness, effectuality, efficacy, effort, elbow,
     eminence, employees, enchantment, endurance, energize, energy,
     enforce, enforce upon, enjoin, enterprise, enterprisingness, ergal,
     essence, esteem, exact, extension, extent, extort, extract,
     extremity, fall, fallow, falls, favor, ferociousness, fertilize,
     fierceness, flower power, force in, force majeure, force upon,
     forcefulness, fortitude, foster, full blast, full force,
     furiousness, galvanize, gang, get-up-and-get, get-up-and-go, getup,
     gist, give, go, go-ahead, go-getting, go-to-itiveness, goad,
     good feeling, grain, gram, grammatical meaning, gumption, guts,
     gutsiness, hardiness, harrow, harshness, have, headway, heartiness,
     help, hired help, hoe, hold, hundredweight, hurtle, hustle, idea,
     impact, impel, impetuosity, impetus, implication, import,
     importance, impose, impress, impression, impressiveness, imprint,
     in effect, in force, in operation, incidental power, incisiveness,
     inclemency, influence, influentiality, inhumanity, initiative,
     insinuation, intension, intensity, intestinal fortitude,
     intimidate, jab, jam, jam in, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, justness,
     kilo, kilogram, kinetic energy, knock in, lay on, lead astray,
     leadership, leverage, lexical meaning, linn, list, literal meaning,
     lustihood, lustiness, magnetism, magnitude, main force,
     main strength, make, malignity, mana, mark, mass, mastery, matter,
     meaning, measure, measurement, megaton, men, mercilessness,
     mete out to, might, might and main, mightiness, military,
     milligram, mindlessness, mislead, mole, moment, momentum, mordancy,
     motivate, move, move to action, moxie, mulch, murderousness,
     muscle, muscle power, naked force, nappe, nervosity, nervousness,
     nudge, numbers, oblige, obstinacy, occasion, operative, order,
     ounce, ounce avoirdupois, ounce troy, outrage, overtone, pack in,
     pains, pennyweight, persistence, personality, personnel,
     persuasion, pertinence, physical force, pile drive, pith,
     pitilessness, pizzazz, plow, plunge in, poignancy, point, poke,
     poke in, poop, potence, potency, potential energy, potentiality,
     pound, pound avoirdupois, pound in, pound troy, poundal, power,
     power pack, power structure, power struggle, powerfulness,
     practical consequence, predominance, preponderance, prepotency,
     prescribe for, press, press in, pressure, prestige, print, prise,
     prize, prod, productiveness, productivity, promote, propel, prune,
     pry, puissance, pull, punch, purchase, purport, push, push in,
     pushfulness, pushiness, pushingness, put on, put upon, quantity,
     quantum, rake, ram, ram down, ram in, range of meaning, rape,
     rattle, ravage, ravish, reaction, real meaning, recoil, reference,
     referent, reflex, reign, relation, relevance, repercussion, repute,
     require, response, restrain, retinue, rigor, robustness, roughness,
     ruggedness, ruin, rule, rule of might, run, run against, run in,
     sandbag, sault, savagery, say, scope, scruple, seduce,
     semantic cluster, semantic field, sense, servantry, set in motion,
     severity, shake, sharpness, shotgun, shoulder, shove, significance,
     signification, significatum, signifie, sinew, sinewiness, slug,
     soil, soldiers, solidity, soundness, spade, span of meaning, spark,
     speed, spirit, spoil, spout, spunk, squeeze in, staff,
     stalwartness, stamina, staying power, steam, steamroller,
     sticking power, stimulate, stone, stoutness, strain, strength,
     strength of will, strenuousness, stress, strong arm,
     strong language, structural meaning, stuff in, sturdiness, suasion,
     substance, substantiality, subtle influence, suggestion, sully,
     sum, sum and substance, superiority, superpower, supremacy, sway,
     symbolic meaning, tamp, tamp in, tenor, tension, terrorism,
     the help, thin, thin out, thrust, thrust in, tie, till,
     till the soil, ton, totality of associations, toughness,
     transferred meaning, trenchancy, troops, trouble, tyranny,
     ultima ratio, unadorned meaning, undertone, units of weight,
     up-and-comingness, upper hand, use force upon, valid, validity,
     value, vandalism, vehemence, velocity, venom, venturesomeness,
     venturousness, viciousness, vigor, vigorousness, vim, violate,
     violence, virility, virtue, virulence, visit, vitality, waterfall,
     watershoot, wattage, wedge in, weed, weed out, weight, whip hand,
     whole, work, wreak, wreck, wrench, wrest, wring
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  Force
       
          A {dBASE} dialect for {MS-DOS}.
       
       

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  FORCE. A power put in motion. It is: 1. Actual; or 2. Implied. 
       2.-1. If a person with force break a door or gate for an illegal 
  purpose, it is lawful to oppose force to force; and if one enter the close 
  of another, vi et armis, he may be expelled immediately, without a previous 
  request; for there is no time to make a request. 2 Salk. 641; 8 T. R. 78, 
  357. And see tit. Battery, Sec. 2. When it is necessary to rely upon actual 
  force in pleading, as in the case of a forcible entry, the words "manu 
  forti," or with a strong hand should be adopted. 8 T. R. 357 358. But in 
  other cases, the words "vi et armis," or "with force and arms," is 
  sufficient. Id. 
       3.-2. The entry into the ground of another, without his consent, is 
  breaking his close, for force is implied in every trespass quare clausum 
  fregit. 1 Salk. 641; Co. Litt. 257, b; 161, b; 162, a; 1 Saund: 81, 140, n. 
  4 8 T: R. 78, 358; Bac. Ab. Trespass; this Dict. tit. Close. In the case of 
  false imprisonment, force is implied. 1 N. R. 255. And the same rule 
  prevails where a wife, a daughter or servant, have been enticed away or 
  debauched, though in fact they consented, the law considering them incapable 
  of consenting. See 3 Wils. 18; Fitz. N. B. 89, 0; 5 T. R. 361; 6 East, 387; 
  2 N. R. 365, 454. 
       4. In general, a mere nonfeasance cannot be considered as forcible; for 
  where there has been no act, there cannot be force, as in the case of the 
  mere detention of goods without an unlawful taking. 2 Saund. 47, k 1. In 
  general, by force is understood unlawful violence. Co. Litt. 161, b.; Bouv. 
  Inst. Index, h.t. Vide Arms. 
  
  

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!"