Also 6 firme. [ad. It., Sp. and Pg. firma, a Com. Rom. n. of action f. L. firmāre to confirm, in late L. to ratify by one’s signature, f. firm-us FIRM a. Cf. FARM sb.2, which is another form of the same word. The word first occurs in translations from Sp. writers; in sense 2 it was prob. taken, like other commercial words, from Italian.]
† 1. Signature, sign-manual. Obs.
1574. Hellowes, Gueuara’s Fam. Ep., 62. The firme of my hand I cannot denie. Ibid., 257. This letter … is … without date or firme.
1588. Parke, trans. Mendoza’s Hist. China, 81. He doth straightwaies prouide vpon the same that which is agreeable vnto iustice, and doth firme the petition with his own firme with red inke.
[1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1864), 50. The Articles … were confirmed by the King’s Firma.]
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2354/2. He … puts the Grand Signior’s Firm or Name to all Imperial Commands.
1707. Freind, Peterborow’s Cond. Sp., 143. In Testimony wherof, we order these Presents to be passed with our Royal Firm, ans sealed with our Royal Seal.
1755. trans. Italian certificate, in Magens, Insurances, I. 304. It is intirely and prefectly well known to us, by the frequent Knowledge we have of his Firm and Signature.
2. a. The ‘style’ or name under which the business of a commercial house is transacted. b. A partnership of two or more persons for carrying on a business; a commercial house.
1744. in Hanway, Trav. (1762), I. V. lxvi. 301. We are come to the unanimous resolution of fixing one house, under the firm of messieurs Hanway and Mierop.
1785. Mrs. Bennett, Juvenile Indiscret. (1786), II. 135. He could not oppose the wishes of the respectable partners without altering the firm of the house.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. xix. 163. All we want to know, is the number of your note, and the firm of the house.
1817. W. Selwyn, Law Nisi Prius, II. 1065. An action brought by the other parties in the firm, for goods sold and delivered.
1861. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scot., 387/1. A proper or personal firm is a firm designated by the names of one or more of the partners…. A descriptive firm has reference to some such circumstance as the place where the company is established, or the transactions in which it is engaged.
1864. Mrs. Riddell, George Geith, I. ii. 9. Transacted business there, trading under the firm of ‘Grant and Co., accountants.’
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, viii. My small patrimony was left a part of the capital of the Firm I am with, by my father, a former partner.
1882. Serjt. Ballantine, Exper., viii. 99. He was not without ability of a certain kind, which was greatly assisted by his connection by marriage with a respectable firm of solicitors.
c. transf. Applied (chiefly in sarcastic use) to a number of persons regarded as associated for the promotion of their common interest.
1795. Burke, Thoughts Scarcity, Wks. 1852, V. 185. Their bill was carried by a very small majority, consisting of partners in the firm.
1819. E. S. Barrett, Metropolis, II. 209. What a simpleton! he won a little money in Bennet Street, (where to be sure it seldom happens that any one, not of the firm, does win) and he thinks himself the cleverest fellow in the world.
1862. Merivale, Rom. Emp. (1865), VII. lx. 291. Though we find it impossible to feel enthusiasm for the plebeian emperor, the head of the Flavian firm, we cannot part from Vespasian without avowing a higher regard for him than for any of the Cæsars before him, the great Julius, the universal exception, alone excepted.
d. Long firm. (See quot. 1882.)
1869. Orchestra, 2 Jan., 235/1. The doings of ‘the Long Firm,’ a body of phantom capitalists who issue large orders to supply an infinite variety of goods.
1882. Ogilvie, s.v. Firm, Long Firm, a term given to that class of swindlers who obtain goods by pretending to be in business in a certain place, and ordering goods to be sent to them, generally from persons at a distance, without any intention of payment.
1888. Rider Haggard, Mr. Meeson’s Will, xv. John would give James briefs, and James’s reflected glory would shine back on John. In short, they were anxious to establish a legal long firm of the most approved pattern.
