different between form vs device

English

Alternative forms

• forme (rare or archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English forme (“shape, figure, manner, bench, frame, seat, condition, agreement, etc.”), borrowed from Old French forme, from Latin f?rma (“shape, figure, image, outline, plan, mold, frame, case, etc., manner, sort, kind, etc.”)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /f??m/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f??m/
• Hyphenation: form
• Rhymes: -??(?)m

Noun

form (countable and uncountable, plural forms)

1. (heading, physical) To do with shape.
   1. The shape or visible structure of a thing or person.
      • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

        Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
   2. A thing that gives shape to other things as in a mold.
   3. Regularity, beauty, or elegance.
   4. (philosophy) The inherent nature of an object; that which the mind itself contributes as the condition of knowing; that in which the essence of a thing consists.
   5. Characteristics not involving atomic components. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   6. (dated) A long bench with no back.
      • 1981, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York 2007, page 10:

        I can see the old schoolroom yet: the broken-down desks and the worn-out forms with knots in that got stuck into your backside […].

      • 2010, Stephen Fry, The Fry Chronicles: An Autobiography:

        The prefect grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me down a passageway, and down another and finally through a door that led into a long, low dining-room crowded with loudly breakfasting boys sitting on long, shiny oak forms, as benches used to be called.

   7. (fine arts) The boundary line of a material object. In painting, more generally, the human body.
   8. (crystallography) The combination of planes included under a general crystallographic symbol. It is not necessarily a closed solid.
2. (social) To do with structure or procedure.
   1. An order of doing things, as in religious ritual.
   2. Established method of expression or practice; fixed way of proceeding; conventional or stated scheme; formula.

      • Those whom form of laws / Condemned to die.

   3. Constitution; mode of construction, organization, etc.; system.

   4. Show without substance; empty, outside appearance; vain, trivial, or conventional ceremony; conventionality; formality.
   5. (archaic) A class or rank in society.

      • ladies of a high form

   6. (Britain) A criminal record; loosely, past history (in a given area).
      • 2011, Jane Martinson, The Guardian, 4 May:

        It's fair to say she has form on this: she has criticised David Cameron's proposal to create all-women shortlists for prospective MPs, tried to ban women wearing high heels at work as the resulting pain made them take time off work, and tried to reduce the point at which an abortion can take place from 24 to 21 weeks.

   7. Level of performance.

      The team's form has been poor this year.

      The orchestra was on top form this evening.

   8. (Britain, education) A class or year of school pupils (often preceded by an ordinal number to specify the year, as in sixth form).
      • 1928, George Bickerstaff, The mayor, and other folk

        One other day after afternoon school, Mr. Percival came behind me and put his hand on me. "Let me see, what's your name? Which form are you in? […]"

      • 1976, Ronald King, School and college: studies of post-sixteen education

        From the sixth form will come the scholars and the administrators.

3. A blank document or template to be filled in by the user.

4. A specimen document to be copied or imitated.
5. (grammar) A grouping of words which maintain grammatical context in different usages; the particular shape or structure of a word or part of speech.

6. The den or home of a hare.
   • , I.iii.1.2:

     The Egyptians therefore in their hieroglyphics expressed a melancholy man by a hare sitting in her form, as being a most timorous and solitary creature.

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p.275:

     Hares left their snug ‘forms’ in the cold grass.

7. (computing, programming) A window or dialogue box.
   • 1998, Gary Cornell, Visual Basic 6 from the ground up (p.426)

     While it is quite amazing how much one can do with Visual Basic with the code attached to a single form, to take full advantage of VB you'll need to start using multiple forms and having the code on all the forms in your project interact.

   • 2010, Neil Smyth, C# Essentials

     Throughout this chapter we will work with a form in a new project.

8. (taxonomy) An infraspecific rank.
9. (printing, dated) The type or other matter from which an impression is to be taken, arranged and secured in a chase.
10. (geometry) A quantic.
11. (sports, fitness) A specific way of performing a movement.

Synonyms

• (visible structure of a thing or person): shape; see also Thesaurus:shape
  • (visible structure of a person): figure; see also Thesaurus:physique
• (thing that gives shape to other things): cast, cookie cutter, mold, pattern
• (mode of construction): configuration, makeup; see also Thesaurus:composition
• (blank document): formular
• (pre-collegiate level): grade
• (biology): f.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

form (third-person singular simple present forms, present participle forming, simple past and past participle formed)

1. (transitive) To assume (a certain shape or visible structure).
2. (transitive) To give (a shape or visible structure) to a thing or person.

3. (intransitive) To take shape.
4. To put together or bring into being; assemble.

5. (transitive, linguistics) To create (a word) by inflection or derivation.

6. (transitive) To constitute, to compose, to make up.
   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     the diplomatic politicians […] who formed by far the majority

   • 1948 May, Stanley Pashko, “The Biggest Family”, in Boys' Life, Volume 38, Number 5, Boy Scouts of America, ISSN 0006-8608, p.10:

     Insects form the biggest family group in nature's kingdom, and also the oldest.

7. To mould or model by instruction or discipline.
   • 1731–1735, Alexander Pope, Moral Essays

     'Tis education forms the common mind.

   • Thus formed for speed, he challenges the wind.

