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perforce: msg#00020

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Subject: perforce

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The Word of the Day for March 20 is:

perforce \per-FORSS\ adverb
: by force of circumstances

Example sentence:
Lorel and Curt's tiny vineyard produces a limited quantity of top-quality
chardonnays that are perforce rather pricey.

Did you know?
English speakers borrowed "par force" from Anglo-French in the 14th
century. "Par" meant "by" (from Latin "per") and the Anglo-French word "force"
had the same meaning as its English equivalent, which was already in use by
then. At first, "perforce" meant quite literally "by physical coercion." That
meaning is no longer used today, but it was still prevalent in William
Shakespeare's lifetime (1564-1616). "He rush'd into my house and took perforce
my ring away," wrote the Bard in _The Comedy of Errors_. The "force of
circumstances" sense of "perforce" had also come into use by Shakespeare's day.
In _Henry IV, Part 2_, we find "...your health; the which, if you give o'er to
stormy passion, must perforce decay."




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