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Webster 1913 Edition

Design

De-sign′

(?; 277)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Designed
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Designing
.]
[F.
désigner
to designate, cf. F.
dessiner
to draw,
dessin
drawing,
dessein
a plan or scheme; all, ultimately, from L.
designare
to designate;
de-
+
signare
to mark, mark out,
signum
mark, sign. See
Sign
, and cf.
Design
,
Noun.
,
Designate
.]
1.
To draw preliminary outline or main features of; to sketch for a pattern or model; to delineate; to trace out; to draw.
Dryden.
2.
To mark out and exhibit; to designate; to indicate; to show; to point out; to appoint.
We shall see
Justice
design
the victor’s chivalry.
Shakespeare
Meet me to-morrow where the master
And this fraternity shall
design
.
Beau. & Fl.
3.
To create or produce, as a work of art; to form a plan or scheme of; to form in idea; to invent; to project; to lay out in the mind;
as, a man
designs
an essay, a poem, a statue, or a cathedral
.
4.
To intend or purpose; – usually with for before the remote object, but sometimes with to.
Ask of politicians the end for which laws were originally
designed
.
Burke.
Syn. – To sketch; plan; purpose; intend; propose; project; mean.

De-sign′

,
Verb.
I.
To form a design or designs; to plan.
Design for
,
to intend to go to.
[Obs.]
“From this city she designed for Collin [Cologne].”
Evelyn.

De-sign′

,
Noun.
[Cf.
dessein
,
dessin
.]
1.
A preliminary sketch; an outline or pattern of the main features of something to be executed, as of a picture, a building, or a decoration; a delineation; a plan.
2.
A plan or scheme formed in the mind of something to be done; preliminary conception; idea intended to be expressed in a visible form or carried into action; intention; purpose; – often used in a bad sense for evil intention or purpose; scheme; plot.
The vast
design
and purpos[GREEK] of the King.
Tennyson.
The leaders of that assembly who withstood the
designs
of a besotted woman.
Hallam.
A . . . settled
design
upon another man's life.
Locke.
How little he could guess the secret
designs
of the court!
Macaulay.
3.
Specifically, intention or purpose as revealed or inferred from the adaptation of means to an end;
as, the argument from
design
.
4.
The realization of an inventive or decorative plan; esp., a work of decorative art considered as a new creation; conception or plan shown in completed work;
as, this carved panel is a fine
design
, or of a fine
design
.
5.
(Mus.)
The invention and conduct of the subject; the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole.
Syn. – Intention; purpose; scheme; project; plan; idea.
–
Design
,
Intention
,
Purpose
. Design has reference to something definitely aimed at. Intention points to the feelings or desires with which a thing is sought. Purpose has reference to a settled choice or determination for its attainment. “I had no design to injure you,” means it was no part of my aim or object. “I had no intention to injure you,” means, I had no wish or desire of that kind. “My purpose was directly the reverse,” makes the case still stronger.
Is he a prudent man . . . that lays
designs
only for a day, without any prospect to the remaining part of his life?
Tillotson.
I wish others the same
intention
, and greater successes.
Sir W. Temple.
It is the
purpose
that makes strong the vow.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition

Design

DESIGN

, v.t.[L. To seal or stamp, that is, to set or throw.]
1.
To delineate a form or figure by drawing the outline; to sketch; as in painting and other works of art.
2.
To plan; to form an outline or representation of any thing. Hence,
3.
To project; to form in idea, as a scheme. Hence,
4.
To purpose or intend; as, a man designs to write an essay, or to study law.
5.
To mark out by tokens.
6.
To intend to apply or appropriate; with for; as, we design this ground for a garden, and that for a park. The word design may include an adapting or planning a thing for a purpose, or mere intention or scheme of the mind, which implies a plan. The father designs his son for the profession of the law, or for the ministry. It was formerly followed by to, but this use is now uncommon.

DESIGN

,
Noun.
1.
A plan or representation of a thing by an outline; sketch; general view; first idea represented by visible lines; as in painting or architecture.
2.
A scheme or plan in the mind. A wise man is distinguished by the judiciousness of his designs.
3.
Purpose; intention; aim; implying a scheme or plan in the mind. It is my design to educate my son for the bar.
4.
The idea or scheme intended to be expressed by an artist; as the designs of medals.
5.
In manufactories, the figures with which workmen enrich their stuffs, copied from painting or draughts.
6.
In music, the invention and conduct of the subject; the disposition of every part, and the general order of the whole.

