form, for men, formyn, four me

t. & i. [Fr. former, from Lat. formo, from form a =form, shape; Sp. & Port. formar; Ital. form are; Dut. vormen; Icel. & Sw. form a; Dan. forme; Ger. for men.] A. Transitive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. To make, shape, or mold out of materials; to give form or shape to. "And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground."-Genesis ii. 7. 2. To arrange in any particular manner; as, to form troops. "Other troops should not be formed behind them." Mac doug all : Modern Warfare , ch. vi. 3. To give existence to; to create. "Creature in whom excelled Whatever can to sight or thought be formed, Holy, divine, good, amiable, or sweet." Milton: P. L. , ix. 897. 4. To model or mold according to a pattern. "From him the orator formed a style." - Goldsmith : On Polite Learning , ch. ii. 5. To mold or form by instruction or discipline; II. Technically : 1. Bot .: The shape of a body itself, as distinguished from the figure made by its outline; the nature of its apex, that of its divisions, . 2. Cook.: A shape or mold for jellies. 3. Foundry: A mold. 4. Math .: The mode of algebraic expre ion. Two expre ions are said to be of the same form, when they indicate the same relation between the quantities which enter them. 5. Metaphysics: (1) Objectively: (a) The a emblage of qualities which make a body, a substance, or anything be what it is. Whatever is accidental or adventitious in the individual examined or specimen of the substance examined is excluded from examination, and only what is e ential taken into account; hence in place of the simple word form , the compound one e ential - form or substantial - form is generally employed. (b) The mode in which any object is manifested to the senses, or the intellect. Thus the clouds manifest themselves to the perceptive powers as occupying a certain position, as having a certain shape, and as colored with certain hues. The forms of immaterial things are called categories. (2) Subjectively : The idea or concept which the mind forms of an object as distinguished from the object itself. According to the philosophy of Kant, it was the province of the sensitive faculty to communicate to the mind the matter of a notion, and that of the understanding to give it form. IMG:content-0046.png:[blocks in formation] (1) Crabb thus discriminates between form, "'Tis education forms the common mind." Pope: Moral E ays, i. 149. 6. To contrive; to devise; to imagine. "The defeat of the design is the routing of opinions formed for promoting it." - More: Decay of Piety. 7. To arrange; to adjust; to settle; to continue. "Our differences with the Romanists are thus formed into an interest." - More: Decay of Piety . 8. To be an element or component part of; to go to make up; to compose. "The diplomatic politicians of whom I speak and who formed by far the majority in that cla ."-Burke: Regi cide Peace , lett. ii. *9. To seat or settle in a form. "The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers." Drayton: Polyolbion , s. 2. II. Gram.: To make, coin, or construct a word by derivation, or by the means of affixes or prefixes. *B. Intransitive : 1. To take or a ume a particular form or shape. 2. To squat down as a hare. To form on : To dispose a military force with reference to some given point as a center or basis of operations. (1) Crabb thus discriminates between to form , to fashion , to mold, and to shape : "To form is to put into a form , which is the generic term: to fashion is to put into a particular or distinct form : to mold is to put into a set form : to shape is to form simply as it respects the exterior. As everything receives a form when it receives existence, to form conveys the idea of producing. When we wish to represent a thing as formed in any distinct or remarkable way, we may speak of it as fashioned ." (2) He thus discriminates between to form, to compose, and to constitute : " Form is a generic and indefinite term. To compose and constitute are modes of forming. These words may be employed either to designate modes of action or to characterize things. Things may be formed either by persons or things; they are composed and constituted only by conscious agents." (Crabb: Eng . Synon.) (3) For the difference between to form and to IMG:content-0047.png:[blocks in formation] figure , and conformation: " Form is the generic term; figure and conformation are special terms, The form is the work either of nature or art; it re- sults from the arrangement of the parts; the figure is the work of design; it includes the general con- tour or outline; the conformation includes such a disposition of the parts of a body as is adapted for performing certain functions. Form is the property of every substance; and the artificial form ap- proaches nearest to perfection, as it is most nat- ural; the figure is the fruit of the imagination; it ale .]