methodn.

Brit.

/ˈmɛθəd/, U.S.

/ˈmɛθəd/

Forms: late Middle English methede, late Middle English–1600s methode, late Middle English– method, 1600s metod; also Scottish pre-1700 methoid.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin methodus.

Etymology: < classical Latin methodus mode of proceeding (in Vitruvius; in post-classical Latin also in senses ‘medicine of the Methodist school’ (4th cent.; already in classical Latin as a Greek word), ‘rational procedure’ (1518 or earlier), ‘system of classification’ (1682 or earlier)) < ancient Greek μέθοδος pursuit of knowledge, mode of investigation (in Hellenistic Greek also in sense ‘medicine of the Methodist school’) < μετα- meta- prefix + ὁδός way (see -ode comb. form²), partly via Middle French methode (1537 in sense ‘medicine of the Methodist school’, 1546 in sense ‘rational procedure’ (in Rabelais), French méthode system of classification (1763), disposition of materials according to a plan or design (1765)). The sense of ‘systematic arrangement’ (branch II.) is not present in Greek: it was probably originally developed through the special application of Latin methodus by some logicians of the 16th cent. (see sense 5).By the end of the 17th cent., post-classical Latin methodus (or occasionally French méthode ) had been borrowed into all the main Romance and Germanic languages (compare Italian metodo (1545), Portuguese método (16th cent.), Spanish método (1611); Dutch methode (1652), German Methode (17th cent.), Swedish metod (1655)) with the same basic senses as in English, and subsequently passed into most Baltic and Slavonic languages (frequently via English or German). In sense 3f probably after Russian metod (as used by Russian actor and theatre director Stanislavsky (1863–1938), real name Konstantin Sergeevič Alekseev).

I. A procedure for attaining an object.

†1. Medicine.

a. A recommended or prescribed medical treatment for a specific disease. Also in figurative context. Obsolete.Now merged in sense 2a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > [noun] > plan or method of treatment

intentionc1400

method?a1425

scope1583

cure1842

pathy1842

modality1932

?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 64^v If forsoþ þer be deperdicioun of substaunce..we vse alwise farmaciez which method, i. riȝt rwle.., taȝt vs for to vse in concaue, i. holow, vicerez.

?1541 R. Copland tr. Galen Terapeutyke sig. Aiij Euery kynde of dysease hath his owne Methode.

1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. i. f. 21^v The Methode of curyng compounde tumors against nature.

1578 J. Banister Hist. Man Epist. Chirurg. sig. Aiiij Then did I clearely see, how that to write Methodes or meanes to cure the affected partes of the body.

1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. i. 1 To see wherein the harme which they feele consisteth,..and the method of curing it.

1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Method,..that part of Physick whereby, remedies are found out by the Indications for the Restoration of Health.

a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) IX. 38 Let such persons..not quarrel with the great physician of souls, for having cured them by easy and gentle methods.

b. Ancient History. The system of medicine practised by the Methodists (methodist n. 2). Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > medical theories or doctrines > [noun] > Methodism

method?1541

Methodism1896

?1541 R. Copland tr. Galen Terapeutyke sig. Div That is the maner to heale by Methode..yf it so be that Methode is an vnyuersall way.

a1790 W. Cullen Lect. Hist. Med. in Wks. (1827) I. 383 This easy plan was, by way of eminence, called the Method, and the persons who followed it the Methodics.

a. More generally: a way of doing anything, esp. according to a defined and regular plan; a mode of procedure in any activity, business, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > [noun]

wayeOE

costOE

wise971

gatec1175

custc1275

form1297

guise13..

mannerc1300

kindc1330

assizea1375

plighta1393

makea1400

fashionc1400

reason?c1400

method1526

voye1541

how1551

way1563

garb1600

quality1600

mould1603

quomodo1623

modus1648

mode1649

turn1825

road1855

gait1866

methodology1932

stylee1982

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > course adopted to achieve an end

waya1225

wonec1290

mean waya1425

policyc1430

method1526

politicsa1529

politic1588

game1595

dent1597

efficacy1690

tactics1772

tactic1791

strategy1834

game plan1957

1526 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. v. 67 The King had hopes to train the Emperor to reason by doulce methods.

1602 T. Heywood How Man may chuse Good Wife B 3 b I will prescribe a methode How thou shalt win hir without al peraduenture.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 34 If you will iest with me, know my aspect, And fashion your demeanor to my lookes, Or I will beat this method in your sconce.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. iii. 7 Madam, me thinkes if you did loue him deerly, You do not hold the method, to enforce The like from him.

