[In sense 1, perh. a. ON. frame furtherance, advancement, or repr. the neut. of OE. fram adj., forward (see FROM prep.); cf. FREME sb. In the remaining senses, f. the vb.]
† I. 1. Advantage, benefit, profit. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, Dedication, 17.
| Þu þohhtesst tatt itt mihhte wel | |
| Till mikell frame turrnenn. |
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2539.
| Pharao kinges rigte name | |
| Vephres, he dede ðe ebris frame. |
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 9604.
| Sey … ‘Y crysten þe [etc.] … | |
| And ȝyue what þou wylt hyt a name, | |
| And kast on water; þan ys hyt frame. |
II. Action or manner of framing.
† 2. The action of framing, fashioning, or constructing; a contrivance. Obs.
1558. Bp. Watson, Sev. Sacram., i. 3. He openeth our eyes to see the frames of our enemyes.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 191.
| The practise of it liues in Iohn the bastard, | |
| Whose spirits toile in frame of villanies. |
1643. Rogers, Naaman, 28. The first happy moover in this frame of miraculous cure.
1645. Ussher, Body Div. (1647), 96. A man which will teach a child in the frame of a letter, will first teach him one line of the letter, and not the whole letter together.
† b. ? nonce-use. Upbringing. Cf. FRAME v. 5 d.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 182.
| But thou torn Tharsus, brooks a glorious name, | |
| For that great Saint, who in thee had his frame. |
3. The manner or method of framing; construction, structure; constitution, nature.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 31.
| Long were it to describe the goodly frame, | |
| And stately port of Castle Ioyeous. |
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 3 Apes do outwardly resemble men … in the inward frame of the hand.
1705. Col. Rec. Pennsylv., II. 204. Upon Account of the whole frame of the act.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. v. 126. For, together with the general Principle of moral Understanding, we have in our inward Frame, various Affections towards particular external Objects.
1829. Lytton, Devereux, I. iii. My youngest brother, Aubrey, was of a very different disposition of mind, and frame of body; thoughtful, gentle, susceptible, acute; with an uncertain bravery, like a woman’s, and a taste for reading, that varied with the caprice of every hour.
1884. Sir J. Pearson, in Law Times Rep., LIII. 6/1. There was a trust created, and a trust which might be enforced even though the deed in its form and frame were inoperative.
4. An established order, plan, scheme, system, esp. of government.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 130.
| Grieu’d I, I had but one? | |
| Chid I, for that at frugal Natures frame? | |
| Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. ii. 16. | |
| But let the frame of things dis-ioynt, | |
| Both the Worlds suffer. |
1630. Prynne, Anti-Armin., 118. Which falsifies the eternall truth, ouerthrowes the whole foundation, frame, and method of the Scriptures.
1694. Atterbury, Serm. (1723), I. iv. 150. The Law of Moses, as distinguished fron all other Religious Institutions, had nothing in the Frame and Design of it, apt either to recommend it to its Professors, or to invite Proselytes.
1759. Franklin, Ess., Wks. 1840, III. 180. That this man’s government should be one continued broil, from the beginning of it to the end, is proof sufficient, that Mr. Penn left his frame at least in a very imperfect state.
1825. Macaulay, Ess., Milton (1854), 22. His death dissolved the whole frame of society.
1844. Ld. Brougham, Brit. Const. xvii. (1862), 253. The democratic principle enters largely into the frame of our mixed monarchy.
† b. A form or arrangement of words; a formula; a form of reasoning, type of syllogism. Obs.
1603. Daniel, Def. Rhime, Wks. (1717), 7. All Verse is but a Frame of Words confin’d within certain Measure, differing from the ordinary Speech, and introduc’d, the better to express Mens Conceipts, both for Delight and Memory.
1628. T. Spencer, Logick, 273. This frame containes a proposition negatiue vniversall, an assumption affirmatiue speciall, and a conclusion negatiue speciall.
1646. Bp. Maxwell, Burden of Issachar, in Phenix (1708), II. 261. To make this frame good, they maintain, that Jure Dinino (allow me to speak in this Epistle all along their Dialect) or Persons.
