different between form vs gain

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English gayn, gain, gein (“profit, advantage”), from Old Norse gagn (“benefit, advantage, use”), from Proto-Germanic *gagn?, *gagan? (“gain, profit", literally "return”), from Proto-Germanic *gagana (“back, against, in return”), a reduplication of Proto-Germanic *ga- (“with, together”), from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”). Cognate with Icelandic gagn (“gain, advantage, use”), Swedish gagn (“benefit, profit”), Danish gavn (“gain, profit, success”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (gageigan, “to gain, profit”), Old Norse gegn (“ready”), dialectal Swedish gen (“useful, noteful”), Latin cum (“with”); see gain-, again, against. Compare also Middle English gaynen, geinen (“to be of use, profit, avail”), Icelandic and Swedish gagna (“to avail, help”), Danish gavne (“to benefit”).

The Middle English word was reinforced by Middle French gain (“gain, profit, advancement, cultivation”), from Old French gaaing, gaaigne, gaigne, a noun derivative of gaaignier (“to till, earn, win”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to pasture, graze, hunt for food”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *waiþiz, *waiþ?, *waiþij? (“pasture, field, hunting ground”); compare Old High German weid?n, weidan?n (“to hunt, forage for food”) (Modern German Weide (“pasture”)), Old Norse veiða (“to catch, hunt”), Old English w?þan (“to hunt, chase, pursue”). Related to wathe, wide.

Verb

gain (third-person singular simple present gains, present participle gaining, simple past and past participle gained)

1. (transitive) To acquire possession of.

   Looks like you've gained a new friend.
2. (intransitive) To have or receive advantage or profit; to acquire gain; to grow rich; to advance in interest, health, or happiness; to make progress.

   The sick man gains daily.
3. (transitive, dated) To come off winner or victor in; to be successful in; to obtain by competition.

   to gain a battle; to gain a case at law

4. (transitive) To increase.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     Then they had bouts of wrestling and of cudgel play, so that every day they gained in skill and strength.

5. (intransitive) To be more likely to catch or overtake an individual.

   I'm gaining (on you).

   gain ground

6. (transitive) To reach.

   to gain the top of a mountain

   • 1907, Jack London, The Iron Heel:

     Ernest laughed harshly and savagely when he had gained the street.

7. To draw into any interest or party; to win to one's side; to conciliate.

   • If he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

   • to gratify the queen, and gain the court

8. (intransitive) To put on weight.

   I've been gaining.

10. (of a clock or watch) To run fast.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

gain (countable and uncountable, plural gains)

1. The act of gaining; acquisition.
   • 1855, Alfred Tennyson, Maude

     the lust of gain, in the spirit of Cain

2. What is gained.
3. (electronics) The factor by which a signal is multiplied.
   • 1987, John Borwick, Sound recording practice (page 238)

     There follows the high and low-frequency replay equalization, which normally involves two adjustments with a further control allowing the replay gain to be set.

Antonyms

• loss

Derived terms

• autogain
• gainful
• gainsome
• gain-ground (game)

Translations

Etymology 2

From dialectal English gen, gin, short for again, agen (“against”); also Middle English gain, gayn, gein, ?æn (“against”), from Old English g?an, ge?n (“against”). More at against.

Preposition

gain

1. (obsolete) Against.

Derived terms

• gainful

Etymology 3

From Middle English gayn, gein, geyn (“straight, direct, short, fit, good”), from Old Norse gegn (“straight, direct, short, ready, serviceable, kindly”), from gegn (“opposite, against”, adverb) (whence gagna (“to go against, meet, suit, be meet”)); see below at gain. Adverb from Middle English gayn, gayne (“fitly, quickly”), from the adjective.

Adjective

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straight, direct; near; short.

   the gainest way

2. (obsolete) Suitable; convenient; ready.
3. (dialectal) Easy; tolerable; handy, dexterous.
4. (dialectal) Honest; respectable; moderate; cheap.

Translations

Derived terms

• gainly
• gainsome

Adverb

gain (comparative more gain, superlative most gain)

1. (obsolete) Straightly; quickly; by the nearest way or means.
2. (dialectal) Suitably; conveniently; dexterously; moderately.
3. (dialectal) Tolerably; fairly.

   gain quiet (= fairly/pretty quiet)

Etymology 4

Compare Welsh gan (“a mortise”).

Noun

gain (plural gains)

1. (architecture) A square or bevelled notch cut out of a girder, binding joist, or other timber which supports a floor beam, so as to receive the end of the floor beam.

Anagrams

• Agin, Agni, Angi, Gina, NGIA, Nagi, Ngai, a- -ing, ag'in, agin, gina, inga

Basque

Noun

gain

1. summit

French

Etymology

From Middle French gain, from Old French gaaing, from the verb gaaignier (“to earn, gain, seize, conquer by force”), from Frankish *waidanjan (“to graze, forage, hunt”), from Proto-Germanic *waiþ? (“a hunt, pasture, food”), from Proto-Indo-European *weyh?- (“to seek, crave, hunt”). Cognate with Old High German weidan?n (“to hunt, chase”), German Weide (“pasture, pasturage”). Compare also related Old French gain (“harvest time, revival”), from Frankish *waida (“income, food, fodder”) (whence French regain), from the same Germanic source.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. (usually in the plural) winnings, earnings, takings
2. (finance) gain, yield

Derived terms

• gain de cause
• gain du temps

Further reading

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

Louisiana Creole French

Etymology

From French gagner (“to gain”), compare Haitian Creole gen.

Verb

gain

1. to have

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old Norse gegn.

Adjective

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”)

Etymology 2

From Old Norse gagn.

Noun

gain

1. Alternative form of gayn (“gain, reward, advantage”)

Etymology 3

From Old Norse gegna.

Verb

gain

1. Alternative form of gaynen

Etymology 4

From Old English ?e?n, gæ?n, from Proto-Germanic *gagin; also influenced by Old Norse gegn, from the same Proto-Germanic form. Doublet of gayn (“direct, fast, good, helpful”).

Alternative forms

• gayn, gein, ?æn, ?ein, ?ean, gayne, gen, gan, gaine, geyn

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??i?n/, /?e?n/, /j?i?n/, /je?n/

Preposition

gain

2. against, next to, touching
3. (figuratively) against, opposed to, counter to, opposing (usually used in religious and spiritual contexts)
4. towards, to, nearing
5. (rare) on, on top of
6. (rare) facing, pointed towards

Descendants

• English: gain (obsolete)
• Scots: gain, gin

References

• “y??n, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Adverb

gain

1. back (to), returning (to)

References

• “y??n, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-23.

Middle French

Etymology

Old French gaaing.

Noun

gain m (plural gains)

1. income (financial)

Descendants

• French: gain

References

• gain on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ai?n/

Adjective

gain

1. Soft mutation of cain.

Mutation