deform
verbEtymology
From Middle English deformen (“to disfigure, distort, or mar; (figuratively) to disfigure morally; to defame; to dishonour”) [and other forms], equivalent to de- + form, from Old French deformer [and other forms] (modern French déformer (“to contort, distort, twist out of shape; (figuratively) to pervert”)), or directly from its etymon Latin dēfōrmāre (whence Medieval Latin difformāre), the present active infinitive of dēfōrmō (“to fashion, form; to delineate, describe; to design; to deform, disfigure; to mar, spoil”), from dē- (prefix meaning ‘away from; from’) + fōrmō (“to fashion, form, shape; to format”) (from fōrma (noun); see further at etymology 1). Cognates * Catalan deformar (“to deform”) * Italian deformare (“to deform; to distort, warp”) * Occitan deformar * Portuguese deformar (“to deform”) * Spanish deformar, desformar (“to deform, disfigure”)
1
To change the form of (something), usually thus making it disordered or irregular; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual shape.
- I that am curtaild of this faire proportion / Cheated of feature by diſſembling nature, / Deformd, vnfinisht, ſent before my time / Into this breathing vvorld ſcarce halfe made vp, / And that ſo lamely and vnfaſhionable, / That dogs barke at me as I halt by them: […]c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- They ſay this tovvne is full of coſenage: / As nimble Iuglers that deceiue the eie: / Darke vvorking Sorcerers that change the minde: / Soule-killing VVitches, that deforme the bodie: […]c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 87, column 1:
4 more examples
- [Y]ou muſt take care to keep the Bitt ſtraight to the Hole you pierce, leſt you deform the Hole, or break the Bitt.1678, Joseph Moxon, “Continued in the Art of Joynery”, in Mechanick Exercises: Or, The Doctrine of Handy-works. […], 2nd edition, number II, London: […] J[oseph] Moxon, […], published 1693, →OCLC, § 22 (Of the Piercer), page 90:
- Me Pallas gave to lead the martial ſtorm, / And the fair ranks of battle to deform: / Me, Mars inſpir'd to turn the foe to flight, / And tempt the ſecret ambuſh of the night.1725, Homer, “Book XIV”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 249, lines 251–254:
- The chairs were also damaged, many of them severely; and deep indentations deformed the panels of the walls.1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 323:
- Your master, Poole, is plainly seized with one of those maladies that both torture and deform the sufferer; hence, for aught I know, the alteration of his voice; hence the mask and his avoidance of his friends; […]1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Last Night”, in Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, pages 75-76:
2
Engineering, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Physics To alter the shape of (something) by applying a force or stress.
3
Also, Figuratively To change the look of (something), usually thus making it imperfect or unattractive; to give (something) an abnormal or unusual appearance.
- a face deformed by bitterness
- Shortly vnto the vvaſtefull vvoods ſhe came, / VVhereas ſhe found the Goddeſſe vvith her crevv, / […] / Some of them vvaſhing vvith the liquid devv / From of their dainty limbs the duſty ſvveat, / And ſoyle vvhich did deforme their liuely hevv, […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 17, pages 482–483:
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- The yeare next enſuing he [Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset] invaded the Scottiſh borders, waſted Tinedale & the marches and deformed the country with ruine and ſpoile.a. 1628 (date written), John Hayward, The Life, and Raigne of King Edward the Sixt, London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press, and J. Lichfield at Oxford?] for Iohn Partridge, […], published 1630, →OCLC, page 16:
- [E]re Sun-riſe, his [Khusrau Mirza's] afflicted vvife (Cavvn Azems daughter) goes to viſit him; vvhere finding him ſpeechleſſe, and (by his contus'd face) murdered; never did poore vvretch ſhed more teares, or ſhevv more paſſion; by tearing her faire hayre, deforming her ſvveet face ſo fiercely, ſo amazedly, that her Father and all his family heare her, and ſee it to their griefe and admiration.1638, Tho[mas] Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. […], 2nd edition, London: […] R[ichard] Bi[sho]p for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book I, page 80:
- Still to deform thy gentle Brovv vvith Frovvns! / And ſtill to be perverſe! It is a manner / Abhorrent from the ſoftneſs of thy Sex: […]1702, N[icholas] Rowe, Tamerlane. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act V, scene i, page 62:
- The [Native American] private men fought naked; their faces and bodies being deformed with paint, in order to terrify the enemy.1774, Hen[ry] Home, “Sketch XII. Origin and Progress of American Nations.”, in Sketches of the History of Man. […], volume II (Progress of Men in Society), Edinburgh: […] W[illiam] Creech, […]; and for W[illiam] Strahan, and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 89:
4
To mar the character or quality of (something).
- a marriage deformed by jealousy
- [Y]our beautie Ladies / Hath much deformed vs, faſhioning our humours / Euen to the oppoſed ende of our ententes.c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
4 more examples
- But, Sʳ, I will no longer tire your patience wᵗʰ these monsters (the subject of every contemptuous pamphlet) then with the madness of the Anabaptists, Quakers, Fift Monarchy-men, and a cento of unheard of heresies besides, which, at present, deform the once renowned Church of England, and approach so little to the pretended Reformation, which we in France have been made to believe, that there is nothing more heavenly wide.1659, John Evelyn, “A Character of England, as It was Lately Presented in a Letter to a Nobleman of France. […] The Third Edition.”, in William Upcott, compiler, The Miscellaneous Writings of John Evelyn, […], London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1825, →OCLC, page 156:
- It made me tremble a little […] to think what a sad thing Passion is, when Way is given to its ungovernable Tumults, and how it deforms and debases the noblest Minds!1742, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XXXII”, in Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded. […], volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; and sold by C[harles] Rivington, […]; and J. Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 240:
- VVomen in vain to keep their place have ſtriven; / From ev’ry trade, from each profeſſion driven. / […] / VVhile narrow prejudice deform’d the age, / No actreſs play’d, no female trod the ſtage; / […] / But vvoman once brought forvvard on the ſcene, / By man, like Eve, vvas lik’d as ſoon as ſeen.1772, [George] Colman, “Prologue, Written by Mr. Colman, and Spoken by Mrs. Bulkley”, in [Elizabeth] Griffith, A Wife in the Right: A Comedy, London: […] Mess. E[dward] and C[harles] Dilly, […], J. Robson, […], and J. Walter, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ii:
- Without dragging into the account the thousand and one sins that disgrace and deform society, it will be sufficient to look into the single interest of civilized warfare, in order to make our case.1848, [James Fenimore Cooper], chapter X, in The Oak Openings; or, The Bee-hunter. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Burgess, Stringer, & Co., →OCLC, page 149:
5
To become changed in shape or misshapen.
- If I answer that metal’s hard and shiny and cold to the touch and deforms without breaking under blows from a harder material, [David] Hume says those are all sights and sounds and touch. There’s no substance. Tell me what metal is apart from these sensations. Then, of course, I’m stuck.1974, Robert M[aynard] Pirsig, chapter 11, in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow & Company, →ISBN, part II, page 133:
- Derived terms
- deformability, deformable, deformed, deformedly, deformedness, deformer, deformeter, deforming, deformingly, nondeformable, nondeformed, nondeforming, retrodeform, retrodeformed, undeform, undeformable, undeformed
- Related terms
- deformation, deformational, deformity, retrodeformation