1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 42 The Hen did walk in a fourfold Method towards her Chickens.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 359 He did very often assure me, he was against all violent methods, and all persecution for conscience sake.

1725 N. Robinson New Theory of Physick 262 This is the only Method to be continued while the Symptoms are not extremely dangerous.

a1771 T. Gray Sketch in Mem. (1775) 264 2 Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune; He had not the method of making a fortune.

1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §274 In our work, it was performed in the following method.

1800 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 4 494 Mr. P. was delighted to hear that I thought a cure was not impracticable, and laboured ardently to persuade me to inform him of the method I should use.

1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I vii. 6 That is the usual method, but not mine—My way is to begin with the beginning.

1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 200 A perfect method of warming churches has yet to be invented.

1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Feb. 448/2 Benefit from this line of treatment must not be expected immediately, and the method should be persevered with for at least some months.

1924 G. W. Hillyard Forty Years Lawn Tennis 69 He..never did acquire the right method of hitting the ball on the forehand.

1957 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples III. ix. i. 199 New methods of smelting brought a tenfold increase in the output of iron.

1981 M. Angelou Heart of Woman ii. 38 I was certain the members had a method of separating the wheat from the chaff.

†b. A scheme, a plan of action. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan

redeeOE

devicec1290

casta1300

went1303

ordinancec1385

intentc1386

imaginationa1393

drifta1535

draught1535

forecast1535

platform1547

ground-plat?a1560

table1560

convoy1565

design1565

plat1574

ground-plota1586

plot1587

reach1587

theory1593

game1595

projectment1611

projecting1616

navation1628

approach1633

plan1635

systema1648

sophism1657

manage1667

brouillon1678

speculationa1684

sketch1697

to take measures1698

method1704

scheme1704

lines1760

outline1760

measure1767

restorative1821

ground plan1834

strategy1834

programme1837

ticket1842

project1849

outline plan1850

layout1867

draft1879

dart1882

lurk1916

schema1939

lick1955

1704 J. Trapp Abra-Mule i. i. 319 All my Designs and Methods still were cross'd.

†c. An occupation, mode of employment. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > [noun] > regular occupation, trade, or profession > manner or type of

method1712

1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 294. ¶1 Sixteen hundred Children, including Males and Females, put out to Methods of Industry.

d. The principles or procedures of any mode or field of cognitive activity, themselves considered as an object or branch of study.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > [noun] > system or way of proceeding > considered as branch of study

school1340

method1848

1848 W. Ross (title) The teacher's manual of method; or general principles of teaching and school-keeping.

1879 A. Park (title) A Manual of method for pupil-teachers and assistant masters.

1972 B. J. F. Lonergan (title) Method in theology.

a. A special form of procedure or characteristic set of procedures employed (more or less systematically) in an intellectual discipline or field of study as a mode of investigation and inquiry, or of teaching and exposition.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun] > process, method, rule

masterya1425

method1570

approach1905

1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xi. f. 346^v Methods, and engines..whereby to execute thys Problematicall Lemma.

1586 E. Hoby tr. M. Coignet Polit. Disc. Trueth iv. 8 And Plato called a Methode, a fire sent from heauen, which giueth the light that maketh the trueth knowen.

1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. Method, an order, or readie way to teach, or doo any thing.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq2 Knowledge..ought to bee deliuered and intimated, if it were possible, in the same Methode wherein it was inuented.

1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 2 The same method is necessarily to be follow'd in all discreet teaching.

a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo ix, in Wks. (1721) III. 254 He has of Knowledge the true Method shewn, To rise Truths abstruse, from Truths well-known.

1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. p. ccxcv The method of division here pursued.

1852 J. Curwen (title) The Pupil's Manual of the Tonic Sol-Fa Method of teaching to sing.

1869 J. Martineau Ess., Rev., & Addr. (1891) II. 55 Mental science does not differ from physical in its methods.

1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues III. 240 The theses of Parmenides are expressly said to follow the method of Zeno.

1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. i. 18 It is a distinct property of the Comparative Method of investigation to abate national prejudices.

1876 L. Stephen Hist. Eng. Thought 18th Cent. I. i. §30. 30 Hume..agrees with Descartes..in pursuing the simple introspective method.