Definition 2024

Design

Design

See also: design

German

Noun

Design n ‎(genitive Designs, plural Designs)

  1. design (creative profession or art)

Declension

Related terms

  • Designer m

design

design

See also: Design

English

Noun

design ‎(plural designs)

  1. A plan (with more or less detail) for the structure and functions of an artifact, building or system.
  2. A pattern, as an element of a work of art or architecture.
  3. The composition of a work of art.
  4. Intention or plot.
    To be hateful of the truth by design.
    • M. Le Page Du Pratz, History of Louisisana (PG), p. 40:
      I give it you without any other design than to shew you that I reckon nothing dear to me, when I want to do you a pleasure.
    • 1762, Charles Johnstone, The Reverie; or, A Flight to the Paradise of Fools, volume 2, Dublin: Printed by Dillon Chamberlaine, OCLC 519072825, page 202:
      At length, one night, when the company by ſome accident broke up much ſooner than ordinary, ſo that the candles were not half burnt out, ſhe was not able to reſiſt the temptation, but reſolved to have them ſome way or other. Accordingly, as ſoon as the hurry was over, and the ſervants, as ſhe thought, all gone to ſleep, ſhe ſtole out of her bed, and went down ſtairs, naked to her ſhift as ſhe was, with a deſign to ſteal them […]
    • 2011 June 28, Piers Newbery, “Wimbledon 2011: Sabine Lisicki beats Marion Bartoli”, in BBC Sport:
      Lisicki will rise from her current ranking of 62 to at least 35 in the world on the back of her efforts at the All England Club, but she will have serious designs on a first Grand Slam title after overcoming the 2007 runner-up.
  5. The shape or appearance given to an object, especially one that is intended to make it more attractive.
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess:
      He turned back to the scene before him and the enormous new block of council dwellings. The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.
  6. The art of designing
    Danish furniture design is world-famous.

Hyponyms

  • architectural design
  • domain-driven design
  • hardware design
  • software design

Related terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

design ‎(third-person singular simple present designs, present participle designing, simple past and past participle designed)

  1. (transitive) To plan and carry out (a picture, work of art, construction etc.). [from 17th c.]
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess:
      The huge square box, parquet-floored and high-ceilinged, had been arranged to display a suite of bedroom furniture designed and made in the halcyon days of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when modish taste was just due to go clean out of fashion for the best part of the next hundred years.
    Primitive people believe that gods designed the Earth and humans.
  2. (obsolete, intransitive) To plan (to do something).
    The king designed to mount an expedition to the New World.
  3. (obsolete, transitive) To assign, appoint (something to someone); to designate. [16th-19th c.]
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.10:
      he looks not below the Moon, but hath designed the regiment of sublunary affairs unto inferiour deputations.
    • Dryden
      He was designed to the study of the law.
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To mark out and exhibit; to designate; to indicate; to show; to point out; to appoint.
    • Shakespeare
      We shall see / Justice design the victor's chivalry.
    • Beaumont and Fletcher
      Meet me to-morrow where the master / And this fraternity shall design.

Translations

Anagrams

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: de‧sign

Noun

design n ‎(plural designs)

  1. design

Synonyms

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Noun

design

  1. design

Declension

Inflection of design (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative design designit
genitive designin designien
partitive designia designeja
illative designiin designeihin
singular plural
nominative design designit
accusative nom. design designit
gen. designin
genitive designin designien
partitive designia designeja
inessive designissa designeissa
elative designista designeista
illative designiin designeihin
adessive designilla designeilla
ablative designilta designeilta
allative designille designeille
essive designina designeina
translative designiksi designeiksi
instructive — designein
abessive designitta designeitta
comitative — designeineen

French

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Noun

design m ‎(plural designs)

  1. design

Italian

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Noun

design m ‎(invariable)

  1. design (industrial)

Anagrams

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Noun

design m (plural designs)

  1. design (plan)

Synonyms

Swedish

Etymology

Borrowing from English design.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /dɛˈsajn/

Noun

design c

  1. a design

Declension

Inflection of design 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative design designen designer designerna
Genitive designs designens designers designernas

Related terms

Etymology

Borrowing from English design; cognate with Dutch design, French dessin.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -aɪ̯n

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