Fig. 327. Roman Forfex.
Fig. 328. Forfex.
Forfex, R. (1) Large scissors or shears used to cut hair or shear animals. (2) A clip, in the form of shears, for raising weights. (Fig. [327].) Fig. [328] represents a shears described by Vitruvius, which was used to raise stones.
Fori, R. This term, which is the plural of forus, denotes (1) the flooring of a ship; (2) the flooring of a bridge; (3) the standing-places on a temporary platform; (4) the shelves forming the divisions or different stories of a beehive; (5) the narrow parallel furrows drawn in a garden by means of the hoe.
Foricula. A little door. Dimin. of Foris (q.v.).
Foris, R. The door as distinguished from the frame in which it hung. In the plural, fores denotes a folding-door with two leaves, as, for instance, fores carceris, the door of the stalls in a circus.
Forks were not in general use earlier than the 14th century. One of the earliest occasions on which a fork is mentioned informs us that John, Duke of Brittany in 1306, had one “to pick up soppys.”
Forlon. A Spanish carriage with four seats.
Forma, R. (fero, to produce). A mould, form, or model; a mould for making bricks or other objects in clay, such as (1) antefixa, masks, &c.; (2) a shoemaker’s last; (3) the waterway of a subterranean aqueduct. Diminutive, Formella, R. A small shape or mould used especially by the Romans to give an artificial form to the fish which was served as one of the courses at dinner.