Also 5 foorge, 6 fordg. [a. OF. forge (= Pr., Catal. farga, Sp. forja, also fragua, Pg. forja):—Com. Rom. *faurga:—L. fabrica: see FABRIC.]
† 1. Manufacture, construction; style of construction, make, workmanship; = FABRIC 5, 6. In late use a new formation on the vb. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 78.
| An horse of brass they let do forge | |
| Of suche entaile, of suche a forge, | |
| That in this world was never man | |
| That such an other werk began. |
1569. J. Sanford, trans. Agrippa’s Van. Artes, 124 b. If it [Husbandrie] had rested within these limites, and not goinge beside did not teache so many monstruouse forges of plantes.
1690. Dryden, Don Sebast., V. Wks. 1883, VII. 464.
| His soft metal | |
| Melts down with easy warmth, runs in the mould, | |
| And needs not further forge. |
1691. Ray, Creation, II. (1692), 93. In the greater Bodies the Forge was easie, the Matter being ductile and sequacious, obedient to the Hand and Stroke of the Artificer.
2. A smithy.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 576.
| Un-til a smith men cleped daun Gerveys, | |
| That in his forge smithed plough-harneys. |
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, III. xii. A serpent entyrd som tyme within the forge of a smythe for to serche somme mete for her dyner.
a. 1547. Surrey, Descr. Fickle Affect., 24.
| I know vnder the Grene, the Serpent how he lurkes: | |
| The hammer of the restlesse forge I wote eke how it workes. |
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2482/1. In the meantime the Enemies Vanguard attack’d the Village Forge.
1712. Pope, Statius, 309.
| Th’ o’erlabour’d Cyclop from his task retires; | |
| The Æolian Forge exhausted of its Fires. |
1861. Dickens, Gt. Expect., v. Joe had got his coat and waistcoat and cravat off, and his leather apron on, and passed into the forge.
transf. and fig. a. 1536. Beauty & Prop. Women, C j.
| Rather than to be made in natures forge | |
| An angell thou wouldist iudge him, I make auow. |
a. 1650. J. Prideaux, Euchologia (1656), 46. Those that dislike, will dislike any thing that comes not of the forge of their own fancies.
1697. Collier, Est. Mor. Subj., II. (1703), 78. The Brain: That is the Forge in which all the Speculations of the Understanding, and the Appetites of the Will, are hammer’d out.
1880. C. H. Pearson, The Liberal Programme, in Victorian Rev., I. 2 Feb., 545. Yet the England which Peel and his contemporaries had found pauperised, crippled, menaced by civil war, and governed by cliques, became under their renovating changes what we of this generation have known it—the home of peaceable people, the great forge and factory of the world, and entitled to speak with weight in the councils of Europe.
3. An apparatus consisting of an open hearth or fireplace with a bellows attached, used by blacksmiths for heating iron to render it malleable; a similar apparatus on wheels for military use.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 381. For makenge of the belowes in the forge.
1549. Privy Council Acts (1890), II. 349/2. Smithes forges complet, ij.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 560.
| In other part stood one who at the Forge | |
| Labouring, two massie clods of Iron and Brass | |
| Had melted. |
1753. Dodsley, Pub. Virtue, Agriculture, I. iii. 163.
| A ponderous lump, but to the hammer tam’d, | |
| Takes from the forge, in bars, its final form. |
1810. C. James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), s.v. The cavalry have portable forges as well as the artillery.
1839. Longf., Village Blacksmith, 19.
| And children coming home from school | |
| Look in at the open door; | |
| They love to see the flaming forge, | |
| And hear the bellows roar. |
transf. and fig. 1577. Fenton, Gold. Epist., 56. For the heart being the forge whereon our wicked plottes are wrought, then that which our tongue pronounceth is none other thing then the price and publication of the sinnes which we haue within our heart.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 239. Mist. Page. Come, to the Forge with it, then shape it: I would not haue things coole.
1654. Gayton, Pleasant Notes upon Don Quixot, iv. v. 198. They scorne to turne to a book when they would make their guests merry, but out of their owne sparkling forges have found delight and pleasance for the whole time of their stay.
1791. Burke, Lett. Member Nat. Assembly, Wks. VI. 14. Your rulers brought forth a set of men, steaming from the sweat and drudgery, and all black with the smoke and soot of the forge of confiscation and robbery.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 130, ‘Surly Hall.’
| In laboured phrase and polished lie | |
| Wrought by the forge of flattery. |
4. A hearth or furnace for melting or refining metals. Also, the workshop, etc., where this work is carried on.
1601. Holland, Pliny, VII. lvi. 188. As for the forges and furnaces of brasse, some think the Chalypes devised, others attribute that to the Cyclopes.
