force

Etymology 1

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin fortia, a noun derived from the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ- (“to rise, high, hill”).

noun

1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
   the force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
3. (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
4. (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
5. Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
   A doorknob of whatever roundish shape is effectively a continuum of levers, with the axis of the latching mechanism—known as the spindle—being the fulcrum about which the turning takes place. Applying a force tangential to the knob is essentially equivalent to applying one perpendicular to a radial line defining the lever. 2012-03, Henry Petroski, “Opening Doors”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, pages 112–3
6. (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
   reinforcemented increased the American force in the area to 9,000
   police force
   For Lothian and Borders Police, the early-morning raid had come at the end one of biggest investigations carried out by the force, which had originally presented a dossier of evidence on the murder of Jodi Jones to the Edinburgh procurator-fiscal, William Gallagher, on 25 November last year. April 15, 2004, “Morning swoop in hunt for Jodi's killer”, in The Scotsman
7. (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
   show of force
8. (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
9. (law) Legal validity.
   The law will come into force in January.
10. (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
11. (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
    When the aspectual force of the verbal categories weakens, the 'terminative', punctual or determinative value of the prefix gains in importance,... 1962, J Gonda, The aspectual function of the R̥gvedic present and aorist, S̓-Gravenhage, Mouton, page 43
12. (humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.
    The Europeans tried, my goodness how they tried. But on the day the US proved too strong and too inspired. They were, dammit, just better. And when Leonard's putt dropped they clearly had the force with them as well. 1999-09-28, Mike Selvey, “Crenshaw vindicated by a chain reaction”, in The Guardian
    The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. 2005, George Lucas, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, spoken by Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), published 2005
13. (usually with "the", in the singular or plural) Synonym of police force
    Q. All the time that he was on the force? A. I cannot say that; but there were men on with me when I was on the force who were very good Republicans. Q. During all this time you have been on the police force? 1880, [U.S.] House documents, page 64
    Some of those that work forces / Are the same that burn crosses 1992, Rage Against the Machine (band), Killing in the Name
    Niall was on the force, too, a detective in major crimes. 2012-02-01, Janice Kay Johnson, Between Love and Duty, Harlequin, page 77

Etymology 2

From Middle English forcen, from Old French forcier, from Late Latin *fortiāre, from Latin fortia.

verb

1. (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape.
2. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost.
3. (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something.
   Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market. 23 March 2011, Tim Webb, Fiona Harvey, The Guardian
4. (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
5. (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
   It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
   In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road. 4 November 2007, The Guardian
6. (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
   The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then.
   The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU. 23 July 2009, “All things to Althingi”, in The Economist
7. (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
   To force a lock.
8. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
9. (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
   Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
10. (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
11. (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
12. (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
13. (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
14. To grow (rhubarb) in the dark, causing it to grow early.

Etymology 3

From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.

noun

1. (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
   to see the falls or force of the river Kent 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire

Etymology 4

From Middle English forcen, forsen, a use of force, with confusion of farce (“to stuff”).

verb

1. To stuff; to lard; to farce.