1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 139 The methods of archæological investigation are as trustworthy as those of any natural science.

1919 H. Lindlahr (title) Iridiagnosis and other diagnostic methods.

1951 N. Annan Leslie Stephen vi. 183 Some critics declare that form-criticism, which discloses the tradition of the early Church, rather than source-criticism, is the most fruitful method of interpreting the evidence.

1964 J. M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. x. 133 There has been a swing away from traditional teaching methods towards group discussion, joint report-writing by syndicates, case-studies and the management game.

b. In the titles of treatises or manuals of instruction in an art or science.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun] > treatise on

method1583

technology1612

1583 P. Barrough (title) The methode of phisicke, conteyning the cavses, signes, and cvres of inward diseases in mans body.

1637 J. Danes (title) A light to Lilie. Being an easie method for the better teaching and learning of the Latine tongue.

1667 C. Simpson (title) A compendium of practical musick in five parts: teaching, by a new, and easie method, 1. The rudiments of song. 2. The principles of composition. [etc.]

1686 (title) A new and easie Method to learn to sing by book, etc.

1758 T. Nugent tr. C. Lancelot et al. (title) A new method of learning with facility the Latin tongue.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Amphion in Poems (new ed.) II. 169 They read Botanic Treatises, And Works on Gardening thro' there, And Methods of transplanting trees, To look as if they grew there.

1958 G. B. Lamb (title) New method commercial correspondence.

†c. A set of rules and procedures proper to a particular practical art. Obsolete.

ΚΠ

1585 R. Bostocke Difference Aunc. & Latter Phisicke sig. Fii^v He had first learned all their decrees and determinations perfectly, and had gotten a briefe method to iudge them.

a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1662 (1955) III. 333 The intention being to reduce that art [sc. ship-building] to as certaine a Method as any other part of Architecture.

d. Any of various specific named procedures in mathematics and experimental science.Debye–Scherrer, Hittorf, Hofmann's, lunar, replica, etc.: see the first element. method of least squares: see square n. 8b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientific procedure

method1660

principle1723

model1901

scenario1962

1660 tr. I. Barrow Euclide's Elements i. 14 The method of cutting angles..is as yet unknown to Geometricians.

1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra lxxiii. 280 The Method of Exhaustions.

1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra lxxxv. 318 Another Method of Approximation, by Mr. Isaac Newton.

1719 Philos. Trans. 1717–19 (Royal Soc.) 30 923 A letter of M. l'Abbé Conti..concerning the dispute about the Invention of the Method of Fluxions, or Differential Method.

1727–41 E. Chambers Cycl. Method, methodus, is more peculiarly used in mathematics for divers particular processes for solving problems.—In this sense we say Method of exhaustions..Method of fluxions..Method of tangents.

a1832 A. De Morgan Theory Probab. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 451 The method of correction known by the name of that of least squares..was proposed by Legendre in 1806.

1861 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 151 37 (title) On an extension of Arbogast's method of derivations.

1901 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. 1900 11 At the same time, with the perturbations of Minerva, the perturbations of..Thyra were computed by Hansen's method. This brought the list of asteroids for which perturbations..have been determined by the Berkeley astronomical department, up to 12.

1937 T. W. Vaughan Internat. Aspects Oceanogr. 14/2 The method of electrical conductivity..used on the vessels of the Ice Patrol..is not sufficiently accurate to recognize the finer differences in salinity in the greater depths.

1968 R. G. West Pleistocene Geol. & Biol. ix. 160 The fluorine method is useful for the relative dating of animal skeletal remains found in sand and gravel.

1992 Elle Jan. 86/1 An offer to try out The Feldenkrais Method of Functional Integration filled me with only marginally more enthusiasm than a trip to the dentist.

e. Philosophy. Any of various principles or canons of inductive reasoning used by scientists in searching for or testing causal laws, esp. the general principles of experimental inquiry discussed in J. S. Mill's Syst. Logic (1843) (cf. Mill's Methods n.). method of agreement n. the principle that the single circumstance or factor common to all the cases of the phenomenon being investigated is a cause or effect of that phenomenon. method of difference n. the principle that if a case in which a phenomenon occurs and one in which it does not occur differ by only one other factor, that factor is either a cause or an effect of the phenomenon. method of residues n. the principle that when one or more aspects of a complex phenomenon are known to be caused by certain antecedent circumstances or factors, the remainder of that phenomenon is caused by the remaining antecedent circumstances or factors. method of concomitant variations n. the principle that when variations in one phenomenon correlate with variations in another, the phenomena are linked through some causal relationship.