1739. G. Ogle, Gualth. & Gris., 66.
| Take, for your plan, some old pontific frame; | |
| Fashion’d anew, the use will be the same. |
† c. ? Warlike array; a host. Obs.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 44.
| Þe deuelis gadriden þer greet frame, | |
| And heelden þer perlament in þe myst. |
† 5. Adapted or adjusted condition; definite form, regular procedure; order, regularity, ‘shape.’ Frequent in phrases (to brings set, etc.) in, into, out of, to (a good, eic.) frame. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, Chron. V. cvi. 80. Arthur by his marcyal knyghthode, brought theym in such frame, yt he was accompted for chief Lorde of Brytayne.
1535. Coverdale, Bible, Ded. It [scripture] causeth all prosperite, and setteth euery thyng in frame.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xx. (1887), 84. It [walking] is good for the head, the eyes, the throte, the chest, when they be out of frame.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 321. Good my Lord put your discowrse into some frame.
1641. ‘Smectymnuus,’ Vind. Answ., xiii. 125. To plant and erect Churches to their due frame, in an hundred Citties.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, iv. (1723), 199. The Strata of Stone, Marble, Earth, and the rest, owe their present Frame and Order to the Deluge.
1718. Swift, Horace’s Odes, IV. ix. 9.
| Your steady soul preserves her frame | |
| In good and evil times the same. |
1737. H. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 41. When Nature finds any Member, or particular Part of the Machine, weakened or out of Frame, she makes use of her utmost Efforts to help and strengthen the Part that is debilitate.
1801. W. Seward, Yordes Cave, 2. Box-trees are cut into a curious frame.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxxii.
| Till to her lips in measured frame | |
| The minstrel verse spontaneous came. |
6. Mental or emotional disposition or state (more explicitly, frame of mind, soul, etc.). a. Natural or habitual disposition, temper, turn of thought, etc. (now rare). b. Temporary posture of mind, state of feeling, mood, condition of temper. Frames and feelings: often used in religious literature of the 18th and 19th c. as a disparaging term for emotional states as a criterion of the reality of spiritual life.
a. c. 1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846), 31. As he had great severity against errors and follies pertinaciously pursued, so had he the most merciful, gentle, and compassionate frame of spirit that can be imagined to those who became sensible of their error and frailties, although had they been never so injurious to himself.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 167, 11 Sept., ¶ 3. I am a Fellow of a very odd Frame of Mind.
a. 1754. Fielding Char. Man Wks. 1784, IX. 409. But how alien must this countenance be to that heavenly frame of soul of which Jesus Christ himself was the most perfect pattern.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 110. It did not occur to a body of so conservative a frame of mind, that, now that the scale of their warfare had been so enlarged, it might be advisable to make a corresponding alteration in all the conditions under which they carried it on.
b. 1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1845), III. i. 28. The way of thinking we would recommend, does very much dispose men to an attentive frame of mind.
1702. C. Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, III. xvi. (1852), 435. When the weekly Sabbath came, which he still began in the evening before, he would compose himself unto a most heavenly frame in all things, and not let fall a word, but what should be grave, serious, pertinent.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. xv. In this thankful frame I continued all the remainder of my time.
c. 1741. Brainerd, in Edwards, Life, i. (1851), 3. All my good frames were but self-righteousness, not founded on a desire for the glory of God.
1774. Fletcher, Ess. on Truth, Wks. 1795, IV. 114. What becomes of the modish doctrine of a faith without frame and feeling?
1806. A. Knox, Rem., I. 10. The concluding stanza shews, still further, in what frame he wrote.
1828. E. Irving, Last Days, 45. Hence arose that substitution of frames and feelings for the sacraments and ordinances of the church, to which our fathers were wont to look.
1838. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (1839), IV. viii. 144. Consider the different frames of mind we are in hour by hour; how much we feel at one time which we do not at another.
1874. Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England (1875), II. xiv. 131. He [Edward I.] was in no patient frame, and the ecclesiastical opposition which chafed him had encouraged the instinct of insubordination in the great vassals.
III. A framed work, structure.
* generally.
