for 
What methods they will take is not for me to prescribe. 
Sicift, Improving the English Tongue. 
For himself Julian reserved a inure difficult part. 
Gibbon, Decline and Fall. 
It was/or the prietor to consider and determine whether 
the action or exception should or should not be muted. 
/;<!/<.. llrit., XX. 707. 
21. To be or become ; designing or designed 
to be or serve as ; with the purpose or func- 
tion of (becoming or doing something) : as, 
the boy is intended for a lawyer; to run for 
sheriff; a mill for grinding corn ; a sketch for 
a picture. 
The national republican convention assembled at Balti- 
more on June 7, 1864, and nominated President Lincoln 
for re-election, and for vice president Andrew Johnson 
of Tennessee. Auter. Cyc., XVI. 185. 
22f. In order to prevent or avoid; against. 
And some of hem took on hem/m- the colde, 
More than ynough, so seydestow ful ofte. 
Chaucer, Troilus, i. 918. 
We'll have a bib for spoiling of thy doublet. 
Beau, and Ft., Captain, iii. 5. 
The wife of Granganamoe came running out to meete 
vs (her husband was absent), commanding her people to 
draw our Boat ashore far beating on the billowes. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 84. 
Ah, how light he treads, 
For spoiling his silk stockings. 
L. Barry, Ram Alley. 
23. In spite of; without regard to; notwith- 
standing: as, that is true for aught I know. 
Then he stert vp full stithly, with his store might, 
Was on hys wight horse, fur wepyn or other. 
Deitruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6439. 
Others are fain to go home with weeping tears, for any 
help they can obtain at any judge's hand. 
Latimer, 2<1 Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549. 
The owl for all his feathers was a' cold. 
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, st. 1. 
24. In order; with the intent: used redun- 
dantly before the infinitive with to: formerly 
common, but now obsolete or vulgar: as, I 
came for to see you. 
The boy asked a boun ; 
" I wish we were in the good church, 
For to get christendoun." 
Young Akin (Child's Ballads, I. 187). 
What went ye out for to see ? Mat. jti. 8. 
The Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto 
them. Acts xvi. 10. 
ForalL SeeaM. For all the world. See world. For 
ay. See ai/i. For cause. See cause and forcause. 
For certain. See certain. For effect, fear, shame, 
etc. See the nouns. For ever. See ever and forever. 
For it, to be done for the case ; advisable : usually pre- 
ceded by a negative, and with the emphasis on the prepo- 
sition. 
There is nothing for it but to cultivate comity between 
the States. N. A. Rev., CXLIII. 147. 
For my (his, her, or your) head or life, for fear of dis- 
astrous consequences ; as apprehending extreme danger. 
I dare not for my head nil my belly ; one fruitful meal 
would set me to 't. Shah., M. for M., iv. 8. 
For the best. See best. For to. See def. 24. What 
for a, interrogatively, what kind of : as, what for a man 
is he? [Now rare, and regarded as a Germanism (German 
was fur ').] 
What is he/or a Ladde you so lament? 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., April. 
Mr. Speaker, I demand to know who dared present such 
a petition. What for a boldness is that ? 
St. Louis Democrat, Aug. 21, 1866. 
[For, governing prepositionally a noun or pronoun fol- 
lowed by an infinitive, is sometimes used, in familiar or 
careless style, with the value of that before a verb in the 
conditional : for example,/or him to do that (that is, that 
he should do that) would be a pity. 
I feare it would but harnie the truth for me to reason 
in her behalfe. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
These expressions are too oft'n mett, and too well un- 
derstood, for any man to doubt his meaning. 
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xii. 
I am anxious for you to know my new address. 
George Eliot, in Cross, iv. 
I should be glad for the new edition to be printed, and 
not the old. Darwin (letter), Life, II. 40. 
No one cared for him to call. 
Quoted in Academy, No. 826, p. 146. ] 
II. conj. 1. For the reason that; because; 
seeing that ; since : in modern usage employed 
only to introduce an independent clause, or 
frequently a separate sentence, giving a rea- 
son for, or a justification or explanation of, 
something previously said, it is an elliptical use 
of the preposition for, thus: "So death passed upon all 
men, for [the reason] that all have sinned: [I say so] for 
[this reason, that] until the law sin was in the world, but 
sin is not imputed when there is no law." Rom. v. 12, 13. 
The use of that after for, as above, was formerly common, 
as was also that of far before the reason for a succeeding 
statement, or to introduce a subordinate and inseparable 
clause, as in the following extracts ; but both locutions 
are now antiquated or obsolete. 
Partenedon parted first, of palerne the queues brother ; 
For he hade ferrest to fare, formest he went. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5079. 
Ac, far the poure may nat paye, ich wol paye myself. 
1'ie.rt Plowman (C), xiii. 106. 
