different between force vs spur

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: fôrs, IPA^(key): /f??s/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??s/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: f?rs, IPA^(key): /fo(?)?s/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /fo?s/
• Rhymes: -??(?)s

Etymology 1

From Middle English force, fors, forse, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, from neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong”).

Noun

force (countable and uncountable, plural forces)

1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
   • 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part II

     which now they hold by force, and not by right

3. (countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
4. (countable, physics) A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
5. Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
6. (countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline

     Is Lucius general of the forces?

   • "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there. […]."
8. (uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.

9. (countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
10. (law) Legal validity.

11. (law) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
12. (linguistics, semantics, pragmatics) Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
13. (humorous or science fiction, with the, often capitalized) A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note. [1977]
14. Synonym of police force (“typically with preceding "the"”)

Usage notes

• Adjectives often applied to "force": military, cultural, economic, gravitational, electric, magnetic, strong, weak, positive, negative, attractive, repulsive, good, evil, dark, physical, muscular, spiritual, intellectual, mental, emotional, rotational, tremendous, huge.
• (science fiction): Outside of fiction, the force may be used as an alternative to invoking luck, destiny, or God. For example, the force was with him instead of luck was on his side, or may the force be with you instead of may God be with you.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• may the Force be with you
• workforce

Related terms

Translations

References

• force on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

From Middle English forcen, from Old French forcer, from Late Latin *forti?re, from Latin fortia.

Verb

force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)

1. (transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape. [from 14^thc.]
2. (obsolete, reflexive, intransitive) To exert oneself, to do one's utmost. [from 14^thc.]

   • And I pray you for my sake to force yourselff there, that men may speke you worshyp.

3. (transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something. [from 15^thc.]

   • Captain Edward Carlisle […] felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze, […]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

   • 2011, Tim Webb & Fiona Harvey, The Guardian, 23 March:

     Housebuilders had warned that the higher costs involved would have forced them to build fewer homes and priced many homebuyers out of the market.

4. (transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of. [from 16^thc.]
5. (transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb). [from 16^thc.]

   • It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay / That scarce the victor forced the steel away.

   • Ethelbert […] ordered that none should be forced into religion.

   • 2007, The Guardian, 4 November:

     In a groundbreaking move, the Pentagon is compensating servicemen seriously hurt when an American tank convoy forced them off the road.

6. (transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force. [from 16^thc.]
   • 2009, "All things to Althingi", The Economist, 23 July:

     The second problem is the economy, the shocking state of which has forced the decision to apply to the EU.

7. (transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.). [from 17^thc.]

8. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
9. (transitive, baseball) To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.

10. (whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
11. (archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
    • c. 1613, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

      What can the church force more?

12. (archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
13. (obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Imperial unit: foot pound
• metric unit: newton
• coerce: To control by force.

Etymology 3

From Middle English force, forz, fors, from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”), from Proto-Germanic *fursaz (“waterfall”). Cognate with Icelandic foss (“waterfall”), Norwegian foss (“waterfall”), Swedish fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of foss.

Noun

force (plural forces)

1. (countable, Northern England) A waterfall or cascade.
   • 1778, Thomas West, A Guide to the Lakes in Cumberland, Westmorland, and Lancashire

     to see the falls or force of the river Kent

Derived terms

• forcefall

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English forcen, forsen, a use of force, with confusion of farce (“to stuff”).

Verb

force (third-person singular simple present forces, present participle forcing, simple past and past participle forced)

1. To stuff; to lard; to farce.

Derived terms

• forcemeat

Further reading

• force at OneLook Dictionary Search
• force in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• force in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Cofer, Corfe, corfe

French

Etymology

From Middle French force, from Old French force, from Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis. Compare Catalan força, Portuguese força, Italian forza, Spanish fuerza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f??s/
• Rhymes: -??s
• Homophones: forcent, forces

Noun

force f (plural forces)

1. force
2. strength

Synonyms

• pouvoir
• puissance
• violence

Derived terms

Adjective

force (invariable)

1. (archaic) Many; a lot of; a great quantity of.

Verb

force

1. first/third-person singular present indicative of forcer
2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive of forcer
3. second-person singular imperative of forcer

Further reading

• “force” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French force.

