firm
Pronunciation Etymology 1
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Pronunciation Etymology 1
From Italian firma, from firmare ("to sign"), from Latin firmāre, from firmus ("firm, stable").
Nounfirm (plural firms)
- (UK, business) A business partnership; the name under which it trades.
- (business, economics) A business enterprise, however organized.
- Synonyms: Thesaurus:enterprise
- (slang) A criminal gang, especially based around football hooliganism.
- French: entreprise
- German: Firma
- Russian: фи́рма
- Spanish: firma, empresa, bufete (law firm)
From Middle English ferme, from Old French ferme, from Latin firmus.
Adjectivefirm (comparative firmer, superlative firmest)
- Steadfast, secure, solid (in position)
- It's good to have a firm grip when shaking hands.
- Fixed (in opinion).
- a firm believer; a firm friend; a firm adherent
- firm favourites
- Insistent upon something, not accepting dissent.
- He wanted to stay overnight, but I was firm with him and said he had to leave today.
- Durable, rigid (material state).
- firm flesh; firm muscles, firm wood; firm land (i.e. not soft and marshy)
- Mentally resistant to hurt or stress.
- Not frivolous or fallacious; trustworthy; solid; dependable.
- Italian: ferreo
- Portuguese: firme
- Russian: непоколеби́мый
- Spanish: firme
firm
Etymology 3From Middle English fermen, partly from (either through Old French fermer or directly) Latin firmō, from firmus, and partly a new formation on the adjective.
Verbfirm (firms, present participle firming; simple past and past participle firmed)
- (transitive) To make firm or strong; fix securely.
- (transitive) To make compact or resistant to pressure; solidify.
- (intransitive) To become firm; stabilise.
- (intransitive) To improve after decline.
- (intransitive, Australia) To shorten (of betting odds).
- (transitive, colloquial) To grit one's teeth and bear; to push through something unpleasant.
- I know you aren't feeling well, but just firm it.
- (transitive, UK, slang) To select (a higher education institution) as one's preferred choice, so as to enrol automatically if one's grades match the conditional offer.
- Spanish: afirmarse, hirmarse
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.002