7. A structure, fabric, or engine constructed of parts fitted together. Now obs. or arch., exc. in the particular applications under 8, 9. † In early Sc. applied spec. to a rack; in 16–18th c. to a gallows, an easel, a scaffolding, etc.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Laurentius, 337.
| & par-eftyre gert hyme straucht | |
| In til framis with al þare macht. | |
| Ibid., Agatha, 168. | |
| He gert strek hire in a frame, | |
| & torment hir in syndry vyse. |
15[?]. Hickscorner, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 158.
| Yea, at Tyburn there standeth the great frame, | |
| And some take a fall that maketh their neck lame. |
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 147. The way of perfeccyon is as a frame, in the whiche one thynge dependeth of an other.
1558. Phaer, Æneid, IV. 653. Make out with ores, in ships, in boates, in frames.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 41 b. They use a greater Sythe with a long Suath, and fenced with a crooked frame of stickes, wherwith with both their hands they cut downe the Corne.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., V. 171.
| At Jerusalem, | |
| I lodg’d neer Moriah, in a Cloystred frame. |
a. 1641. Suckling, Lett., Wks. (1646), 87. As if I should see Van Dike with all his fine colours and Pensills about him, his Frame, and right Light, and every thing in order, and yet his hands tyed behind him.
1645. Evelyn, Diary (1889), I. 189. At Naples they use a frame [a ‘maiden,’ sort of guillotine], like ours at Halifax.
1697. Dryden, Alexander’s Feast, 162. Divine Cecilia came, Inventress of the vocal frame.
| Ibid. (1700), Palamon & Arcite, II. 554. | |
| The Gate was Adamant; Eternal Frame! | |
| Which, hew’d by Mars himself, from Indian Quarries came, | |
| The Labour of a God; and all along | |
| Tough Iron Plates were clench’d to make it strong. |
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., II. 121/2. He made use of Frames to shut out the River.
† b. ? A snare; = ENGINE. Obs.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1874), I. 164.
| Also the deuyll our goostly ennemy | |
| On his parte labours to get vs in his frame. [Cf. 1558, in 2.] |
8. Applied to the heaven, earth, etc., regarded as a structure.
1561. T. Norton, Calvin’s Inst., I. 21. The knowledge of God which in the frame of the world and all the creatures is somwhat plainly set forth, is yet more familiarly and plainly declared in the worde.
1594. Marlowe & Nashe, Dido, V. ii.
| And now, ye gods, that guide the starry frame, | |
| And order all things at your high dispose, | |
| Grant, though the traitors land in Italy, | |
| They may be still tormented with unrest. |
1602. Shaks., Ham., II. ii. 310. It goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 153.
| These are thy glorious works Parent of good, | |
| Almightie, thine this universal Frame. |
1774. J. Bryant, A New System; or, an Analysis of Ancient Mythology, II. 371.
| Power supreme, | |
| Say, in what favourite spot, what happy clime, | |
| Has Justice fix’d her feat? To thee I sue, | |
| To thee, coeval with the mundane frame. |
11856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., xii. (1858), 403. The thunder-storm, which the Psalmist tracks in its course throughout his country, begins by making the solid frame of Lebanon and Sirion to leap for fear, like the buffaloes of their own forests, and ends by shaking the distant wilderness of the lofty cliffs of Kadesh.
9. Applied to the animal, esp. the human body, with reference to its make, build, or constitution.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., III. i. As you enter at the door, there is oppos’d to you the frame of a wolf in the hangings.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonnet lix.
| That I might see what the old world could say, | |
| To this composed wonder of your frame, | |
| Whether we are mended, or where better they, | |
| Or whether reuolution be the same. |
1617. J. Taylor (Water P.), in Shaks. C. Praise, 126. His post-like legs were answerable to the rest of the great frame which they supported.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriotaphia, The Epistle Dedicatory. Can only speak with life, how long in this corruptible frame, some parts may be uncorrupted.
1749. Smollett, Regicide, I. vi.
| Simple woman | |
| Is weak in intellect as well as frame, | |
| And judges often from the partial voice | |
| That soothes her wishes most. |
1775. Johnson, Tax. no Tyr., 65. Amidst the terror which shakes my frame, I cannot forbear to wish that some sluice were opened for these streams of treasure.
1812–6. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, I. 298. A lever of the third sort became most admirably adapted to the animal frame, because if the power be sufficient, its operations are quick, and it is exerted or resides in a small compass.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. v. 398. One whose vigorous frame had won him his distinctive surname [Ironside].