But this a-peired moche his bewte and his visage for 
that he was blinde, and yet were the iyen [eyes] in his 
heed feire and clier. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 615. 
They all shall dye in theyr sinnes for they have all 
erred and gone out of the way togither. 
Spenser, Present State of Ireland. 
Master Nelson arrived with his lost Phoenix ; lost (I say) 
fur that \ve nil deemed him lost. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 170. 
Famed Beauclerc called, for that he loved 
The minstrel, and his lay approved. 
Scott, Marm I'M i. v., Int. 
2f. In order that. 
And, for the time shall not seem tedious, 
I'll tell thee what befell me. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 
For as much. See forasmuch. Forbecauset, and for 
that', equivalent to because. 
Xot/or because your brows are blacker. 
Shak., W. T., ii. 1. 
For Why, because ; for ; for what reason. [Obsolete or 
colloq.] 
Tin- magistrates do not exercise their citizens against 
their wills in unneedful labours. For why, in the insti- 
tution of the weal-public, this end [one afterward men- 
tioned] is only and chiefly pretended and minded. 
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), ii. 4. 
But yet his horse was not a whit 
Inclin'd to tarry there ; 
For why? his owner had a house 
Full ten miles off, at Ware. 
Cowper, John Gilpin. 
= Syn. 1. See since. 
for-*. [< ME. for-, < AS. for- = OS. far- = 
OFries. for- = D. ver- = MLG. vor-, LG. for- = 
OHG. fir-, far-, MHG. ver-, G. ver- = Icel. for- 
(rarely fyr-, ir-) = Sw. for- = Dan./or- = Goth. 
fra-, faur-, fair-: a prefix involving several 
different developments (oppositeness, nega- 
tion, difference, change, deterioration) of the 
radical meaning 'before,' and varying in its 
force accordingly; akin to for, fore 1 , etc., and 
ult. to the L., Gr., and Skt. forms cited under 
for. The three Goth, forms faur-, fair-, fra-, 
are phonetically near to Gr. napa, before, be- 
side, irepi, around, and KOO, before, respectively. 
See further under for, prep. In some words 
for- 1 has become confused with /or- 2 , equiv. 
to/ore-1; e. e., forego 2 for forgo 1 , forward^ for 
foreword^, forward* for foreword' 2 , etc. See 
/or- 3 .] An inseparable prefix in words of Mid- 
dle English and Anglo-Saxon origin, formerly 
attachable at will to any verb admitting of the 
qualification conveyed by this prefix, but no 
longer used or felt as a living formative, in 
Middle English and Anglo-Saxon it conveyed various no- 
tions, as oppositeness, negation, difference, change, dete- 
rioration, etc., often intensity, these notions being trace- 
able in the modern words ; thus, for- is negative in forbid, 
forswear, negative or pejorative in forspeak, etc., altera- 
tive in forshape, etc., intensive in forlorn, forweary, far- 
wounded, forspent, etc. From its intensive use in parti- 
cipial forms of verbs it came to be used also as an inten- 
sive prefix to adjectives, as infarblack, very black, fordry, 
very dry, etc. (See the etymology, and compare /or-2.) 
This prefix, once extremely common, has not only ceased 
to be used in forming new words, but most of the old 
words containing it have become obsolete, forbeari , for- 
bid, forget, forgive, foryoi, forsake, forswear, and forlorn 
in its adjective use being the only ones now in familiar 
use. Only the principal Middle English words with this 
prefix are entered in this dictionary. 
for- 2 . [See fore- 1 , forby,fornenst, etc.] A form 
of /ore- 1 , in forward 1 , forward^, forgot. 
for- 3 . [See forclose, etc.] A prefix of Latin 
origin, in forclose (= foreclose), forfeit, and far- 
judge (which see). 
for. An abbreviation of foreign : as, for. sec., 
foreign secretary. 
fora, n. Latin plural of forum. 
forage (for'aj), n. [< ME. forage, < OF. fou- 
rage, forage, pillage, F. fourragc (Pr. fouratge 
= Sp. forraje = Pg. forragem = It. foraggio = 
ML. foragium, fodragium, < F.), forage, < OF. 
forrer, forage, < forre,fuerre, F.feurre, fodder, 
straw, < ML. fpdrum, < LG. voder = Sw. Dan. 
foder = AS. /odor = E. fodder, etc. : see fod- 
der 1 . Of. foray, a doublet of /orajre.] 1. Food 
of any kind for horses and cattle, as grass, pas- 
ture, hay, oats, etc. : also used humorously of 
human food. 
And by his side his cteed the grassy forage ate. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. vii. 2. 
She was really hungry, so the chicken and tarts served 
to divert her attention for a time. It was well I secured 
this forage. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xvii. 
Our poor animals, having no forage but bitter pine leaves, 
began to falter and die from starvation. 
Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 400. 
