Also 7–8 fort. [a. F. fort, absolute use of fort strong: see FORT a. As in many other adoptions of Fr. adjs. used as sbs., the fem. form has been ignorantly substituted for the masc.; cf. locale, morale (of an army), etc.]
1. The strong point (of a person), that in which he excels.
1682. Shadwell, Medal, Epil. A b. His Fort is, that he is an indifferent good Versificator.
1768. Goldsm., Good-n. Man, Epilogue.
| ‘Go ask your manager’—‘Who, me! Your pardon, | |
| Those things are not our forte at Covent Garden.’ |
1805. W. Irving, Life & Lett. (1864), I. 158. Cooke’s range is rather confined; the artful designing hypocrite is his forte, and in Iago he is admirable.
1870. Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, II. xii. 244. Mr. Selwyn had a forte for horse-racing.
2. Fencing. The strongest part of a sword-blade.
a. 1648, 1755, 1837, 1879 [see FOIBLE B. 2].
1692. Sir W. Hope, Fencing Master, 3. The Strong, Fort, or Prime of the Blade is Measured from the Shell … to the middle of the Blade.
1809. Roland, Fencing, i. 3. The sword being supported by the fort of it in your left hand at the side of the body.
b. fig.
1772. in Simes, Milit. Guide, 6. They would more easily discover the fort or foible of their respective commands.
1823. De Quincey, Lett. Yng. Man, Wks. XIV. 27. A student of mature age must be presumed to be best acquainted with his own talents and his own intellectual infirmities, with his ‘forte’ and his ‘foible,’ with his former experience of failure or success, and with the direction in which his inclinations point.
3. Pugilism.
1815. Sporting Mag., XLVI. June, 109/1. In some instances, where he could not get at his man, he covered his head with his left hand, went in, and got to his forte.