** A supporting or enclosing structure.
10. A structure of timbers, joists, etc., fitted together to form the skeleton of a building.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 176/1. Frame of a worke, fabrica.
1533. Udall, Flowers Latine Speaking, 84 b. Fabrica, proprely is a forge or frame of a carpenter or workman.
1545. Act 37 Hen. VIII., c. 6. The secret burnynge of frames of tymber … redy to be sett up, and edified for houses.
1579. Nottingham Rec. (1889), IV. 182. For the frame of the house at Fre Scole.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 505. Great Castles made of Trees vpon Frames of Timber, with Turrets, and Arches, were matters of Magnificence.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 132. Taking away the wooden Blocks, one by one from under the corners of the Frame, they let it fall into its place.
1741. P. Tailfer, etc., Narr. Georgia, 107. The Frame of the Orphan-house is up, the Roof shingled, and the Sides weather boarded.
1835. W. Irving, A Tour on the Prairies, xxvii. 251. The bare frames of the lodges, and the brands of extinguished fires, alone marked the place.
b. A building; in later use, one composed chiefly or entirely of wood. Obs. exc. U.S.
c. 1425. Found. St. Bartholomew’s (E.E.T.S.), 13. He reysid vppe a grete frame.
1509. in C. Welch, Tower Bridge (1894), 85. For painting and mending of a Trinite and ij aungellis set in the new Frame upon the bridge, 5s.
1639. in J. Quincy, Hist. Harvard Univ. (1840), I. 452. The frame in the College yard.
1667. Boston Rec. (1881), VII. 37. The Complaint of seuerall Inhabitants of a frame sett vp.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 334. A large strong frame of timber and brick was set thereon.
1884. N. Y. Herald, 27 Oct., 4/6. The house is a three story frame, and was full of guests at the time.
11. A structure which serves as an underlying support or skeleton, or of which the parts form an outline or skeleton not filled in.
In mod. dialects used for the skeleton of a person or animal (see Cheshire and Wilts. Glossaries, E. D. S.).
1536. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 183. To Wesburne, carpenter, settyng upon the frame and bells in St. Fryswides steple, xiiijs.
1579. E. K., Gloss. Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., Nov., 161. Beare, a frame, whereon they vse to lay the dead corse.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), Index, 84. The Frame where the Coppers stand, which is raised above the flowre or level of the room, about a foot and a half, and is made of Dutch Bricks, which they call Klinkers, and plaister of Paris.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., V. x. (1845), 335. For placing broken Looking-glasses upon a moveable Frame betwixt their Nets.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. ii. 20. We built Hutts upon its Banks and lay there all Night, upon our Barbecu’s, or Frames of Sticks, raised about 3 Foot from the Ground.
1816. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, II. 26. The tube and basin are fixed to a frame of wood, and suspended in a vertical situation.
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 143. The whole of the machine is made of iron, the length and breadth of the frame being regulated according to the size of the article to be turned.
1846. Young, Naut. Dict. (ed. 2), 380. The paddle-shafts and intermediate shaft rest on the top of a strong frame, supported on columns and bolted firmly to the engine bottom.
1853. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 1086. The powerful uprights or standards called housing frames, of cast iron, in which the gudgeons of the rolls are set to revolve.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Frame … the ribs or stretchers for an umbrella or parasol.
1866. Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. xxi. 542. The frame or body of the cart was generally made out of the timber of the manor, (e proprio meremio,) by the carpenter of the village, just as the plough-frame was.
1884. Longm. Mag., March, 486. The terrible jars which its rubberless wheels and springless frame communicated to the system of the rider.
fig. 1642. Rogers, Naaman, Ep. Ded., 1. These two Graces … are the chiefe frame of these my ensuing lectures.
b. Horology. (See quots.)
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Frame, is the Out-work of a Clock or Watch, consisting of the Plates and Pillars, and which contains in it the Wheels and the rest of the Work.
1884. F. J. Britten, The Watch and Clockmakers’ Handbook, 106. Frame…. The plates of a watch or clock that support the pivots of the train.
c. Printing. (See quot. 1874.)
