2. To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force
conviction on the mind.
3. To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence
to one;s will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to
commit rape upon.
To force their monarch and insult the court.
--Dryden.
I should have forced thee soon wish other arms.
--Milton.
To force a spotless virgin's chastity. --Shak.
4. To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or
struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm,
as a fortress.
5. To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc., by main
strength or violence; -- with a following adverb, as
along, away, from, into, through, out, etc.
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried lay That scarce
the victor forced the steel away. --Dryden.
To force the tyrant from his seat by war. --Sahk.
Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into
religion. --Fuller.
6. To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding;
to enforce. [Obs.]
What can the church force more? --J. Webster.
7. To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to strain; to urge
to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to produce by
unnatural effort; as, to force a consient or metaphor; to
force a laugh; to force fruits.
High on a mounting wave my head I bore, Forcing my
strength, and gathering to the shore. --Dryden.
8. (Whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a
trick by leading a suit of which he has none.
9. To provide with forces; to re["e]nforce; to strengthen by
soldiers; to man; to garrison. [Obs.] --Shak.
10. To allow the force of; to value; to care for. [Obs.]
For me, I force not argument a straw. --Shak.
Syn: To compel; constrain; oblige; necessitate; coerce;
drive; press; impel.
2. (Gardening) The art of raising plants, flowers, and fruits
at an earlier season than the natural one, as in a hitbed
or by the use of artificial heat.
{Forcing} {bed or pit}, a plant bed having an under layer of
fermenting manure, the fermentation yielding bottom heat
for forcing plants; a hotbed.
{Forcing engine}, a fire engine.
{Forcing fit} (Mech.), a tight fit, as of one part into a
hole in another part, which makes it necessary to use
considerable force in putting the two parts together.
{Forcing house}, a greenhouse for the forcing of plants,
fruit trees, etc.
{Forcing machine}, a powerful press for putting together or
separating two parts that are fitted tightly one into
another, as for forcing a crank on a shaft, or for drawing
off a car wheel from the axle.
{Forcing pump}. See {Force pump}
(b) .