different between forb vs farb

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ????? (phorb?, “food”), from ????? (phérb?, “to feed”).

Noun

forb (plural forbs)

1. (chiefly ecology) Any non-woody flowering plant that is not a graminoid (a grass, sedge, or rush).
   • 2002, Dale F. Lott, American Bison: A Natural History, page 122,

     So younger is better and the part nearest the roots is better, but what makes life possible for the pronghorn is a supply of forbs—small broadleaf plants growing among the grasses.

   • 2004, A. Kirilov, P. Todorova Development of forage areas and forage resources in Bulgaria during the period of transition, A. Lüscher, et al. (editors), Land Use Systems in Grassland Dominated Regions: Proceedings of the 20th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Grassland Science in Europe, Volume 9, page 859,

     Buchgraber (1995) recommends 50-70% of grasses, 10-30% of legumes and also 10-30% of forbs on meadows, while Kessler (1994) recommends the same proportion of grasses, 10-20% of legumes and 20-40% of forbs on natural meadows.

Anagrams

• frob

English

Etymology

Disputed. Various explanations of the origin are given:

• That it is a contraction of the phrase "far be it from me to criticize anyone, but...", or of "far below" (the expected standard).
• That it comes from the German word Farbe ("colour") (many fabrics dyed with modern dyes are "too colourful" to be authentic, by comparison with their historical originals).
• There exists a letter dated 1 April 1863 from an A.R. Crawford in the 76th Illinois Infantry, Co D, that uses the phrase, "fallacious accoutrements & reprehensible baggage," in description of six children posing in phony military gear during a sham reenactment that took place during the actual Civil War. Many point to this phrase as the origin of the word, citing "farb" as an acronym.
• Many early replica rifles were marked with what looked like "F.A.R.B" among the proofmarks. Removing this would make the rifle look more authentic.

Pronunciation

Noun

farb (plural farbs)

1. (US) A historical reenactor (especially an American Civil War reenactor) whose efforts at a historically accurate portrayal are, in the opinion of the speaker, inadequate (for example, wearing a modern wristwatch with period costume). The opposite of farb is "hard-core" (or hardcore), someone who is, in the opinion of the speaker, an "authenticity fanatic".

Derived terms

• farby

Verb

farb (third-person singular simple present farbs, present participle farbing, simple past and past participle farbed)

1. (US, slang, intransitive) To act like a farb; to portray a historical character in an inauthentic way.

Anagrams

• barf, frab

Polish

Noun

farb f

1. genitive plural of farba