8. To provide (a hare) with a form.

   • The melancholy hare is formed in brakes and briers.
9. (electrical, historical, transitive) To treat (plates) to prepare them for introduction into a storage battery, causing one plate to be composed more or less of spongy lead, and the other of lead peroxide. This was formerly done by repeated slow alternations of the charging current, but later the plates or grids were coated or filled, one with a paste of red lead and the other with litharge, introduced into the cell, and formed by a direct charging current.

Synonyms

• (give shape): beshape, transmogrify; see also Thesaurus:form
• (take shape): take form, take shape; see also Thesaurus:come into being
• (constitute): compose, make up; see also Thesaurus:compose

Related terms

• format
• formation

Translations

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• MoRF, from

Danish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin f?rma (“shape, form”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?rm/, [f???m]

Noun

form c (singular definite formen, plural indefinite former)

1. form
2. shape

Declension

Noun

form c (singular definite formen, plural indefinite forme)

1. mould
2. tin (a metal pan used for baking, roasting, etc.)

Declension

Further reading

• “form” in Den Danske Ordbog
• form on the Danish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^da

German

Verb

form

1. singular imperative of formen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of formen

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse form, from Latin forma (“form; figure, shape, appearance”), from f?rma (“form, figure, shape, appearance”) with an unknown descent, perhaps from some Etruscan *morma (*morma), connected by some with Ancient Greek ????? (morph?, “shape, form, appearance”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin.

Noun

form f or m (definite singular forma or formen, indefinite plural former, definite plural formene)

1. form
2. shape
3. a mould (e.g. for cast products)

Derived terms

Related terms

• forme

Etymology 2

Verb

form

1. imperative of forme

References

• “form” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forma.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?rm/

Noun

form f (definite singular forma, indefinite plural former, definite plural formene)

1. form
2. shape
3. a mould (e.g. for cast products)

Derived terms

Related terms

• -forma
• forme

References

• “form” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish forma, borrowed from Latin forma.

Pronunciation

Noun

form c

1. a form, a shape
2. a form, a mold, a dish, a tray, a tin, a piece of ovenware

Declension

Related terms

shape

• cirkelform
• ellipsform
• forma

mold

• formfranska
• formgjuta
• gjutform
• kakform
• knäckform
• pajform

Anagrams

• fr.o.m., from

Turkish

Etymology

From French forme.

Noun

form (definite accusative formu, plural formlar)

1. form

Declension

English

Etymology

From Old French devis, from Latin divisus, past participle of dividere (“to divide”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??va?s/
• Rhymes: -a?s

Noun

device (plural devices)

1. Any piece of equipment made for a particular purpose, especially a mechanical or electrical one.
   • 1949. Geneva Convention on Road Traffic Chapter VI. Provisions Applicable to Cycles in International Traffic

     Every cycle shall be equipped with: [...] (b) an audible warning device consisting of a bell [...]
2. (computer hardware) A peripheral device; an item of hardware.
3. A project or scheme, often designed to deceive; a stratagem; an artifice.

   • His device is against Babylon, to destroy it.

   • He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

   • 1827 Hallam, Henry, The English Constitution, Harper

     Their recent device of demanding benevolences.
4. (Ireland) An improvised explosive device, home-made bomb
   • 1979 Stiff Little Fingers, "Suspect Device":

     Inflammable material is planted in my head / It's a suspect device that's left 2000 dead

   • 2014 September 3, Cliodhna Russell, The Journal "A viable device was found in Cavan today, it has now been made safe"

     THE ARMY BOMB Disposal Team rendered safe a viable device in Cavan this afternoon.

   • 2014 August 3, Louise Kelly & Conor Feehan "Suspect device found at shopping centre revealed as hoax" Irish Independent

     The army bomb squad carried out two controlled explosions on the device. It was later found that the suspect device was a hoax and not a viable explosive.

5. (rhetoric) A technique that an author or speaker uses to evoke an emotional response in the audience; a rhetorical device.
7. (heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily because as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.
   • 1736. O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. The Documentary History of the State of New York Chapter I, Article III: Enumeration of the Indian Tribes.

     The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn.

8. (archaic) Power of devising; invention; contrivance.
   • 1824. Landor, Walter Savage "King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage" from Imaginary Conversations of Literary Men and Statesmen, page 44

     Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly

   • 1976. The Eagles, "Hotel California"

     And she said,

     "We are all prisoners here,

     Of our own device"

9. (law) An image used in whole or in part as a trademark or service mark.
10. (printing) An image or logo denoting official or proprietary authority or provenience.
    • 1943 United States Post Office Department. A Description of United States Postage Stamps / Issued by the Post Office Department from July 1, 1847, to April 1, 1945 [sic], USGPO, Washington, p1:

      Prior to the issuance of the first stamps, letters accepted by postmasters for dispatch were marked "Paid" by means of pen and ink or hand stamps of various designs. [...] To facilitate the handling of mail matter, some postmasters provided special stamps or devices for use on letters as evidence of the prepayment of postage.

11. (obsolete) A spectacle or show.
12. (obsolete) Opinion; decision.

Synonyms

• (piece of equipment): apparatus, appliance, equipment, gadget, design, contrivance
• (project or scheme): scheme, project, stratagem, artifice
• (obsolete, power of devising): invention, contrivance

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Slovene

Noun

device

1. genitive singular of devica
2. nominative plural of devica
3. accusative plural of devica