forge Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping
  2. noun a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering
    smithy.
  3. verb create by hammering
    hammer.
    • hammer the silver into a bowl
    • forge a pair of tongues
  4. verb make a copy of with the intent to deceive
    counterfeit; fake.
    • he faked the signature
    • they counterfeited dollar bills
    • She forged a Green Card
  5. verb come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort
    formulate; devise; contrive; invent; excogitate.
    • excogitate a way to measure the speed of light
  6. verb move ahead steadily
    • He forged ahead
  7. verb move or act with a sudden increase in speed or energy
    spurt; spirt.
  8. verb make something, usually for a specific function
    mould; form; work; shape; mold.
    • She molded the rice balls carefully
    • Form cylinders from the dough
    • shape a figure
    • Work the metal into a sword
  9. verb make out of components (often in an improvising manner)
    fashion.
    • She fashioned a tent out of a sheet and a few sticks

WordNet

Forge noun
Etymology
F. forge, fr. L. fabrica the workshop of an artisan who works in hard materials, fr. faber artisan, smith, as adj., skillful, ingenious; cf. Gr. soft, tender. Cf. Fabric.
Definitions
  1. A place or establishment where iron or other metals are wrought by heating and hammering; especially, a furnace, or a shop with its furnace, etc., where iron is heated and wrought; a smithy.
    In the quick forge and working house of thought. Shak.
  2. The works where wrought iron is produced directly from the ore, or where iron is rendered malleable by puddling and shingling; a shingling mill.
  3. The act of beating or working iron or steel; the manufacture of metalic bodies. Obs.
    In the greater bodies the forge was easy. Bacon.
Forge transitive verb
Etymology
F. forger, OF. forgier, fr. L. fabricare, fabricari, to form, frame, fashion, from fabrica. See Forge, n., and cf. Fabricate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Forged ; present participle & verbal noun Forging
Definitions
  1. To form by heating and hammering; to beat into any particular shape, as a metal.
    Mars's armor forged for proof eterne. Shak.
  2. To form or shape out in any way; to produce; to frame; to invent.
    Those names that the schools forged, and put into the mouth of scholars, could never get admittance into common use. Locke.
    Do forge a life-long trouble for ourselves. Tennyson.
  3. To coin. Obs. Chaucer.
  4. To make falsely; to produce, as that which is untrue or not genuine; to fabricate; to counterfeit, as, a signature, or a signed document.
    That paltry story is untrue, And forged to cheat such gulls as you. Hudibras.
    Forged certificates of his . . . moral character. Macaulay.
    Syn. -- To fabricate; counterfeit; feign; falsify.
Forge intransitive verb
Etymology
See Forge, v. t., and for sense 2, cf. Forge compel.
Definitions
  1. To commit forgery.
  2. (Naut.) To move heavily and slowly, as a ship after the sails are furled; to work one's way, as one ship in outsailing another; -- used especially in the phrase to forge ahead. Totten.
    And off she [a ship] forged without a shock. De Quincey.
Forge transitive verb
Definitions
  1. (Naut.) To impel forward slowly; as, to forge a ship forward.

Webster 1913