资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Force \Force\, n. [F. force, LL. forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis
   strong. See {Fort}, n.]
   1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor;
      might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy;
      capacity of exercising an influence or producing an
      effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or
      impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special
      signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a
      contract, or a term.

            He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power;
      violence; coercion.

            Which now they hold by force, and not by right.
                                                  --Shak.

   3. Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval
      combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; --
      an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the
      plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other
      ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation.

            Is Lucius general of the forces?      --Shak.

   4. (Law)
      (a) Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary
          to law, upon persons or things; violence.
      (b) Validity; efficacy. --Burrill.

   5. (Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or
      tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or
      motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to
      change, any physical relation between them, whether
      mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of
      any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force;
      centrifugal force.

   {Animal force} (Physiol.), muscular force or energy.

   {Catabiotic force} [Gr. ? down (intens.) + ? life.] (Biol.),
      the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining
      cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with
      the primary structures.

   {Centrifugal force}, {Centripetal force}, {Coercive force},
      etc. See under {Centrifugal}, {Centripetal}, etc.

   {Composition of forces}, {Correlation of forces}, etc. See
      under {Composition}, {Correlation}, etc.

   {Force and arms} [trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an
      expression in old indictments, signifying violence.

   {In force}, or {Of force}, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of
      full virtue; not suspended or reversed. ``A testament is
      of force after men are dead.'' --Heb. ix. 17.

   {Metabolic force} (Physiol.), the influence which causes and
      controls the metabolism of the body.

   {No force}, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account;
      hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed.
      [Obs.] --Chaucer.

   {Of force}, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. ``Good
      reasons must, of force, give place to better.'' --Shak.

   {Plastic force} (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts
      in the growth and repair of the tissues.

   {Vital force} (Physiol.), that force or power which is
      inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the
      cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished
      from the physical forces generally known.

   Syn: Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence;
        violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion.

   Usage: {Force}, {Strength}. Strength looks rather to power as
          an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the
          strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength,
          strength of emotion, etc. Force, on the other hand,
          looks more to the outward; as, the force of
          gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit,
          etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength of will and
          force of will; but even here the former may lean
          toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the
          latter toward the outward expression of it in action.
          But, though the two words do in a few cases touch thus
          closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a
          marked distinction in our use of force and strength.
          ``Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to
          whatever produces, or can produce, motion.'' --Nichol.

                Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty
                man.                              --Heywood.

                More huge in strength than wise in works he was.
                                                  --Spenser.

                Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their
                orisons, and found Strength added from above,
                new hope to spring Out of despair. --Milton.

Composition \Com`po*si"tion\, n. [F. composition, fr. L.
   compositio. See {Composite}.]
   1. The act or art of composing, or forming a whole or
      integral, by placing together and uniting different
      things, parts, or ingredients. In specific uses:
      (a) The invention or combination of the parts of any
          literary work or discourse, or of a work of art; as,
          the composition of a poem or a piece of music. ``The
          constant habit of elaborate composition.'' --Macaulay.
      (b) (Fine Arts) The art or practice of so combining the
          different parts of a work of art as to produce a
          harmonious whole; also, a work of art considered as
          such. See 4, below.
      (c) The act of writing for practice in a language, as
          English, Latin, German, etc.
      (d) (Print.) The setting up of type and arranging it for
          printing.

   2. The state of being put together or composed; conjunction;
      combination; adjustment.

            View them in composition with other things. --I.
                                                  Watts.

            The elementary composition of bodies. --Whewell.

   3. A mass or body formed by combining two or more substances;
      as, a chemical composition.

            A composition that looks . . . like marble.
                                                  --Addison.

   4. A literary, musical, or artistic production, especially
      one showing study and care in arrangement; -- often used
      of an elementary essay or translation done as an
      educational exercise.

   5. Consistency; accord; congruity. [Obs.]

            There is no composition in these news That gives
            them credit.                          --Shak.

   6. Mutual agreement to terms or conditions for the settlement
      of a difference or controversy; also, the terms or
      conditions of settlement; agreement.

            Thus we are agreed: I crave our composition may be
            written.                              --Shak.

   7. (Law) The adjustment of a debt, or avoidance of an
      obligation, by some form of compensation agreed on between
      the parties; also, the sum or amount of compensation
      agreed upon in the adjustment.

            Compositions for not taking the order of knighthood.
                                                  --Hallam.

            Cleared by composition with their creditors.
                                                  --Blackstone.

   8. Synthesis as opposed to analysis.

            The investigation of difficult things by the method
            of analysis ought ever to precede the method of
            composition.                          --Sir I.
                                                  Newton.

   {Composition cloth}, a kind of cloth covered with a
      preparation making it waterproof.

   {Composition deed}, an agreement for composition between a
      debtor and several creditors.

   {Composition plane} (Crystallog.), the plane by which the two
      individuals of a twin crystal are united in their reserved
      positions.

   {Composition of forces} (Mech.), the finding of a single
      force (called the resultant) which shall be equal in
      effect to two or more given forces (called the components)
      when acting in given directions. --Herbert.

   {Composition metal}, an alloy resembling brass, which is
      sometimes used instead of copper for sheathing vessels; --
      also called {Muntz metal} and {yellow metal}.

   {Composition of proportion} (Math.), an arrangement of four
      proportionals so that the sum of the first and second is
      to the second as the sum of the third and fourth to the
      fourth.