1. [n]  an act of aggression (as one against a person who resists); "he may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one"
2. [n]  (of a law) having legal validity; "the law is still in effect"
3. [n]  physical energy or intensity; "he hit with all the force he could muster"; "it was destroyed by the strength of the gale"; "a government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man"
4. [n]  a powerful effect or influence; "the force of his eloquence easily persuaded them"
5. [n]  a unit that is part of some military service; "he sent Caesar a force of six thousand men"
6. [n]  a group of people having the power of effective action; "he joined forces with a band of adventurers"
7. [n]  group of people willing to obey orders; "a public force is necessary to give security to the rights of citizens"
8. [n]  one possessing or exercising power or influence or authority; "the mysterious presence of an evil power"; "may the force be with you"; "the forces of evil"
9. [n]  (physics) the physical influence that produces a change in a physical quantity; "force equals mass times acceleration"
10. [v]  impose or thrust urgently, importunately, or inexorably; "She forced her diet fads on him"
11. [v]  cause to move along the ground by pulling; "draw a wagon"; "pull a sled"
12. [v]  do forcibly; exert force; "Don't force it!"
13. [v]  force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically; "She rammed her mind into focus"; "He drives me mad"
14. [v]  squeeze like a wedge into a tight space; "I squeezed myself into the corner"
15. [v]  take by force; "Storm the fort"
16. [v]  urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate
17. [v]  move with force, "He pushed the table into a corner"
18. [v]  to cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :"She forced him to take a job in the city"

1. \Force\, v. t. [See {Farce} to stuff.]
   To stuff; to lard; to farce. [R.]
         Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
                                                  --Shak.
   

2. \Force\, n. [Of Scand. origin; cf. Icel. fors, foss, Dan.
   fos.]
   A waterfall; a cascade. [Prov. Eng.]
         To see the falls for force of the river Kent. --T.
                                                  Gray.
   

3. \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.
   

4. \Force\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Forced}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Forcing}.] [OF. forcier, F. forcer, fr. LL. forciare,
   fortiare. See {Force}, n.]
   1. To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a
      power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or
      intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters force slaves to
      labor.
   2. To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force
      conviction on the mind.
   3. To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence
      to one;s will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to
      commit rape upon.
            To force their monarch and insult the court.
                                                  --Dryden.
            I should have forced thee soon wish other arms.
                                                  --Milton.
            To force a spotless virgin's chastity. --Shak.
   4. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or
      struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm,
      as a fortress.
   5. To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc., by main
      strength or violence; -- with a following adverb, as
      along, away, from, into, through, out, etc.
            It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay That scarce
            the victor forced the steel away.     --Dryden.
            To force the tyrant from his seat by war. --Sahk.
            Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into
            religion.                             --Fuller.
   6. To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding;
      to enforce. [Obs.]
            What can the church force more?       --J. Webster.
   7. To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to strain; to urge
      to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to produce by
      unnatural effort; as, to force a consient or metaphor; to
      force a laugh; to force fruits.
            High on a mounting wave my head I bore, Forcing my
            strength, and gathering to the shore. --Dryden.
   8. (Whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a
      trick by leading a suit of which he has none.
   9. To provide with forces; to re["e]nforce; to strengthen by
      soldiers; to man; to garrison. [Obs.] --Shak.
   10. To allow the force of; to value; to care for. [Obs.]
             For me, I force not argument a straw. --Shak.
   Syn: To compel; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce;
        drive; press; impel.
   

5. \Force\, v. i. [Obs. in all the senses.]
   1. To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to
      endeavor.
            Forcing with gifts to win his wanton heart.
                                                  --Spenser.
   2. To make a difficult matter of anything; to labor; to
      hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account of; to
      regard.
            Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear.
                                                  --Shak.
            I force not of such fooleries.        --Camden.
   3. To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter.
            It is not sufficient to have attained the name and
            dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how. --Udall.
   

A dBASE dialect for MS-DOS.