[f. FORCE v.1 + -ER1.]
1. One who or that which forces.
1556. Aurelio & Isab. (1608), K iij. They will that she dey the which hathe beane forcede, and the forcer liffe.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xiv. (1887), 67. That waye it seemeth vnwilling, where feare is the forcer, and not free will.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 175. The conqueror and great forcer of cities.
1616. Chapman, Homer’s Hymn Hermes, 668.
| That I, in no similitude apper’d | |
| Of powre to be the forcer of a Herde. |
1659. Milton, Civ. Power, Wks. 1738, I. 551. How much bloodshed have the forcers of Conscience to answer for, and Protestants rather than Papists!
a. 1749. Chalkley, Wks. (1766), 381. Those Forcers know not of what Spirit they are of; if they do, they must needs be the greater Hypocrites, and so their Condemnation the greater.
1832. Examiner, 258/2. Necessity is a great forcer.
2. An instrument or means for forcing. † a. Something with which to force (window bars); ? a crowbar. Obs.
1649. Chas. I., Lett., in Kingston, Hertfdsh. in Civ. War (1894), 126/1. If I had a forcer, I would make no question of it, but having nothing but fyles, I much dout that my time will be too scant.
b. The plunger or piston of a force-pump.
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nat., 8. A Forcer is a plug of wood exactly turned and leathered about; the end that goeth into the barrell, is semicircularly concaue.
1725. Specif. R. Newsham’s Patent, No. 479. The forcers being guided by the arch of a double wheel.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 267. On the descent of the forcer, the lower valve shuts.
1867. in Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk.
c. A force-pump.
1731. Beighton, in Phil. Trans., XXXVII. 8. Besides these four Forcers, there are four more placed at the other Ends of the Libræ, or Levers.
1778. W. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 321/2. Forcer. A small pump worked by hand, used in sinking of small Sumphs, Dippas, or Pits.
1883. in Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining.
† d. A contrivance for propelling water. Obs.
1598. Stow, Surv., iii. (1603), 18. Thames water conueyed into mens houses by pipes of leade, from a most artificial forcier standing neare vnto London bridge and made by Peter Moris Dutch man in the yeare 1582.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 435. The new conveiance of water devised by the skilful travell of Peter Maurice a German; who by meanes of a forser or wheele, with pipes placed at a certaine levell, brought water of late out of the Tamis into a great part of the city.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), Forcier, a water-mill; an engine to convey water from one place to another.
† e. An agent for quickening the growth of plants, etc. Obs.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1752), 136. Nitre, blood, soot, &c. all have been found great forcers, so as to bring forward the leaves and branches of a plant.
