Form

Form, form, n. shape of a body: the boundary-line of an object: a model: a mould: mode of being: mode of arrangement: order: regularity: system, as of government: beauty or elegance: established practice: ceremony: fitness or efficiency for any undertaking: a blank schedule to be filled in with details: a specimen document to be copied or imitated: (phil.) 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: (print.) the type from which an impression is to be taken arranged and secured in a chase—often Forme:—(in the fol. senses pron. fōrm), a long seat, a bench: the pupils on a form, a class: the bed of a hare, which takes its shape from the animal's body.—v.t. to give form or shape to: to make: to contrive: to settle, as an opinion: to combine: to go to make up: to establish: (gram.) to make by derivation.—v.i. to assume a form.—adj. Form′al, according to form or established mode: ceremonious, punctilious, methodical: having the form only: (Shak.) embodied in a form: having the power of making a thing what it is: essential: proper.—v.t. and v.i. Form′alise.—ns. Form′alism, excessive observance of form or conventional usage, esp. in religion: stiffness of manner; Form′alist, one having exaggerated regard to rules or established usages; Formal′ity, the precise observance of forms or ceremonies: established order: sacrifice of substance to form.—adv. Form′ally.—n. Formā′tion, a making or producing: structure: (geol.) a group of strata of one period.—adj. Form′ative, giving form, determining, moulding: (gram.) inflectional, serving to form, not radical.—n. a derivative.—p.adj. Formed, trained, mature.—n. Form′er.—adj. Form′less, shapeless.—Formal logic (see Logic).—Good, or Bad, form, according to good social usage, or the opposite; Take form, to assume a definite appearance. [O. Fr. forme—L. forma, shape.]