Definition of "frame"

frame

/fɹeɪm/

verb
third-person singular simple present frames, present participle framing, simple past and past participle framed
1. (transitive) To fit, as for a specific end or purpose; make suitable or comfortable; adapt; adjust.
  Quotations
  I will hereafter frame myself to be coy.
  1578, John Lyly, Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit
  frame my face to all occasions
  c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]
  We may in some measure frame our minds for the reception of happiness.
  1828, Walter Savage Landor, Imaginary Conversations, Lord Brooke and Sir Philip Sidney
  The human mind is framed to be influenced.
  1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball
2. (transitive) To construct by fitting together or uniting various parts; fabricate by union of constituent parts.
  Quotations
  Nature that fram’d vs of foure Elements,Warring within our breaſts for regiment,Doth teach vs all to haue aſpyring minds:
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene vii
3. (transitive) To bring or put into form or order; adjust the parts or elements of; compose; contrive; plan; devise.
  Quotations
  He began to frame the loveliest countenance he could.
  a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the page number)”, in Fulke Greville, Matthew Gwinne, and John Florio, editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590; republished in Albert Feuillerat, editor, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia (Cambridge English Classics: The Complete Works of Sir Philip Sidney; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1912,
  How many excellent reasonings are framed in the mind of a man of wisdom and study in a length of years.
  1741, I[saac] Watts, The Improvement of the Mind: Or, A Supplement to the Art of Logick: […], London: […] James Brackstone, […]
  As for America’s constitution, speaking as the court’s originalist-in-chief, all that mattered was what its words meant when it was framed.
  2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist‎
4. (transitive) Of a constructed object such as a building, to put together the structural elements.
5. (transitive) Of a picture such as a painting or photograph, to place inside a decorative border.
6. (transitive) To position visually within a fixed boundary.
7. (transitive) To construct in words so as to establish a context for understanding or interpretation.
8. (transitive, criminology) Conspire to falsely incriminate a presumably innocent person. See frameup.
9. (intransitive, dialectal, mining) To wash ore with the aid of a frame.
10. (intransitive, dialectal) To move.
  Quotations
  An oath, and a threat to set Throttler on me if I did not "frame off" rewarded my perseverance.
  1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIII, in Wuthering Heights, volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], page 309
11. (intransitive, obsolete) To proceed; to go.
  Quotations
  The beautie of this ſinfull Dame, / Made many Princes thither frame, / To ſeeke her as a bedfellow, / In maryage pleaſures, playfellow:
  c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon, […], published 1609, [Act I, scene prologue]
12. (tennis) To hit (the ball) with the frame of the racquet rather than the strings (normally a mishit).
13. (transitive, obsolete) To strengthen; refresh; support.
  Quotations
  At last with creeping crooked pace forth came / An old old man, with beard as white as snow, / That on a staffe his feeble steps did frame
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, stanza 30
14. (transitive, obsolete) To execute; perform.
  Quotations
  The silken tackle / Swell with the touches of those flower-soft hands / That yarely frame the office.
  c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii]
15. (transitive, obsolete) To cause; to bring about; to produce.
  Quotations
  Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds.
  1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii]
16. (intransitive, obsolete) To profit; avail.
17. (intransitive, obsolete) To fit; accord.
  Quotations
  When thou hast turned them all ways, and done thy best to hew them and to make them frame, thou must be fain to cast them out.
  1531, William Tyndale, An Answer unto Sir Thomas More's Dialogue
18. (intransitive, obsolete) To succeed in doing or trying to do something; manage.
noun
plural frames
1. The structural elements of a building or other constructed object.
2. Anything composed of parts fitted and united together; a fabric; a structure.
  Quotations
  The chiefeſt God firſt moouer of that Spheare,Enchac’d with thouſands euer ſhining lamps,Will ſooner burne the glorious frame of Heauen,Then ſhould it ſo conſpire my ouerthrow.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act IIII, scene ii
  These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, / Almighty! thine this universal frame.
  1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,
3. The structure of a person's body; the human body.
  Quotations
  There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met / To view the last of me, a living frame / For one more picture! […]
  1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section XXXIV
  The high school had a send-off in my honour. It was an uncommon thing for a young man of Rajkot to go to England. I had written out a few words of thanks. But I could scarcely stammer them out. I remember how my head reeled and how my whole frame shook as I stood up to read them.
  1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi
4. A rigid, generally rectangular mounting for paper, canvas or other flexible material.
  Quotations
  He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.
  1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
5. A piece of photographic film containing an image.
  Quotations
  If the audience had a nickel for every time a character on one side of the frame says something could never happen as it simultaneously happens on the other side of the frame, they’d have enough to pay the surcharge for the movie’s badly implemented 3-D.
  12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
6. A context for understanding or interpretation.
7. (snooker) A complete game of snooker, from break-off until all the balls (or as many as necessary to win) have been potted.
8. (networking) An independent chunk of data sent over a network.
9. (bowling) A set of balls whose results are added together for scoring purposes. Usually two balls, but only one ball in the case of a strike, and three balls in the case of a strike or a spare in the last frame of a game.
10. (bowling) The complete set of pins to be knocked down in their starting configuration.
  Quotations
  In knockemdowns and bowls ten pins are used, the centre one being called the king, and the ball has to be grounded before it reaches the frame.
  1878, John Henry Walsh, British Rural Sports, page 712
11. (horticulture) A movable structure used for the cultivation or the sheltering of plants.
12. (philately) The outer decorated portion of a stamp's image, often repeated on several issues although the inner picture may change.
13. (philately) The outer circle of a cancellation mark.
14. (electronics, film, animation, video games) A division of time on a multimedia timeline, such as 1/30th or 1/60th of a second.
15. (Internet) An individually scrollable region of a webpage.
16. (baseball, slang) An inning.
17. (engineering, dated, chiefly UK) Any of certain machines built upon or within framework.
18. (dated) Frame of mind; disposition.
  Quotations
  And I partook of the infinite calm in which she lay: my mind was never in a holier frame than while I gazed on that untroubled image of Divine rest.
  1847, Emily Brontë, chapter XVI, in Wuthering Heights‎
19. (obsolete) Contrivance; the act of devising or scheming.
  Quotations
  John the bastard / Whose spirits toil in frame of villainies.
  1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene i]
20. (dated, video games) A stage or location in a video game.
  Quotations
  When you play the game it will draw a set pattern depending on the frame you are on, with random additions to the pattern, to give a different orchard each time.
  1982, Gilsoft International, Mongoose (video game instructions)
  Hunchback looks very good, bright, cheerful and with a loud tune. I think it could have had a bit more sound during the frame though.
  1984, "Hunchback" (video game review) in Crash (issue 2, pages 73-74)
  The first frame, funnily enough, brings just the sort of puzzle so rare in the remainder of the adventure whereby either it gets solved or you're left wandering excluded from where it's all happening.
  1985, "Ashkeron!" (video game review) in Crash (issue 18, page 104)
21. (genetics, "reading frame") A way of dividing nucleotide sequences into a set of consecutive triplets.
22. (computing) A form of knowledge representation in artificial intelligence.
23. (mathematics) A complete lattice in which meets distribute over arbitrary joins.

Definition of "frame"

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