From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [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 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 The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 Sep 2003) [foldoc]:
Force
A dBASE dialect for MS-DOS.