[a. F. forcement f. force-r: see FORCE v.1 and -MENT.]
† 1. a. Strengthening; in quot. fig. encouragement. b. concr. Something which strengthens; a fortification. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Isa. xxv. 12. And the forsemens, or strengthis [Vulg. munimenta], of thin heȝe walles shul togidere falle, and be lowid, and drawen doun to the erthe, vnto poudere.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, V. (1822), 314. Quhat curage sal thir wourdis gif to the small pepill? Na curage, bot erare grete audacite and forcement to the Volschis, Equis, and Veanis.
† 2. An act of deforcement: see DEFORCEMENT 2.
1479. Act. Dom. Conc. (1839), 33. The soume of sex pundis for vnlawis of grenewod, mureburne, forsmentis.
† 3. Compulsion; also, a compelling motive.
1524. R. Pace, Lett. Hen. VIII., in Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. App. xi. 20. So proclive in descence, that without great forcemeant to go bolt upright, wee could not avoide to fal down headlyng.
1541. Cranmer, in St. Papers (1836), I. 691. Al that Derame did unto her was of his importune forcement, and in a manner violence, rather than of her fre consent and wil.
1565. Golding, Ovid’s Met., XI. (1593), 266.
| And though I bee of nature most inclyned good too doo: | |
| Thyne owne renowme, thy graundsyre Jove are forcements thereuntoo. |
1607. Dekker, Hist. Sir T. Wyatt, Wks. 1873, III. 122.
| It was impos’d vpon vs by constraint, | |
| Like golden fruit hung on a barraine tree, | |
| And will you count such forcement treacherie? |
1634. W. Wood, New Eng. Prosp. (1865), 24. Some credible persons have affirmed, that they have seene a Deare leape three score feet at little or no forcement.
4. Gunnery. (See quot.)
1892. Field, 10 Dec., 915/2. Contrary to what has been laid down authoritatively in almost all treatises on firearms, neither the diameter of the chamber nor the ‘forcement’ of the projectiles has any primary influence on the recoil. note, This is a French word, for which we have no English equivalent unfortunately; it has, however, been Anglicised, and is now generally used in gunnery treatises. Its signification is the excess of diameter of the projectile over that of the bore.
