PREFORM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preform mean? 

• PREFORM (verb)
  The verb PREFORM has 2 senses:

1. form into a shape resembling the final, desired one

2. form or shape beforehand or determine the shape of beforehand

  Familiarity information: PREFORM used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREFORM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they preform    ... he / she / it preforms   
Past simple: preformed   
Past participle: preformed   
-ing form: preforming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form into a shape resembling the final, desired one

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work (make something, usually for a specific function)

Verb group:

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Form or shape beforehand or determine the shape of beforehand

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

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

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work (make something, usually for a specific function)

Verb group:

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

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

preformation (a theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell)

 Context examples 

A property indicating that a food component must be taken into the body preformed and in sufficient quantity to meet the body's needs for growth, reproduction and/or maintenance of health.

(Nutrient, NCI Thesaurus/CRCH)

This agent is also metabolized to fluorouracil and other metabolites that can be incorporated into RNA and inhibit the utilization of preformed uracil in RNA synthesis.

(Floxuridine, NCI Thesaurus)

A preformed material designed to form a seal between connecting surfaces.

(Gasket Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Mast cells that are thus activated release preformed granules which contain biogenic amines (especially histamines) and proteoglycans (especially heparin).

(Fc Epsilon Receptor I Signaling Pathway KEGG, NCI Thesaurus/KEGG)

KU70 and KU80 form a dyad-symmetrical molecule with a preformed ring that encircles duplex DNA.

(Ku70 Protein, NCI Thesaurus)

Observation chambers, implanted in various animal species and in man, used for intravital microscopy of the microcirculation in granulation tissue, preformed tissue, or of the microvascularization of tissue implants.

(Dorsal Skinfold Window Chamber Model, NCI Thesaurus)

This causes the release of preformed mediators (histamine, tryptase, tryptase, chemotactic factors), newly synthesized mediators (leukotrienes, prostaglandin, thromboxane, platelet-activating factor, adenosine, bradykinin), and cytokines from these cells that results in structural and functional changes to the affected tissue.

(Immediate Hypersensitivity, NCI Thesaurus)