FORGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forge mean? 

• FORGE (noun)
  The noun FORGE has 2 senses:

1. furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping

2. a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering

  Familiarity information: FORGE used as a noun is rare.

• FORGE (verb)
  The verb FORGE has 7 senses:

1. create by hammering

2. make a copy of with the intent to deceive

3. come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

4. move ahead steadily

5. move or act with a sudden increase in speed or energy

6. make something, usually for a specific function

7. make out of components (often in an improvising manner)

  Familiarity information: FORGE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Furnace consisting of a special hearth where metal is heated before shaping

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("forge" is a kind of...):

furnace (an enclosed chamber in which heat is produced to heat buildings, destroy refuse, smelt or refine ores, etc.)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

forge; smithy

Hypernyms ("forge" is a kind of...):

work; workplace (a place where work is done)

Meronyms (parts of "forge"):

drop forge; drop hammer; drop press (device for making large forgings)

anvil (a heavy block of iron or steel on which hot metals are shaped by hammering)

Derivation:

forge (create by hammering)

• FORGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forge    ... he / she / it forges   
Past simple: forged   
Past participle: forged   
-ing form: forging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Create by hammering

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

forge; hammer

Context example:

forge a pair of tongues

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

beat (shape by beating)

Verb group:

hammer (beat with or as if with a hammer)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forge"):

foliate (hammer into thin flat foils)

dropforge (forge with a dropforge)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

forge (a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering)

forger (someone who operates a forge)

forging (shaping metal by heating and hammering)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a copy of with the intent to deceive

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

counterfeit; fake; forge

Context example:

She forged a Green Card

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

re-create (create anew)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

forger (someone who makes copies illegally)

forgery (criminal falsification by making or altering an instrument with intent to defraud)

forgery (a copy that is represented as the original)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Come up with (an idea, plan, explanation, theory, or principle) after a mental effort

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

contrive; devise; excogitate; forge; formulate; invent

Context example:

excogitate a way to measure the speed of light

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

create by mental act; create mentally (create mentally and abstractly rather than with one's hands)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Move ahead steadily

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

He forged ahead

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

advance; go on; march on; move on; pass on; progress (move forward, also in the metaphorical sense)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Move or act with a sudden increase in speed or energy

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

forge; spirt; spurt

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make something, usually for a specific function

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work

Context example:

Work the metal into a sword

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

create from raw material; create from raw stuff (make from scratch)

Verb group:

process; work; work on (shape, form, or improve a material)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forge"):

preform (form or shape beforehand or determine the shape of beforehand)

model; mold; mould (form in clay, wax, etc)

sculpt; sculpture (create by shaping stone or wood or any other hard material)

coil; hand-build; handbuild (make without a potter's wheel)

throw (make on a potter's wheel)

cast; mold; mould (form by pouring (e.g., wax or hot metal) into a cast or mold)

sinter (cause (ores or powdery metals) to become a coherent mass by heating without melting)

remold; reshape (shape again or shape differently)

roughcast (shape roughly)

hill (form into a hill)

mound (form into a rounded elevation)

preform (form into a shape resembling the final, desired one)

beat (shape by beating)

puddle (subject to puddling or form by puddling)

stamp (form or cut out with a mold, form, or die)

grind (shape or form by grinding)

machine (turn, shape, mold, or otherwise finish by machinery)

cut out (form and create by cutting out)

layer (make or form a layer)

chip (form by chipping)

swage; upset (form metals with a swage)

carve (form by carving)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Sense 7

Meaning:

Make out of components (often in an improvising manner)

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

fashion; forge

Context example:

She fashioned a tent out of a sheet and a few sticks

Hypernyms (to "forge" is one way to...):

make (make by shaping or bringing together constituents)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forge"):

craft (make by hand and with much skill)

sew; tailor; tailor-make (create (clothes) with cloth)

tie (make by tying pieces together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“Henry Jekyll forge for a murderer!”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Over the following decades they have uncovered the cosmic sites of each of these major nuclear forges, except one.

(First identification of a heavy element born from neutron star collision, ESO)

Alleyne could see the smoke of their forges reeking up in the clear morning air.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At one end was the forge of Champion Harrison, with his house behind it, and at the other was Mr. Allen’s school.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The study highlights important partnerships trees forge with soil microbes and fungi to help them take up the extra nitrogen and phosphorus they need to balance their additional carbon dioxide intake.

(Study Suggests Trees' Potential to Slow Global Warming in Next 100 Years, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Answers to Buruli ulcers, MRSA and other antibiotic-resistant infections may lie not in a high-tech lab, but in ancient rocks forged in a hot zone: Oregon's once—and perhaps future—volcanoes.

(New answer to MRSA, other 'superbug' infections: clay minerals?, NSF)

He had plenty of money, but didn't know how to spend it, and got tipsy and gambled, and ran away, and forged his father's name, I believe, and was altogether horrid.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The overloaded and unwieldy sled forged ahead, Buck and his mates struggling frantically under the rain of blows.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Did they accuse them of having forged these photographs?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I have forged and tested every link of my chain, Professor Coram, and I am sure that it is sound.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)