▪ I. deˈform, n. nonce-wd.
[f. deform v.]
The action of deforming, deformation: opp. to reform.
| 1831 Fraser's Mag. IV. 2 He..permitted the actual deform of his windows sooner than testify any sort of sympathy with the sham reform of parliament. |
▪ II. deform, a. arch.
(dɪˈfɔːm)
Forms: 4–6 defourme, 6–7 deforme, 7– deform.
[a. obs. F. deforme (1604 in Godef.) = mod.F. difforme, or ad. L. dēform-is (in med.L. also difformis) deformed, misshapen, ugly, disgraceful, f. de- I. 6 + forma shape. Cf. also difform.]
Deformed, misshapen, shapeless, distorted; ugly, hideous.
| 1382 Wyclif Gen. xli. 19 Other seven oxen..defourme and leene. 1508 Fisher Wks. (1876) 98 With many..spottes of synne we haue..made it defourme in the syght of god. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. (1641) 3/2 A confus'd heap, a Chaos most deform. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 494 Sight so deform what heart of rock could long Drie-ey'd behold? a 1734 North Examen i. iii. ¶16. 133 The monstrous and deform Tales of Oates. 1872 Browning Fifine xliii, Every face, no matter how deform. |
▪ III. deform, v.1
(dɪˈfɔːm)
Also 5–7 dif-, 5 dyf-.
[a. OF. deformer, also desformer, defformer, and (15th c.) difformer, mod.F. déformer. The first is ad. L. dēformāre, f. de- I. 6 + forma shape; the second represents the Rom. var. disformare, and the last its med.L. repr. difformāre. Thence the Eng. variants in de-, dif-. Cf. also Pr. deformar, It. deformare, Sp. desformar.]
1. trans. To mar the appearance, beauty, or excellence of; to make ugly or unsightly; to disfigure, deface. a. lit.
| c 1450 [see deformed 1]. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 8 Thus by this deuising such counterfaited thinges, They diffourme that figure that God himselfe hath made. 1530 Rastell Bk. Purgat. Prol., Some spot..wherby he is somwhat deformed. a 1627 Hayward Edw. VI (1630) 16 He..wasted Tinedale and the marches, and deformed the country with ruine and spoile. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1638) 80 Never did poore wretch shed more teares..deforming her sweet face. 1702 Rowe Tamerlane v. i. 2012 To deform thy gentle Brow with Frowns. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. (1872) I. 37 The square..had mean little huts, deforming its ample space. 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. clxxv. 208 The blackest pirate that ever deformed his face with beard. |
b. fig.
| 1533 Bellenden Livy iii. (1822) 308 This honest victorie..wes deformit be ane schamefull jugement gevin be Romane pepil. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters I. Ded., It is a vice that deforms human nature. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 535 The earlier part of his discourse was deformed by pedantic divisions and subdivisions. |
† c. To put out of proper form, disarrange. Obs.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. xiv. 252 The fair ranks of battle to deform. 1783 Hist. Europe in Ann. Reg. 66/2 Breaking the British line, and totally deforming their order of battle. |
† d. intr. To become deformed or disfigured; to lose its beauty. Obs. rare.
| 1760 Beattie Ode to Hope ii. iii, To-morrow the gay scene deforms! |
2. trans. To mar the form or shape of; to misshape. See also deformed.
| c 1400, 1483 [see deformed 2]. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxiv. 19 A crippill, or a creatour Deformit as ane oule be dame Natour. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 100 Darke working Sorcerers that change the mind: Soule-killing Witches, that deforme the bodie. 1594 ― Rich. III, i. i. 20 Cheated of Feature by dissembling Nature, Deform'd, vnfinish'd. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 94 Keep the Bitt straight to the hole you pierce, lest you deform the hole. |
3. To alter the form of; in Physics, to change the normal shape of, put out of shape: cf. deformation 3.
| 1702 Eng. Theophrast. 116 Nothing so deforms certain Courtiers, as the Presence of the Prince; it so alters their Air and debases their Looks that a Man can scarce know them. 1876 Gladstone Homeric Synchr. 222 This completely alters and deforms the idea of the earth as a plane surface. 1883 Nature XXVII. 405 The hard steel..breaks up or deforms the projectiles. |
¶ 4. Obs. var. of difform v.
▪ IV. † deform, v.2 Obs. rare.
In 4 defourme, defforme.
[ad. L. dēformāre to form, fashion, describe, f. de- I. 1, 3 + formāre to form.]
trans. To form, fashion, delineate.
| 1382 Wyclif 2 Cor. iii. 7 The mynistracioun of deeth defformyd [v.r. defourmyde, Vulg. deformata] by lettris [1388 write bi lettris] in stoones. |