Collins English-English Dictionary

frame [freɪm]

1. 1. n an open structure that gives shape and support to something, such as the transverse stiffening ribs of a ship's hull or an aircraft's fuselage or the skeletal beams and uprights of a building

2. 2. n a single game finished when all the balls have been potted rack

3. 3. n an enclosing case or border into which something is fitted

   the frame of a picture

4. 4. n the system around which something is built up

   the frame of government

5. 5. n the structure of the human body

6. 6. n a condition; state (esp in the phrase frame of mind)

7. 7. n one of a series of individual exposures on a strip of film used in making motion pictures

8. 8. n an individual exposure on a film used in still photography

9. 9. n an individual picture in a comic strip

10. 10. n a television picture scanned by one or more electron beams at a particular frequency

11. 11. n the area of the picture so formed

12. 12. n [billiards] [snooker] the wooden triangle used to set up the balls

13. 13. n the balls when set up

14. 14. n [computing] (on a website) a self-contained section that functions independently from other parts; by using frames, a website designer can make some areas of a website remain constant while others change according to the choices made by the internet user

15. 15. n short for cold frame

16. 16. n one of the sections of which a beehive is composed, esp one designed to hold a honeycomb

17. 17. n a machine or part of a machine over which yarn is stretched in the production of textiles

18. 18. n (in language teaching, etc) a syntactic construction with a gap in it, used for assigning words to syntactic classes by seeing which words may fill the gap

19. 19. n [statistics] an enumeration of a population for the purposes of sampling, esp as the basis of a stratified sample

20. 20. n (in telecommunications, computers, etc) one cycle of a regularly recurring number of pulses in a pulse train

21. 21. n another word for frame-up

22. 22. n [slang] [obsolete] shape; form

23. 23. vb [mainly tr] to construct by fitting parts together

24. 24. vb to draw up the plans or basic details for; outline

    to frame a policy

25. 25. vb to compose, contrive, or conceive

    to frame a reply

26. 26. vb to provide, support, or enclose with a frame

    to frame a picture

27. 27. vb to form (words) with the lips, esp silently

28. 28. vb [slang] to conspire to incriminate (someone) on a false charge

29. 29. vb [slang] to contrive the dishonest outcome of (a contest, match, etc); rig

30. 30. vi. [intr] [Yorkshire and Northeastern English] [dialect] [usually imperative or dependent imperative] to make an effort

31. 31. vi. to have ability

32. 32. vi. [Etymology] Old English framiae to avail; related to Old Frisian framia to carry out, Old Norse frama