2. The act of providing forage ; the act of 
searching for provisions of any kind : as, the 
troop subsisted by forage. 
foramen 
Colonel Mawhood completed his forage unmolested. 
Marshall. 
= Syn. 1. Fodder, etc. Seefeed, n. 
forage (for'aj), v. ; pret. and pp. foraged, ppr. 
foraging. [= F. fourrager = Pr. fovrrejar, 
fourregiar = Sp. forrajear = Pg.forragear = 
It. foraggiare ; from the noun. Cf. foray, v.~\ 
I. iiitrniix. 1. To procure food for horses or 
cattle by a roving search from place to place ; 
specifically (t/{tt.),tocollect supplies for horses, 
and also for men or stock, from an enemy by 
force, or from friends by impressment; in gen- 
eral, to procure provisions or goods of any kind 
in a predatory manner. 
Forage through 
The country ; spare no prey of life or goods. 
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, iii. 4. 
The rooks, with busy caw, 
Foraging for sticks and straw. Keats, Fancy. 
2f. To ravage ; feed on spoil. 
Having felt the sweetness of the spoil, 
With blindfold fury she begins to forage. 
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 554. 
3f. To wander far; rove; range. 
Forage, and run 
To meet displeasure further from the doors ; 
And grapple with him, ere he comes so nigh. 
Shak., K. John, v. 1. 
Foraging ants. See Eciton. Foraging party (milit.), 
a party of soldiers sent out to collect provisions for troops 
or horses from the surrounding country. 
II. trans. 1. To strip of provisions, as for 
horses, troops, etc. 
They will . . . also be as continual holds for her ma- 
jesty, if the people should revolt ; for without such it is 
easy to forage and over-run the whole land. 
Spemter, State of Ireland. 
Whych victorie letted them, that the! went not to pil- 
lage and fourraae all your townes and cyties of Pelopo- 
nese. Nicolls, tr. of Thucydides, fol. 30. 
2. To supply with forage or fodder : as, to for- 
age horses. 3. To ransack; overrun, as when 
searching for forage. 
Though Assur's Prince had with his Legion fell 
Forrag'd Samaria. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Decay. 
The brain 
That forages all climes to line its cells. 
Lowell, Under the Willows. 
4. To procure by forage. 
With stolen beeves and foraged corn. 
Whittier, Yorktown. 
forage-cap (for'aj-kap), n. A small low cap 
worn by soldiers when not in full dress. Also 
called foraging-cap. 
forage-guard (for'aj-gard), n. 1. A body of 
soldiers detailed to guard and protect a forag- 
ing party, or a forage-train on the march or 
when packed. 2. A party of foragers. [Rare.] 
forage-master (for'aj-mas"ter), . A person 
who has charge of the forage and forage-trains 
of an army or a military post, receiving and is- 
suing the forage, and having the care of it dur- 
ing transportation. In some cases he is em- 
powered to collect or purchase the forage. 
forager (for'a-jer), n. [< ME. forager (cf. F. 
fourrageur = Sp. forrajero = Pg. forrageiro = 
It. foraggiere) ', (.forage, r., + -er^.] One who 
forages; one who goes in search of food for 
horses or cattle. 
Ther forigers a-forn gan to send 
For ther hostes to make ordinance, 
Of whome the instrumentes sounded at end. 
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1815. 
But about midday, when Ccesar had sent forth a lieuten- 
ant of his called Caius Trebonius with three legions, and 
all his men of arnies for forage, sodenly they came flying 
vpon theforraffers on all sides. 
Golding, tr. of Ca;sar, fol. 118. 
foraging (for'a-jing), n. [Verbal n. of forage, 
u.] The act of searching for or collecting food. 
foraging-cap (for'a-jing-kap), n. Same as for- 
age-cap. 
foralite (for'a-lit), n. [Irreg. < L. forare, = E. 
core*, + Gr. /U0of, a stone.] In geol., a tube-like 
marking in sandstone and other strata, which 
resembles the burrow of a worm. 
foramen (fo-ra'men), n. ; pi. foramina (fo-ram'- 
i-nft). [L., a hole, < forare = E. bore 1 : see 
bore 1 .] 1. In anat. and zoo'l., a hole or an open- 
ing ; an orifice ; a fissure ; a short passage. Spe- 
cifically (a) A hole in or through a bone or other struc- 
ture, or between contiguous bones, giving passage to a ves- 
sel or a nerve ; also, a communication between two cavities 
of the same organ ; less frequently, a cul-de-sac. See ex- 
amples below. (6) An aperture in the beak of a brachi- 
opod shell, giving exit to a pedicel by means of which the 
animal is attached, (e) One of the perforations in the shell 
of a foraminifer. (<!) In the arthropods, an aperture in 
the integument of a part or joint where another part is 
articulated to it, giving passage to tendons, visceral or- 
gans, etc. : as, the occipital foramen in the back of an 
insect's head. Such foramina are connected with the cor- 