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., II. 22. Frames are in most Printing-Houses made of thick Deal-board Battens.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 913/1. Frame.… 7. (Printing.) A desk containing two pairs of cases, containing roman and italic letters for the use of a compositor (see CASE), or the stand supporting them.
d. Naut. (See quots.)
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), D b. A frame of timbers, which appears to be one continued piece, is composed of one floor-timber … whose arms branch outward to both sides of the ship: two or three futtocks … and a top-timber.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Frames. The bends of timbers constituting the shape of the ship’s body—when completed a ship is said to be in frame.
1883. Nares, Const. Ironclad, 4. The frames, which correspond to the ribs or timbers of a wooden ship are of iron about 1/2 inch thick.
12. That in which something, esp. a picture, pane of glass, etc., is set or let in, as in a border or case.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonnet xxiv.
| Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steeld, | |
| Thy beauties forme in table of my heart, | |
| My body is the frame wherein ti’s held, | |
| And perspectiue it is best Painters art. |
1666. Pepys, Diary (1890), 280. Paid him £14 for the picture, and £1 5s. for the frame.
1762. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. I. iv. 89. It had a glass over it, and a frame curiously carved.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), p. lxxxviii. These [filters] are generally made in a conical shape, with the mouth stretched on a hoop or frame supported upon a wooden stand.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xix. The mill yawned all ruinous with unglazed frames.
1892. Photogr. Rev. of Rev., I. 452. Pictures in unusual frames.
fig. 1848. C. Brontë, J. Eyre, xxxvii. Only a broad gravel-walk girdling a grass-plat, and this set in the heavy frame of the forest.
13. Hence applied to various utensils of which the ‘frame’ or border is an important part.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Frame, The founder’s Frame is a kind of ledge inclosing a board; which being filled with sand, serves as a mould to cast their work in.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 912/2. Frame.… 3. The head of the batten in a loom. Ibid., I. 913/1. Frame.… 10. (Soap-making.) A box whose sides are removable when required, and locked together when the soap is to be poured in.
b. Embroidery and Weaving. In early use: A loom (obs.). Now short for lace-frame, stocking-frame, etc.: see also quot. 1727.
The early uses should perh. be referred to sense 7 or 11.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 792.
| The frame was browght forth with his wevyng pin, | |
| God geve them good spede there warke to begin! |
1530. Palsgr., 222/2. Frame to worke in, metier.
1592. Davies, Immort. Soul, IV. x. (1714), 36.
| All Things receiv’d, do such Proportion take, | |
| As those Things have, wherein they are receiv’d: | |
| So little Glasses little Faces make, | |
| Narrow Webs on narrow Frames are weav’d. |
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Frame is more particularly used for a sort of loom, whereon artizans stretch their linens, silks stuffs &c. to be embroidered, quilted or the like.
1797. Monthly Mag., III. March, 243/2. In Leicester, the stagnation of trade is very considerable: many frames are entirely stopped, and others but partially employed.
1812. Examiner, 11 May, 291/2. Frames, in the first instance, indisputably lessen the number of workmen; what therefore is more natural than for the hungry mechanic to be engaged at their use, and stimulated to pour out his misguided vengeance on the introducers.
1849. G. P. R. James, The Woodman, ii. As she read, she commented to two young girls who sat near, with tall frames before them, running the industrious needle in and out.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, i. He expects two waggon loads of frames and shears.
c. Horticulture. A glazed structure, portable or fixed, for protecting seeds and young plants from frost, etc.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 207. Covering the Head, and the rest of the Tree, above, with a glaz’d Frame.
1782. Cowper, Pineapples & Bee, 9.
| But still in vain, the frame was tight, | |
| And only pervious to the light. |
1858. Glenny, Gard. Every-day Bk., 276/1. As they [Stocks and Mignonette] are apt to draw, they are mostly sown in frames, in very slight hot-beds.
1882. The Garden, XXI. 4 Feb., 73/3. The whole of these were placed in sandy soil in a propagating frame, and were a decided success.
14. Mining. (See quots.)
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., Frame, This is for Sinking in Sand and Water … it is made of four good Planks … placed in the Top of a Sand, [it] may be let down with ease enough as one Sinks.
1869. R. B. Smyth, Gold Fields of Victoria, 612. Frame of Timber—Differs (as some say) from a ‘set’ in width, and the legs are placed perpendicularly.
