[f. FORM v. + -ER1.]
1. One who forms or gives form to something; a maker, creator, fashioner, framer.
a. 1340. Cursor Mundi, 24410 (Fairf.).
Þe elementis þen mirkenid alle | |
quen þai sagh þaire fourme[r] falle. |
c. 1386. Chaucer, Doctors T., 19.
For he that is the former principal | |
Hath maked me his vicaire general, | |
To forme and peynten erthely creaturis | |
Right as me list. |
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), Prol. 2. He that was formyour of alle the World, wolde suffre for us at Jerusalem.
1552. Huloet, Brycke former or maker.
1610. Healey, St. Augustine, Of the Citie of God, XII. xxvi. 467. Porphyry affirmeth directly that these gods whom they wil haue vs to worship as our parents & creators, are but the forgers of our prisons, and not our formers, but only our iaylors, locking vs in those dolorous grates, and wretched setters.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., 440. The Framer and Former of the Universe.
a. 1711. Ken, Christophil, Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 456.
Thou in the New Creation art, | |
The Former of the Heart. |
1841. Disraeli, Amen. Lit. (1867), 102. A peculiar difficulty, however, occurred to the first former [Dante] of the vernacular literature of Italy.
1891. Bookseller, July, 647/2. The writer does not concern himself with education as a former of character.
† 2. An instructor, instigator. Obs. (Cf. FORM v.1 2).
1401. Political Poems (Rolls), II. 42.
And thus is Jak Uplond | |
fodid with folie, | |
and thourȝ formyng of his formere | |
thus freyneth a frere. | |
Ibid., 43. | |
Jak, thi formur is a fole, | |
that thus thee hath yfourmed, | |
to make so lewid an argument. |
3. Applied to various instruments or tools used in forming articles (see quots.).
1847. Halliwell, Former also an instrument for holding different pieces of a table together.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 908/2. Former. A templet, pattern, or gage by which an article is shaped, as pottery or an object in the lathe. A cutter by which patterns, blanks, wads or pieces are cut from sheets for various purposes.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers Handbook, 129. For polishing, formers of brass to begin and boxwood to finish, corresponding to the shape of the part of the stone under operation, are used with diamond dust and oil. For soft stones the formers are of lead, and used with tripoli and water instead of diamond dust.
1888. Lockwoods Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., Former or Copy, the templet used for the cutting of wheel teeth, and other works in copying machines.
b. Gunnery, etc. (See quot. 1867.)
1644. Manwayring, Sea-mans Dict., A Former is a peece of wood, turned round, somewhat lesse then the bore of the Peece for which it is made . The use whereof, is to make upon it Paper Carthrages or Linnen Carthrages.
1669. Sturmy, Mariners Mag., V. 86. Dip an Inch of the Case in Water, the Formor in him.
1794. Nelson, 9 July, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), I. 430. The Victory has a Former for twenty-six pounders.
1867. Smyth, Sailors Word-bk., Former. The gunners term for a small cylindrical piece of wood, on which musket or pistol cartridge-cases are rolled and formed. The name is also applied to the flat piece of wood with a hole in the centre used for making wads, but which is properly form.
1873. E. Spon, Workshop Receipts, Ser. I. 124. To roll up the cases [of rockets] you must have a smooth round ruler, or, as it is called, a former, exactly the size of the cavity of the rocket, and 10 or 12 times as long.
c. (See quot.)
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., Formers were likewise used among officers and soldiers to reduce their clubs [CLUB sb. 6] to a uniform shape, before the general introduction of tails.