Forum

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
forum
    n 1: a public meeting or assembly for open discussion
    2: a public facility to meet for open discussion [syn: {forum},
       {assembly}, {meeting place}]
    
from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Forum \Fo"rum\, n.; pl. E. {Forums}, L. {Fora}. [L.; akin to
   foris, foras, out of doors. See {Foreign}.]
   1. A market place or public place in Rome, where causes were
      judicially tried, and orations delivered to the people.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A tribunal; a court; an assembly empowered to hear and
      decide causes.
      [1913 Webster]

            He [Lord Camden] was . . . more eminent in the
            senate than in the forum.             --Brougham.
      [1913 Webster]
    
from Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003)
forum
 n.

   [Usenet, GEnie, CI$; pl. fora or forums] Any discussion group
   accessible through a dial-in {BBS}, a {mailing list}, or a {newsgroup}
   (see {the network}). A forum functions much like a bulletin board;
   users submit {posting}s for all to read and discussion ensues.
   Contrast real-time chat via {talk mode} or point-to-point personal
   {email}.
    
from The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
forum
fora
topic group

   <messaging> (Plural "fora" or "forums") Any discussion group
   accessible through a dial-in {BBS} (e.g. {GEnie}, {CI$}), a
   {mailing list}, or a {Usenet} {newsgroup} (see {network,
   the}).  A forum functions much like a {bulletin board}; users
   submit {postings} for all to read and discussion ensues.

   Contrast real-time {chat} or point-to-point personal {e-mail}.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1998-01-18)
    
from Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
FORUM. This term signifies jurisdiction, a court of justice, a tribunal. 
     2. The French divide it into for exterieur, which is the authority 
which human justice exercises on persons and property, to a greater or 
lesser extent, according to the quality of those to whom it is entrusted; 
and for interieur, which is the moral sense of justice which a correct 
conscience dictates. Merlin, Repert. mot For. 
     3. By forum res sitae is meant the tribunal which has authority to 
decide respecting something in dispute, located within its jurisdiction; 
therefore, if the matter in controversy is land, or other immovable 
property, the judgment pronounced in the forum res sitae is held to be of 
universal obligation, as to all matters of right and title on which it 
professes to decide, in relation to such property. And the same principle 
applies to all other cases of proceedings in rem, where the subject is 
movable property, within the jurisdiction of the court pronouncing the 
judgment. Story, Const. Laws, Sec. 532, 545, 551, 591, 592; Kaims on Eq. B. 
3, c. 8, s. 4 1 Greenl. Ev. Sec. 541. 
    
from Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
153 Moby Thesaurus words for "forum":
      Areopagus, agora, airing, amphitheater, analysis, arena, assemblee,
      assembly, assignation, at home, athletic field, auditorium,
      background, ball, bear garden, board, bowl, boxing ring, brawl,
      bull ring, buzz session, campo, campus, canvas, canvassing, caucus,
      circus, cockpit, coliseum, colloquium, colosseum, commission,
      committee, conclave, concourse, conference, congregation, congress,
      consideration, conventicle, convention, convocation, council,
      course, curia, dance, date, debate, debating, deliberation,
      dialectic, dialogue, diet, discussion, discussion group,
      eisteddfod, examination, exchange of views, festivity, fete, field,
      floor, forgathering, gathering, get-together, ground, gym,
      gymnasium, hall, hippodrome, housewarming, inquisition,
      investigation, joint discussion, judicatory, judicature, judiciary,
      levee, lists, locale, logical analysis, logical discussion, market,
      market cross, marketplace, mart, mat, meet, meeting, milieu,
      open discussion, open forum, palaestra, panel, panel discussion,
      parade ground, party, piazza, pit, place, platform, plaza, plenum,
      precinct, prize ring, prom, public square, purlieu, quorum, rally,
      range, rap, rap session, reception, rendezvous, review, rialto,
      ring, round table, scene, scene of action, scenery, seance,
      seminar, session, setting, shindig, sit-in, site, sitting, soiree,
      sphere, square, squared circle, stadium, stage, stage set,
      stage setting, study, symposium, synod, terrain, the Inquisition,
      theater, tilting ground, tiltyard, town meeting, treatment,
      tribunal, turnout, ventilation, walk, wrestling ring

    

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