Noun

force f (plural forces)

1. force (physical effort; physical might)

Descendants

• French: force

Old French

Alternative forms

• forche (Picardy, Old Northern French)
• fors

Etymology

From Late Latin or Vulgar Latin *fortia, re-analyzed as a feminine singular from the neuter plural of Latin fortis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f?r.t?s?/

Noun

force f (oblique plural forces, nominative singular force, nominative plural forces)

1. strength; might

Related terms

• esforcer
• esfort
• fort
• forteresce

Descendants

• Middle French: force
  • French: force
• Walloon: foice
• ? Middle English: force / fors / forse
  • English: force

Portuguese

Verb

force

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of forçar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of forçar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of forçar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of forçar

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sp??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sp?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English spure, spore, from Old English spura, spora, from Proto-Germanic *spurô, from Proto-Indo-European *sper-, *sperw- (“to twitch, push, fidget, be quick”).

Noun

spur (plural spurs)

1. A rigid implement, often roughly y-shaped, that is fixed to one's heel for the purpose of prodding a horse. Often worn by, and emblematic of, the cowboy or the knight.

   Meronyms: rowel, prick

   • 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 22:

     Two sorts of spurs seem to have been in use about the time of the Conquest, one called a pryck, having only a single point like the gaffle of a fighting cock; the other consisting of a number of points of considerable length, radiating from and revolving on a center, thence named the rouelle or wheel spur.

2. A jab given with the spurs.
   • 1832, The Atheneum (volume 31, page 493)

     I had hardly said the word, when Kit jumped into the saddle, and gave his horse a whip and a spur — and off it cantered, as if it were in as great a hurry to be married as Kit himself.

3. (figuratively) Anything that inspires or motivates, as a spur does a horse.
4. An appendage or spike pointing rearward, near the foot, for instance that of a rooster.
5. Any protruding part connected at one end, for instance a highway that extends from another highway into a city.
6. Roots, tree roots.
7. (geology) A mountain that shoots from another mountain or range and extends some distance in a lateral direction, or at right angles.
8. A spiked iron worn by seamen upon the bottom of the boot, to enable them to stand upon the carcass of a whale to strip off the blubber.
9. (carpentry) A brace strengthening a post and some connected part, such as a rafter or crossbeam; a strut.
10. (architecture) The short wooden buttress of a post.
11. (architecture) A projection from the round base of a column, occupying the angle of a square plinth upon which the base rests, or bringing the bottom bed of the base to a nearly square form. It is generally carved in leafage.
12. Ergotized rye or other grain.
13. A wall in a fortification that crosses a part of a rampart and joins to an inner wall.
14. (shipbuilding) A piece of timber fixed on the bilgeways before launching, having the upper ends bolted to the vessel's side.
15. (shipbuilding) A curved piece of timber serving as a half to support the deck where a whole beam cannot be placed.
16. (mining) A branch of a vein.
17. (rail transport) A very short branch line of a railway line.
18. (transport) A short branch road of a motorway, freeway or major road.
19. (botany) A short thin side shoot from a branch, especially one that bears fruit or, in conifers, the shoots that bear the leaves.

Derived terms

• spur gear
• spur-leather
• spur-of-the-moment
• spur road

Translations

Verb

spur (third-person singular simple present spurs, present participle spurring, simple past and past participle spurred)

1. (transitive) To prod (especially a horse) on the side or flank, with the intent to urge motion or haste, to gig.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act V, Scene III, line 339:

     Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!

2. (transitive) To urge or encourage to action, or to a more vigorous pursuit of an object

   Synonyms: incite, stimulate, instigate, impel, drive; see also Thesaurus:incite

   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene IV, line 4.

     My desire / (More sharp than filed steel) did spur me forth...
3. (transitive) To put spurs on.

4. (intransitive) To press forward; to travel in great haste.

Derived terms

• spur on

Translations

Etymology 2

See sparrow.

Noun

spur (plural spurs)

1. A tern.

Etymology 3

Short for spurious.

Noun

spur (plural spurs)

1. (electronics) A spurious tone, one that interferes with a signal in a circuit and is often masked underneath that signal.

Etymology 4

Noun

spur (plural spurs)

1. The track of an animal, such as an otter; a spoor.

Translations

Etymology 5

Verb

spur (third-person singular simple present spurs, present participle spurring, simple past and past participle spurred)

1. (obsolete, dialectal) Alternative form of speer.
   • 1638, Thomas Heywood, "The Rape of Lucrece. A true Roman Tragedy", in The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood, Vol. V, John Pearson, 1874, pages 230 & 231.

   • The Pall Mall Magazine, Vol. 33, 1904, page 435.

Anagrams

• Prus, purs, surp

Middle English

Noun

spur

1. Alternative form of spore

Scots

Alternative forms

• sparra
• spug
• spuggie
• speug

Noun

spur (plural spurs)

1. sparrow

References

• “spur” in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries.