form
Definitions
General English
- noun an official paper with spaces, in which you are asked to write information such as your name and address
- noun a state or condition
- verb to sit or stand with others so as to make a particular shape
General Science
- noun a grouping of organisms within a species, on the basis of a specific characteristic or characteristics
Accounting
- noun an official printed paper with blank spaces which have to be filled in with information
Aviation
- noun the way in which a thing exists, acts, or shows itself
Banking
- verb to start, create or organise something
Computing
- noun a preprinted document with blank spaces where information can be entered
- noun a graphical display that looks like an existing printed form and is used to enter data into a database
- noun a page of computer stationery
Construction
- A temporary structure or mold for the support of concrete while it is setting and gaining sufficient strength to be self-supporting. See also formwork.
Electronics
- The shape of something, such as a crystal.
- A shape that is desired, such as that attained via electrochemical machining.
- A shape or object around which a coil or winding is wound.
- In computers, a document or screen display which has blank fields where information is placed.
Media Studies
- noun the general structure of a piece of text or a film
Medical
- noun a piece of paper with blank spaces which you have to write in
- verb to make or to be the main part of something
Slang
- noun a criminal record. A police and underworld term derived from the language of the racetrack where it refers to a record or reputation based on past performance.
Sports
- noun the condition of a player, team or athlete with regard to fitness, health and ability to perform well
- noun the posture and positioning in which a person does something such as lift a weight
- noun a formal series of movements, used either for training or to demonstrate technique
Origin & History of “form”
Form comes via Old French forme from Latin forma ‘shape, contour’, a word whose origins have never been satisfactorily explained. Its semantic similarity to Greek morphḗ ‘form, shape’ (source of English morphology (19th c.)) is striking, and has led some etymologists to suggest that the Latin word may be an alteration of the Greek one, presumably by metathesis (the reversal of sounds, in this case /m/ and /f/). Another possibility, however, is that it comes from ferīre ‘strike’, from the notion of an impression, image, or shape being created by beating. Of the word’s wide diversity of modern senses, ‘school class’, a 16th-century introduction, was inspired by the late Latin usage forma prima, forma secunda, etc for different orders of clergy, while ‘bench’ may go back to the Old French expression s’asseoir en forme ‘sit in a row’. Amongst forma’s derivatives that have found their way into English are formal (14th c.), format (19th c.), formula (17th c.) (from a Latin diminutive form), and uniform.