1875. J. H. Collins, Metal Mining, Gloss., Frame, an inclined board over which a gentle stream of water is made to flow, for the purpose of washing away the waste from small portions of ore which are placed upon it from time to time.
15. attrib. and Comb. General relations: a. simple attrib., as (sense 10) frame-building; -cottage, -dwelling; (sense 11) frame-boat; (sense 11 d) frame-bend, -timbers; (sense 12) frame-door; (sense 13 b) frame-smith; (sense 13 c) frame-cucumber.
c. 1850. Rudtm. Navig. (Weale), 120. Frame-timbers. Various timbers that compose a *frame bend.
1888. T. T. Wildridge, Northumbria, 124. *Frame-boats covered with skins.
1858. Merc. Marine Mag., V. 93. The machinery is in a *frame building.
1881. G. W. Cable, Madame Delphine, iv. 18. His dwelling was a little *frame cottage, standing on high pillars just inside a tall, close fence, and reached by a narrow out-door stair from the green batten gate.
1890. Daily News, 26 June, 2/6. *Frame cucumbers, 1s. 6d. to 2s. per dozen.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 23. A *frame door is set in a proper frame, made for the purpose.
1725. Lond. Gaz., No. 6385/4. John Smith … *Frame-Smith.
1861. Stamford Mercury, 1 Feb., 6/2. Apprenticed … to a frame-smith.
1846. Young, Naut. Dict. (ed. 2), *Frames, or *Frame-timbers, in Shipbuilding, the floor-timbers, futtocks, and top timbers, the whole of which, after being moulded, fitted, and bolted together, compose what is termed the Frame.
b. objective, as frame-bender, -maker. c. instrumental, as frame-knit, -knitted, -knitter, -knitting, -tape, -worker.
1882. Standard, 13 Oct., 2/3. The dispute originated with the *frame benders and steel platers.
1696. Lond. Gaz., No. 3226/4. 5 dozen of superfine Rolling *Frame Knit Hose.
1892. Scott. Leader, 30 March, 5. He presented a petition from the *frame-knitters to Parliament.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, *Frame Knitting,—A description of Frame Work which, when finished, has the appearance of Knitting.
1761. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1765), II. 57, note. Norrice, *frame-maker to the Court.
1818. Mrs. Hofland, Son of a Genius, iv. His late sufferings had for a time the effect of inducing him to turn his mind to the necessity of rendering his profession profitable, which he was the better enabled to do from his frame-maker agreeing to take his pictures off his hands.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, *Frame Tape.—This is a stout half-bleached linen tape…. The distinguishing prefix, ‘Frame,’ refers to the loom on which it is woven.
1812. Byron, Lett. to Ld. Holland, 25 Feb. I consider the manufacturers as a much injured body of men, sacrificed to the views of certain individuals who have enriched themselves by those practices which have deprived the *frame-workers of employment.
16. Special comb.: frame-breaker, one of those who resisted with violence the introduction of frames for weaving stockings, etc.; so frame-breaking; frame-bridge (see quot.); frame-dam (see quot.); frame-level (see quot.); frame-stud, one of the uprights of the frame of a building; frame-tubbing (see quot.). Also FRAME-HOUSE, FRAME-SAW.
1812. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1813) XVI. 160. I have had an application from Nottingham to chalk for the *frame-breakers.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, ii. I only wish the machines—the frames were safe here, and lodged within the walls of this mill. Once put up, I defy the framebreakers.
1816. Parl. Debates, 10 July. Lord Sidmouth moved the third reading of the *Frame Breaking Bill.
1863. Kingsley, Water Bab., i. The frame-breaking riots, which Tom could just remember.
1882. Ogilvie, *Frame-bridge, a bridge constructed of pieces of timber framed together on the principle of combining the greatest degree of strength with the smallest expenditure of material.
1851. Greenwell, Coal-trade Terms Northumb. & Durh., 26. A *frame-dam is formed of balks of fir wood, placed endwise against the pressure.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 913/1. *Frame-level. A mason’s level.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1804), II. 195. In wooden cottages, the *frame-studs are to be six inches by five.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, *Frame Tubbing, solid wood tubbing.
