Force (?), v. t. [See Farce to
stuff.] To stuff; to lard; to farce. [R.]
Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with
wit.
Shak.
Force, n. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Icel.
fors, foss, Dan. fos.] A waterfall; a
cascade. [Prov. Eng.]
To see the falls for force of the river
Kent.
T. Gray.
Force, n. [F. force, LL.
forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis strong. See
Fort, n.] 1. Strength
or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an
unusual degree of strength or energy; capacity of exercising an
influence or producing an effect; especially, power to persuade, or
convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special
signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a
contract, or a term.
He was, in the full force of the words, a good
man.
Macaulay.
2. Power exerted against will or consent;
compulsory power; violence; coercion.
Which now they hold by force, and not by
right.
Shak.
3. Strength or power for war; hence, a body
of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for
action; -- an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the
plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as,
the laboring force of a plantation.
Is Lucius general of the forces?
Shak.
4. (Law) (a) Strength
or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or
things; violence. (b) Validity;
efficacy. Burrill.
5. (Physics) Any action between two
bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as
to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to
change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical,
thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as,
the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal
force.
Animal force (Physiol.), muscular
force or energy. -- Catabiotic force [Gr. &?;
down (intens.) + &?; life.] (Biol.), the influence exerted
by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are
developed in harmony with the primary structures. --
Centrifugal force, Centripetal
force, Coercive force, etc. See under
Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc. --
Composition of forces, Correlation of
forces, etc. See under Composition,
Correlation, etc. -- Force and arms
[trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an expression in
old indictments, signifying violence. -- In
force, or Of force, of unimpaired
efficacy; valid; of full virtue; not suspended or reversed. "A
testament is of force after men are dead." Heb. ix. 17.
-- Metabolic force (Physiol.), the
influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body.
-- No force, no matter of urgency or
consequence; no account; hence, to do no force, to make no
account of; not to heed. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Of
force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively.
"Good reasons must, of force, give place to better."
Shak. -- Plastic force (Physiol.),
the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the
tissues. -- Vital force (Physiol.),
that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form
of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as
distinguished from the physical forces generally
known.
Syn. -- Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence;
violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion. --
Force, Strength. Strength looks rather to power
as an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the
strength of timber, bodily strength, mental
strength, strength of emotion, etc. Force, on
the other hand, looks more to the outward; as, the
force of gravitation, force of circumstances,
force of habit, etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength
of will and force of will; but even here the former may lean
toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the latter toward the
outward expression of it in action. But, though the two words do in a
few cases touch thus closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a
marked distinction in our use of force and strength.
"Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to whatever
produces, or can produce, motion." Nichol.
Thy tears are of no force to mollify
This flinty man.
Heywood.
More huge in strength than wise in works he
was.
Spenser.
Adam and first matron Eve
Had ended now their orisons, and found
Strength added from above, new hope to spring
Out of despair.
Milton.
Force (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Forced (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Forcing (?).] [OF. forcier, F. forcer, fr. LL.
forciare, fortiare. See Force,
n.] 1. To constrain to do or
to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by
physical, moral, or intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters
force slaves to labor.
2. To compel, as by strength of evidence; as,
to force conviction on the mind.
3. To do violence to; to overpower, or to
compel by violence to one's will; especially, to ravish; to violate;
to commit rape upon.
To force their monarch and insult the
court.
Dryden.
I should have forced thee soon wish other
arms.
Milton.
To force a spotless virgin's
chastity.
Shak.
4. To obtain or win by strength; to take by
violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm,
as a fortress.
5. To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc.,
by main strength or violence; -- with a following adverb, as
along, away, from, into, through,
out, etc.
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay
That scarce the victor forced the steel away.
Dryden.
To force the tyrant from his seat by
war.
Sahk.
Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced
into religion.
Fuller.
6. To put in force; to cause to be executed;
to make binding; to enforce. [Obs.]
What can the church force more?
J. Webster.
7. To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to
strain; to urge to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to
produce by unnatural effort; as, to force a conceit or
metaphor; to force a laugh; to force fruits.
High on a mounting wave my head I bore,
Forcing my strength, and gathering to the shore.
Dryden.
8. (Whist) To compel (an adversary or
partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit of which he has
none.
9. To provide with forces; to reënforce;
to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison. [Obs.]
Shak.
10. To allow the force of; to value; to care
for. [Obs.]
For me, I force not argument a
straw.
Shak.
Syn. -- To compel; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce;
drive; press; impel.
Force, v. i. [Obs. in all the senses.]
1. To use violence; to make violent effort; to
strive; to endeavor.
Forcing with gifts to win his wanton
heart.
Spenser.
2. To make a difficult matter of anything; to
labor; to hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account
of; to regard.
Your oath once broke, you force not to
forswear.
Shak.
I force not of such fooleries.
Camden.
3. To be of force, importance, or weight; to
matter.
It is not sufficient to have attained the name and
dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how.
Udall.
