*SET-U

Chambers (1908)

Inform

Read this edition’s complete source entry.

Englishe-38538-5437Historical source · not a reviewed *SET-U verdictRead the source ↗

This edition’s origin note

[O. Fr.,—L. informāre—in, into, formāre, to form.]

Original source wording, not an independently verified *SET-U conclusion.

The complete extracted entry

e-38538-5437

Historical source text, not a reviewed *SET-U analysis. Claims and terminology belong to this edition.

Inform, in-form′, v.t. to give form to: to animate or give life to: to impart knowledge to: to tell: (Milt.) to direct.—v.i. (Shak.) to take shape or form: to give information (with against or on).—adj. Inform′al, not in proper form: irregular.—n. Informal′ity.—adv. Inform′ally.—ns. Inform′ant, one who informs or gives intelligence; Informā′tion, intelligence given: knowledge: an accusation given to a magistrate or court.—adjs. Inform′ative, having power to form: instructive; Inform′atory, instructive; Informed′ (Spens.), unformed: (astron.) of stars not included within the figures of any of the ancient constellations.—n. Inform′er, one who informs against another. [O. Fr.,—L. informāre—in, into, formāre, to form.]

Source locator ebook:38538;section:dictionary;paragraph:5459;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:2209585-2210891

Where interpretation must slow down

  • Historical scholarship from 1908; not current consensus or editorial verification.
  • Historical text may contain offensive, obsolete or inaccurate language and classifications.
  • Public-domain determination applies to the United States; other jurisdictions require separate confirmation.
  • Chambers consulted earlier dictionaries including Skeat and the New English Dictionary; overlapping claims are not independent scholarly votes.

An old root, gloss or concordance number does not determine the meaning of every later use. A word’s origin and its modern meaning are different questions.

This page does not invent a manuscript attestation, a sound-change sequence, a modern scholarly verdict or a complete ancestor tree. Missing detail is a limit of this source record, not necessarily a limit of scholarship.

Find other records with this spelling →

Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

The full extracted entry is rendered as plain text. Formatting and navigation are added by *SET-U; source wording is not silently rewritten as new analysis.

Coverage: the complete A–Z main-entry clusters and dictionary Addenda. Derivative words remain within their original entry clusters. Non-dictionary appendices and standalone illustrations are excluded.

Original entry or artifact ↗Source edition and credits ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source audit fields
Source locator
ebook:38538;section:dictionary;paragraph:5459;continuation-paragraphs:0;html-characters:2209585-2210891
Source record SHA-256
d95e6fae368f9df0d438de72e8e1725e5b2df60757c8b56dcc7248a9c5de0e7a
Records SHA-256
fe553f4cc08e11f2f222d5bd4706ae9585f8951c8374a3edc0fcc03264dbbea9
Published snapshot
00f489ccce5cccc78b796c10de36f4f0d18709073434ccf9285eb201d4ac39ca
Acquired
2026-11-05T09:16:04.758Z · acquisition date, not first attestation
Parser
chambers-1908-1
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,407,997 bytes555d2991c0d7cc611a61c79935db172efe6bb5becb074253788d90dafd0b6b08
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 3,773,892 bytes912196a924c239e3ccc550bbb1f8515ce77bbd271ebf777b27fc468174ac32f8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 2,804,092 bytes4a647fbb3ce598efbe36554cdc02b070b3f5edf5ba2e41fcd36328f18a26c4e8
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac
  • Source artifact ↗ · 4,392,053 bytes222c6725b7618cc03250863a64cce04c859c3378caa03b347376611c0668b33d
  • Source artifact ↗ · 537 bytes781eff3f628c95b2a1cae38d73f1c2fa4672ffd6b08e38f65c1f5ca5a4e663ac