1674. Martinière, trans. Voy. N. Countries, 19. He conducted us to the Forges which are about a quarter of a League from his house, much of the same nature with the Copper Forges, with several people at work, some separating, some washing, some melting, others refining, and others coining for the service of his Majesty.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 591. Forges to refine pig-iron into bars, are numerous, and worked to great extent and profit.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, Forge … the great workshop where iron is made malleable … a shingling mill.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 905/1. Forge.… 3. a place where iron is puddled and shingled.
5. In market reports, short for forge iron.
1890. Daily News, 10 Jan., 3/7. Staffordshire forge ranged from 65.s. to 70s.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attributive, (of or pertaining to the forge), as forge-bellows, -coal, -furnace, -hammer, -hearth, -house, -iron, -master, -smith, -tongs.
1855. Lardner, Hand-bk. Nat. Phil. Hydrost., etc., 211 The *forge-bellows.
1892. Daily News, 5 Sept., 7/1. For good *forge coal from 9s. to 10s. is asked.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Forge Furnace, a blacksmith’s open furnace, urged by a powerful bellows.
1815. J. Smith, The Panorama of Science and Art, I. 13. The *forge hammer, invented by George Walby of London, for which invention, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. rewarded him with their silver medal and forty guineas.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, VIII. (Arb.), 137. Vulcan his hoate *fordgharth, namde eeke thee Vulcian Island.
1633. W. Struther, in Spurgeon, Treat. Dav., Ps. cxix. 168. The wicked are sorry that their heart is so open: it is a boiling pot of all mischief, a furnace and *forge-house for evil.
1884. Imp. & Mach. Rev., 1 Dec., 6733/1. *Forge iron of North of England brands.
a. 1628. F. Greville, Of Warres, xii. Wks. (Grosart), II. 107.
| Was not this Mars, then Mauors rightly nam’d? | |
| That in one instant all thus ouerthrowes? | |
| Or can the poet’s heauy doome be blam’d, | |
| Who censures, these *forge-masters of our woes? |
1886. J. Gillow, Lit. & Biog. Hist. Eng. Catholics, II. 402. Lawrence Maybury, the son of a labouring *forge-smith, near Leeds, was taken into the Baronet’s service as footman.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann. (1863), II. III. ii. 84. The rude pair of iron *forge-tongs.
b. Special comb., as forge-cart (Mil.), a traveling forge for service in the field; forge-cinder (see quot.); forge-fire, (a) a smith’s fire; (b) a puddling furnace; forge-man, a forger or smith; spec. (see quot. 1858); forge-mill (see quot.); forge-pig, a pig of forge iron, also collect.; forge-roll (see quot.); forge-roller, a workman in a rolling mill (?); forge-wagon = forge cart; forge-water, water in which heated irons have been dipped, formerly in popular use as a medicine.
1810. Wellington, 25 July, in Gurw., Desp., VI. 292. In these critical times I think it would be desirable that the *forge carts of the Royal dragoons should be sent down the hill.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., *Forge-cinder. The slag from a forge or bloomary.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, Argonauts, IV. 126. All night they heard the clank of anvils and the roar of furnace-blasts, and the *forge-fires shone like sparks through the darkness, in the mountain glens aloft.
1888. Lockwood’s Dict. Terms Mech. Engin., Forge Fire … a puddling furnace.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. (1657), 63. Fire-trades, as Smiths, *Forge-men, Brewers, Bakers, Metal-men, &c. shall dwell apart by themselves.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Forge-man, a superior class of coach-smith, having a hammer-man under him. The former judges of the quality of the metal, regulates the curvatures, and exercises his skill in combining elegance with strength in the various iron fittings requried for the coach.
1738. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Mill, 6 *Forge-Mills, turned by water, serve to raise and let fall one or more huge hammers, to beat and form the iron into bars, anchors, or other massive works.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 719. The average quantity of fine metal obtainable from the *forge-pigs at Merthyr Tydvil, from the finery furnace, is one ton for 221/2 cwt. of cast iron, with a consumption of about 91/2 cwt. of coal per ton.
1892. Daily News, 29 July, 2/4. Northampton forge pig is 43s. 6d.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., I. 905/2. *Forge-rolls. The name conferred upon the train of rolls by which the slab or bloom is converted into puddled bars.
1885. Instr. to Census Clerks, 92. [Workmen engaged in] Wrought Iron Manufacture … *Forge Roller.
1810. C. James, Milit. Dict. (ed. 3), s.v. Cart, *Forge-Wagons are travelling machines fitted up for the purpose of assisting the artillery in the field, and in repairing or replacing any iron work.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Turkey, Let ’em Drink *Forge Water.
1798. W. Blair, The Soldier’s Friend, 33. Would find benefit in taking half a pint of strong forge-water two or three times a day.
