form

Etymology

From Middle English forme (“shape, figure, manner, bench, frame, seat, condition, agreement, etc.”), borrowed from Old French forme, from Latin fōrma (“shape, figure, image, outline, plan, mold, frame, case, etc., manner, sort, kind, etc.”).

noun

1. (heading, physical) To do with shape.
   1. The shape or visible structure of a thing or person.
      Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it. 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations
      The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom.[…]Roaring, leaping, pouncing, the tempest raged about the wanderers, drowning and blotting out their forms with sandy spume. 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid
      As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field. 2013-05-10, Audrey Garric, “Urban canopies let nature bloom”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 22, page 30
   2. A thing that gives shape to other things as in a mold.
   3. Regularity, beauty, or elegance.
   4. (philosophy) 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.
   5. (dated) A long bench with no back.
      And there with syr Launcelot wrapped his mantel aboute his arme wel and surely and by thenne they had geten a grete fourme oute of the halle and there with all they rasshed at the dore "And therewith Sir Launcelot wrapped his mantle about his arm well and surely; and by then they had gotten a great form out of the hall, and therewithal they rashed at the door." 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter iv, leaf 401v
      In the hall. One large table, with frame. 10s. ij cobbordes 8s. j fourme, j chaire, and j kenninge measure, 12d. 1585–1586 January 18, “LXIII. Testamentum Johannis Ogle. [63. Will of John Ogle.]”, in William Greenwell], editor, Wills and Inventories from the Registry at Durham. Part II (The Publications of the Surtees Society; XXXVIII), Durham: Published for the Society by George Andrews, Durham; London: Whittaker and Co., 13 Ave Maria Lane; T. and W. Boone, 29 New Bond Street; Edinburgh: Blackwood and Sons, published 1860, →OCLC, page 132
      I can see the old schoolroom yet: the broken-down desks and the worn-out forms with knots in that got stuck into your backside[…]. 1981, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 10
      The prefect grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me down a passageway, and down another and finally through a door that led into a long, low dining-room crowded with loudly breakfasting boys sitting on long, shiny oak forms, as benches used to be called. 2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography
   6. (fine arts) The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.
   7. (crystallography) The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.
2. (social) To do with structure or procedure.
   1. An order of doing things, as in religious ritual.
   2. Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula.
      Those whom form of laws Condemned to die.
   3. Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system.
      a republican form of government
   4. Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality.
      a matter of mere form
   5. (archaic) A class or rank in society.
   6. (UK) A criminal record; loosely, past history (in a given area).
      It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks. 4 May 2011, Jane Martinson, The Guardian
      As for the notion that it’s not how Sunak would have won, that doesn’t mean a whole lot coming from a guy whose recent form includes losing to Liz Truss. 2023-07-04, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian
   7. Level of performance.
      The team's form has been poor this year.
      The orchestra was on top form this evening.
   8. (UK, education) A class or year of school pupils (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the year, as in sixth form).
      One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in?[…]" 1928, George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk
      From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators. 1976, Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education
3. A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.
   To apply for the position, complete the application form.
4. A specimen document to be copied or imitated.
5. (grammar) A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.
   participial forms;  verb forms
6. The den or home of a hare.
   The Egyptians therefore in their hieroglyphics expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most timorous and solitary creature. , I.iii.1.2
   Hares left their snug ‘forms’ in the cold grass. 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 275
7. (computing, programming) A window or dialogue box.
   While it is quite amazing how much one can do with Visual Basic with the code attached to a single form, to take full advantage of VB you'll need to start using multiple forms and having the code on all the forms in your project interact. 1998, Gary Cornell, Visual Basic 6 from the ground up, page 426
   Throughout this chapter we will work with a form in a new project. 2010, Neil Smyth, C# Essentials
8. (taxonomy) An infraspecific rank.
9. (printing, dated) The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.
   And the form is inked, the paper is applied, the bed is slid, and the platen is levered down and the proof is printed. 2010, Andrea Levy, The Long Song, Tinder Press (2017), page 382
10. (geometry) A quantic.
11. (sports, fitness) A specific way of performing a movement.

verb

1. (transitive) To assume (a certain shape or visible structure).
   When you kids form a straight line I'll hand out the lollies.
   Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. 2013 May–June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7
2. (transitive) To give (a shape or visible structure) to a thing or person.
   Roll out the dough to form a thin sheet.
3. (intransitive) To take shape.
   When icicles start to form on the eaves you know the roads will be icy.
   As we age, the major arteries of our bodies frequently become thickened with plaque, a fatty material with an oatmeal-like consistency that builds up along the inner lining of blood vessels. The reason plaque forms isn’t entirely known, but it seems to be related to high levels of cholesterol inducing an inflammatory response, which can also attract and trap more cellular debris over time. 2013 July–August, Stephen P. Lownie, David M. Pelz, “Stents to Prevent Stroke”, in American Scientist
4. To put together or bring into being; assemble.
   The socialists did not have enough MPs to form a government.
   Paul McCartney and John Lennon formed The Beatles in Liverpool in 1960.
5. (transitive, linguistics) To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.
   By adding "-ness", you can form a noun from an adjective.
6. (transitive) To constitute, to compose, to make up.
   Teenagers form the bulk of extreme traffic offenders.
   Insects form the biggest family group in nature's kingdom, and also the oldest. 1948 May, Stanley Pashko, “The Biggest Family”, in Boys' Life, Volume 38, Number 5, Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, p.10
7. To mould or model by instruction or discipline.
   Singing in a choir helps to form a child's sociality.
   1731–1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays 'Tis education forms the common mind.
   Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.
8. To provide (a hare) with a form.
   This is the time that the horseman are flung out, not having the cry to lead them to the death. When quadruped animals of the venery or hunting kind are at rest, the stag is said to be harboured, the buck lodged, the fox kennelled, the badger earthed, the otter vented or watched, the hare formed, and the rabbit set. When you find and rouse up the stag and buck, they are said to be imprimed: […] 1819, John Mayer, The Sportsman's Directory, or Park and Gamekeeper's Companion
9. (electrical, historical, transitive) To treat (plates) to prepare them for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but later the plates or grids were coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.