Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. One that forms; a maker or creator: a former of ideas.
- n. A member of a school form: a fifth former.
- adj. Occurring earlier in time.
- adj. Of, relating to, or taking place in the past.
- adj. Coming before in place or order; foregoing.
- adj. Being the first of two mentioned.
- adj. Having been in the past: a former ambassador.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Being before in place; fore; first; foremost.
- Being or happening before in time; preceding another or something else in order of time; prior.
- Past; especially, long past; ancient.
- Preceding or going before in a series; antecedent in order of thought, of action, etc.: specifically applied to the antecedent one of two things, or of two parts or divisions of anything.
- Bygone.
- n. A predecessor.
- n. One who forms, fashions, creates, or makes; a creator.
- n. Specifically, a pattern in or upon which anything is shaped, as a piece of wood used for shaping cartridges and gun-wads; any mechanism contributing to give shape to an article in process of manufacture.
- n. One of a number of appliances and machines used in bending and shaping sheet-metal into tubes, cylinders, boxes, and other forms. For making cylindrical blanks for round vessels and pipes, the machines employ long bending-rolls in groups of three, the sheet-metal being bent to the right diameter by the size and adjustment of the rolls. Small machines using two short rolls having irregular faces are used in forming blanks for pepper-boxes, candlesticks, and other small cylindrical vessels. Forming-machines for making square or triangular blanks for boxes and pipes are properly sheet-metal bending-machines. Wire-forming machines, used in making wire rings, handles, and bails, all use rolls or sections of cylinders round which the wire is bent to give it the proper shape.
- n. The templet used for the cutting of gear-teeth; the guide used for giving desired motion to the cutter when forming or cutting irregularly shaped pieces in a profiling-machine.
- n. In electricity, a frame upon which the coils of certain types of armatures and transformers are wound.
Wiktionary
- adj. previous
- adj. first of aforementioned two items. Used with the, often without a noun.
- n. Someone who forms something.
- n. An object used to form something.
- n. Someone in, or of, a certain form (class).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One who forms; a maker; a creator.
- n. A shape around which an article is to be shaped, molded, woven wrapped, pasted, or otherwise constructed.
- n. A templet, pattern, or gauge by which an article is shaped.
- n. A cutting die.
- adj. Preceding in order of time; antecedent; previous; prior; earlier; hence, ancient; long past.
- adj. Near the beginning; preceeding.
- adj. Earlier, as between two things mentioned together; first mentioned.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the first of two or the first mentioned of two
- adj. (used especially of persons) of the immediate past
- adj. belonging to the distant past
- adj. referring to the first of two things or persons mentioned (or the earlier one or ones of several)
- adj. belonging to some prior time
Etymologies
- Middle English, comparative of forme, first, from Old English forma; see per1 in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Or that people with AN just really need to get laid heard that from a former T...that's why she's a *former* T”
“But in this case the article is only cheap with reference to its _former_ price; the so-called cheapness is only our expression for the sensation of contrast between its former and existing prices.”
“Spades is giving new salacious meaning to the phrase "former Clinton intern," although -- believe it or not -- Bill was not even involved!”
The Huffington Post: Chris Weigant: Friday Talking Points -- Newt Loses Two, Huntsman Gains An "H"
“Phillips: It goes without saying the end game for the Tea Party movement is a conservative House and a conservative Senate, or as I had a chance to tell some people earlier today, next year at this time we need to see the title former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former Senator Harry Reid.”
“The former is Greek for universal, the latter means right believing”
“The former is shorthand for the Employee Free Choice Act, a labor-backed bill in Congress that would enable unions to organize workplaces through signed petitions instead of secret ballot elections.”
“The former is short for rock 'n roll and the latter is a semi-derogatory reference to country music.”
“Consider: would you vote for Obama over, say, Vladimir Putin on the grounds that the former is an American citizen (pace those Birther idiots)?”
“Of course there is: because the former is an actual right, while the latter is a mere preference.”
“And while nothing should justify the latter, the former is another question.”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Genetic Evidence Shows Common Origins of Jews
Lists
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frangarnes Anterior, antiguo // Example: My former girlfriend (Mi ex-novia) // WordReference Oct 19, 2007
mager It's like a former athlete. Jan 31, 2007