Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FORM, v.i.

To take a form.

FORM, v.t. [L. formo.]

1. To make or cause to exist in a particular manner. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. Gen. ii.
2. To shape; to mold or fashion into a particular shape or state; as, to form an image of stone or clay.
3. To plan to scheme; to modify. Dryden.
4. To arrange; to combine in a particular manner; as, to form a line or square of troops.
5. To adjust; to settle. Our differences with the Romanists are thus formed Into an interest. Decay of Piety.
6. To contrive; to invent; as, to form a design or scheme.
7. To make up; to frame; to settle by deductions of reason; as, to form an opinion or judgment; to form an estimate.
8. To mold; to model by instruction and discipline; as, to form the mind to virtuous habits by education.
9. To combine; to unite individuals into a collective body; as, to form a society for missions.
10. To make; to establish. The subscribers are formed by law into a corporation. They have formed regulations for their government.
11. To compile; as, to form a body of laws or customs; to form a digest.
12. To constitute; to make. Duplicity forms no part of his character. These facts form a safe foundation for our conclusions. The senate and house of representatives form the legislative body.
13. In grammar, to make by derivation, or by affixes or prefixes. L. do, in the preterit, forms dedi.
14. To enact; to make; to ordain; as, to form a law or an edict.

FORM'AL, a.

1. According to form; agreeable to established mode; regular; methodical.
2. Strictly ceremonious; precise; exact to affectation; as, a man formal in his dress, his gait, or deportment.
3. Done in due form, or with solemnity; express; according to regular method; not incidental, sudden or irregular. He gave his formal consent to the treaty.
4. Regular; methodical; as, the formal stars. Waller.
5. Having the form or appearance without the substance or essence; external; as, formal duty; formal worship.
6. Depending on customary forms. Still in constraint your suffering sex remains, / Or bound in formal or in real chains. Pope.
7. Having the power of making a thing what it is; constituent; essential. Of letters the material part is breath and voice; the formal is constituted by the motions and figure of the organs of speech. Holder.
8. Retaining its proper and essential characteristic; regular; proper. To make of him a formal man again. Shak.

FORM'AL-ISM, n.

Formality. [The latter is generally used.] Burke.

FORM'AL-ISM, n.

1. Formality in religion.
2. System of forms prescribed for religious worship, or the practice of such forms.

FORM'AL-IST, n.

1. One who observes forms, or practices external ceremonies. More generally,
2. One who regards appearances only, or observes the forms of worship, without possessing the life and spirit of religion; a hypocrite. A grave face and the regular practice of ceremonies have often gained to a formalist the reputation of piety.

FOR-MAL'I-TY, n.

1. The practice or observance of forms. Formalities of extraordinary zeal and piety are never more studied and elaborate than in desperate desigus. K. Charles.
2. Ceremony; mere conformity to customary modes. Nor was his attendance on divine offices a matter of formality and custom, but of conscience. Atterbury.
3. Established order; rule of proceeding; mode; method; as, the formalities of judicial process; formalities of law.
4. Order; decorum to be observed; customary mode of behavior. L'Estrange.
5. Customary mode of dress; habit; robe. Swift.
6. External appearance. Glanville.
7. Essence; the quality which constitutes a thing what it is. The formality of the vow lies in the promise made to God. Stillingfleet.
8. In the schools, the manner in which a thing is conceived; or a manner in an object, importing a relation to the understanding, by which it may be distinguished from another object. Thus animality and rationality are formalities. Encyc.

FORM'AL-IZE, v.i.

To affect formality. [Little used.] Hales.

FORM'AL-IZE, v.t.

To model. [Not used.] Hooker.

FORM'AL-IZ-ED, pp.

Modeled.

FORM'AL-IZ-ING, ppr.

Modeling.

FORM'AL-LY, adv.

1. According to established form; rule, order, rite or ceremony. A treaty was concluded and formally ratified by both parties.
2. Ceremoniously; stiffly; precisely; as, to be stiff and formally reserved.
3. In open appearance; in a visible and apparent state. You and your followers do stand formally divided against the authorized guides of the church, and the rest of the people. Hooker.
4. Essentially; characteristically. That which formally makes this [charity] a Christian grace, is the spring from which it flows. Smalridge.

FORMA-PAUPERIS, n. [Forma pauperis. L.]

A process in law in bringing a suit as a pauper.

FOR'MATE, n. [a more correct term than Formiate, but both are used.]

A salt composed of formic acid combined with any base.

FOR-MA'TION, n. [Fr. from L. formatio.]

1. The act of forming or making; the act of creating or causing to exist; or more generally, the operation of composing, by bringing materials together, or of shaping and giving form; as, the formation of the earth; the formation of a state or constitution.
2. Generation; production; as, the formation of ideas.
3. The manner in which a thing is formed. Examine the peculiar formation of the heart.
4. In grammar, the act or manner of forming one word from another, as controller from control.
5. In geology, formation may signify a single mass of one kind of rock, more or less extensive, or a collection of mineral substances, formed by the same agent, under the same or similar circumstances; or it may convey the idea, that certain masses or collections of minerals were formed not only by the same agent, but also during the same geological epoch. In this latter sense the term is almost always employed. Cleaveland. Formation is that collection or assemblage of beds or layers, strata or portions of earth or minerals, which seem to have been formed at the same epoch, and to have the same general characters of composition and lodgment. Dict. Nat. Hist.

FOR'MA-TIVE, a.

1. Giving form; having the power of giving form; plastic. The meanest plant can not be raised without seeds, by any formative power residing in the soil. Bentley.
2. In grammar, serving to form; derivative; not radical; as, a termination merely formative.

FORM'ED, pp.

Made; shaped; molded; planned; arranged; combined; enacted; constituted.

FORM'E-DON, n. [forma doni.]

A writ for the recovery of lands by statute of Westminster. Eng. Law.

FOR'MER, a. [comp. deg. Sax. form, forma, but it is rendered primus, first. The Saxon word seems to be composed of fore and ma, more; but of this I am not confident.]

1. Before in time; preceding another or something else in order of time; opposed to latter. Her farmer husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled. Deut. xxiv. The former and the latter rain. Jer. v.
2. Past, and frequently ancient, long past. For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age. Job viii.
3. Near the beginning; preceding; as, the former part of a discourse or argument.
4. Mentioned before another. A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critic; a man may be the former merely through the misfortune of want of judgment; but he can not be the latter without both that and an ill temper. Pope.

FORM'ER, n.

He that forms; a maker; an author.

FOR'MER-LY, adv.

In time past, either in time immediately preceding, or at any indefinite distance; of old; heretofore. We formerly imported slaves from Africa. Nations formerly made slaves of prisoners taken in war.

FORM'FUL, a.

Ready to form; creative; imaginative. Thomson.

FOR'MI-ATE, or FOR'MATE, n. [from L. formica, an ant.]

A salt, composed of the formic acid and a base.

FOR'MIC, a. [L. formica, an ant.]

Pertaining to ants; as, the formic acid, the acid of ants.

FOR-MI-CA'TION, a. [L. formicatio, from formico, or formica, an ant.]

A sensation of the body resembling that made by the creeping of ants on the skin.