form

noun

1. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

2. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
3. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
4. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
5. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
6. (countable, dated, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.

   “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 […].”

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

   “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[…].”

   “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.”

7. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
8. (countable, physical, uncountable)To do with shape.
9. (countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.
10. (countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “Those whom form of laws Condemned to die.”

    “[H]e sprang into the road, without previously going through the empty form of advising the driver of his intention, to pick [his hat] up.”

11. (countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “a republican form of government”

12. (countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “a matter of mere form”

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

13. (archaic, countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “ladies of a high form”

14. (UK, countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “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.”

    “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.”

15. (countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “The team's form has been poor this year.”

    “The orchestra was on top form this evening.”

16. (UK, countable, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.
17. (UK, countable, dated, uncountable)To do with structure or procedure.

    “Nathaniel: Maister, there is nobody to teach in the sixth form. Maister: What a thing is this? N: He is sick in bed. M: How do you know? N: One of the scholars in his house told me so.”

    “I am a very weak, insufficient scholar, sitting on the lowest form in Thy great school-house, which is the whole world, and trying to spell out the mere letters of Thy alphabet […]”

    “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?[…]"”

    “From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators.”

18. (countable, uncountable)A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.

    “To apply for the position, complete the application form.”

19. (countable, uncountable)A specimen document to be copied or imitated.
20. (countable, uncountable)A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.

    “participial forms;  verb forms”

21. (countable, uncountable)The den or home of a hare.

    “Being one day a hunting, I found a Hare sitting in her forme[…].”

    “The Egyptians therefore in their hieroglyphics expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most timorous and solitary creature.”

    “Hares left their snug ‘forms’ in the cold grass.”

22. (countable, uncountable)A window or dialogue box.

    “While it is quite amazing how much one can do with Visual Basic with the code attached to a single form, to take full advantage of VB you'll need to start using multiple forms and having the code on all the forms in your project interact.”

    “Throughout this chapter we will work with a form in a new project.”

23. (countable, uncountable)An infraspecific rank.
24. (countable, dated, uncountable)The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.

    “And the form is inked, the paper is applied, the bed is slid, and the platen is levered down and the proof is printed.”

25. (countable, uncountable)A quantic.
26. (countable, uncountable)A specific way of performing a movement.
27. (abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable)Acronym of family, occupation, recreation, motivation, a set of potential topics of conversation for use by salespeople etc.

verb

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

   “When you kids form a straight line I'll hand out the lollies.”

   “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.”

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

   “Roll out the dough to form a thin sheet.”

3. (intransitive)To take shape.

   “When icicles start to form on the eaves you know the roads will be icy.”

   “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.”

4. To put together or bring into being; assemble.

   “The socialists did not have enough MPs to form a government.”

   “Paul McCartney and John Lennon formed The Beatles in Liverpool in 1960.”

5. (transitive)To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.

   “By adding "-ness", you can form a noun from an adjective.”

6. (transitive)To constitute, to compose, to make up.

   “Teenagers form the bulk of extreme traffic offenders.”

   “the diplomatic politicians[…]who formed by far the majority”

   “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,[…].”

   “Insects form the biggest family group in nature's kingdom, and also the oldest.”

7. To mould or model by instruction or discipline.

   “Singing in a choir helps to form a child's sociality.”

   “1731–1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays 'Tis education forms the common mind.”

   “Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.”

8. To provide (a hare) with a form.

   “The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers.”

   “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: […]”

9. (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.