Forkless, adj. (thieves’).—Clumsy; unworkmanlike; as without forks
(q.v.).
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 40. I met George Bagrie, and William
Paterson, alias old Hag, two very willing, but poor snibs,
accompanying a lushy cove, and going to work in a very forkless
manner.
Forloper, subs. (South African).—A teamster guide.
Forlorn Hope, subs. phr. (colloquial).—A gamester’s last stake.—Grose.
Form, subs. (turf.)—1. Condition; training; fitness for a contest.
In or out of form = in or out of condition, i.e., fit or unfit for
work. Better or Top form, etc. (in comparison). Cf., Colour.
1861. Walsh, The Horse, ch. vi. If it be supposed that two
three-year-olds, carrying the same weight, could run a mile and
a-half, and come in abreast, it is said that the form of one is
equal to that of the other.
1884. Hawley Smart, Post to Finish, ch. xxxv. When fillies, in
racing parlance, lose their form at three years old, they are apt
to never recover it.
1868. Whyte Melville, White Rose, ch. xxxiv. That mysterious
property racing men call ‘form.’
2. (colloquial).—Behaviour (with a moral significance: as good form,
bad form = agreeable to good manners, breeding, principles, taste,
etc., or the opposite). This usage, popularised in racing circles, is
good literary English, though the word is commonly printed in inverted
commas(“ ”): Shakspeare (Two Gentlemen of Verona, 4), says, ‘Can no
way change you to a milder form,’ i.e., manner of behaviour.
1871. Orchestra, 13 Jan. This squabble at the Globe may most fitly,
perhaps, be characterised by the words ‘bad form.’
1871. The Drawing Room Gazette, Dec. 9, p. 5. It is an open
question, whether snubbing be not, like cutting, in the worst
possible ‘form.’
1873. Belgravia, Feb. The demeanour and conduct which the ‘golden
youth’ of the period call ‘good form’ was known to their fathers as
bad manners.
1881. Jas. Payn, Grape from a Thorn, ch. xvii. It would be
considered what they call ‘bad form’ in my daughter Ella if she
were known to be a contributor—for pay—to the columns of a
magazine.
1890. Speaker, 22 Feb, p. 211, col. 2. Still, after all, we doubt
very much whether it be fair, or right, or even prudent—it
certainly is not ‘good form’—to publish to a world of Gallios a lot
of irreverent bar-mess and circuit ‘good stories,’ worked up about
living Lord Chancellors, Lord Justices, and other present occupants
of the judicial bench.
3. (common).—Habit; game (q.v.): e.g., ‘That’s my form = That’s what
I’m in the way of doing’; or ‘That’s the sort of man I am.’
1884. Punch, 11 Oct. ‘’Arry at a Political Picnic.’ Athletics ain’t
hardly my form.
Forney, subs. (thieves’).—A ring; a variant of fawney (q.v.).
1871. Egan, Finish of Tom and Jerry, p. 243. He sports a diamond
forney on his little finger.
Fornicating-engine (-member; -tool), subs. phr. (venery).—The penis.
For synonyms, see Creamstick and Prick.
Fornicator, subs. (venery).—1. The penis. For synonyms, see Creamstick
and Prick.