local. Also foss. [a. ON. fors (Sw. fors, Da. fos).] A name in the north of England for a waterfall or cascade.
1600. Camden, Brit., 686, marg. (Westmorland) Catadupæ, The Forses.
1658. Phillips, Forses, water-falls.
1769. Gray, Lett., 18 Oct., in Poems (1775), 369. After dinner I went along the Milthrop turnpike, four miles, to see the falls, or force, of the river Kent.
1788. W. Marshall, Yorksh. (1796), II. 320. Foss … a waterfall.
1813. Scott, Trierm., III. viii.
| Far on the sloping valley’s course, | |
| On thicket, rock, and torrent hoarse, | |
| Shingle and Scrae, and Fell and Force, | |
| A dusky light arose. |
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 221.
| Our thoughts drown speech, like to a foaming force, | |
| Which thunders down the echo it creates. |