ΚΠ

1840 W. Whewell Philos. Inductive Sci. II. 557 The Method of Residues extricates Laws from their combination, bringing them into view in succession; while the Method of Means discovers each Law, not by bringing the others into view, but by destroying their effect through an accumulation of observations.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 450 These two methods may be respectively denominated the Method of Agreement, and the Method of Difference.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 462 This method may be called the Indirect Method of Difference, or the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 465 The Method of Residues is one of the most important among our instruments of discovery.

1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 470 The method by which these results were obtained, may be termed the Method of Concomitant Variations.

1860 W. Whewell Philos. Discov. xxii. 264 Mr. Mill's four methods have a great resemblance to Bacon's ‘Prerogatives of Instances’.

1893 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 173 This conclusion is conspicuously warranted by one of the methods of inductive logic, known as the method of concomitant variations.

1916 H. W. B. Joseph Introd. Logic (ed. 2) xx. 434 So obvious is the difficulty of finding such instances as these canons require, that Mill, having begun by mentioning four methods (of Agreement, of Difference, of Residues, and of Concomitant Variations), adds a fifth, which he calls the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference.

1929 A. N. Whitehead Process & Reality 6 When the method of difference fails, factors which are constantly present may yet be observed under the influence of imaginative thought.

1949 L. S. Stebbing Mod. Introd. Logic (ed. 4) xvii. 332 His [sc. Mill's] analysis of scientific method..culminated in the formulation of four methods which..have been hotly espoused and derisively criticized.

1953 I. M. Copi Introd. Logic xii. 365 We may begin with an example or two in which the scrupulous use of the Methods results in a more or less conspicuous failure to discover the cause of a given phenomenon.

1965 S. F. Barker Elem. Logic vii. 237 When we infer from these data that the hamburgers caused the ptomaine, we are employing what Mill called the method of concomitant variation.

2003 J. Losee Theories Sci. Progress xv. 107 Implementation of the inductive method of difference..allowed nineteenth-century scientists to set up controlled experiments designed to discover causal relationships. Mill recommended the method of difference as both an investigative procedure and a ‘rule of proof'’ of causal connections.

f. Theatre. A theory and technique of acting associated with the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavsky, in which an actor seeks as complete a personal identification as possible with a role, esp. by means of introspection, improvised role play, etc. Frequently attributive and in compounds (see Compounds).Stanislavsky himself referred to his metod only as part of his sistema system, and resisted the use of the word method in the Western theatre to codify something that he considered organic and subject to continuous development: ‘My so-called “system”, the method of acting work that I discovered and that allows the actor to create his role, uncover within it the life of a human soul, and naturally embody it on stage..is the result of the researches of my entire life. The laws of the organic nature of the artist, which I have studied in practice, have served as the basis for this method.’ ( Sobranie sočinenij (1954) I. 408).

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > [noun] > specific technique

method1923

biomechanics1924

biomechanism1928

pixilation1947

impro1979

1923 O. M. Sayler Russian Theatre 254 ‘My method, though imperfect,’ he [sc. Stanislavsky] says, ‘I consider psychologically natural.’

1925 H. Carter New Spirit European Theatre xviii. 225 The third movement also was a form of protest by theatrical reformers, who were sick of M. Stanislavsky's hair-for-hair actualistic method.

1954 Time 8 Nov. 56/2 Actress Kim Stanley, 29, belongs to a growing school of young stage people (Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Geraldine Page) whose particular brand of acting is laughingly called The Method.

1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Mar. 172/1 The whole ‘Method’ school about which so much pedantic and often absurd controversy has raged are dealt with mordantly.

1963 Times 17 Jan. 4/6 Even the Method groups that were flourishing in London a few years ago have now mainly vanished.

1971 J. Willett in A. Bullock 20th Cent. 243/1 In America..the Group Theater..applied the realistic Stanislavsky ‘method’ for social ends.

1989 Empire Sept. 40/1 Marlon Brando brought The Method from the stage to the screen.

4. Campanology. Any of various ordered sets of changes.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > bell-ringing > [noun] > going through all the changes > changes > specific

set peal16..

grandsire1668

whole pull1668

bob1671

peal1671

course1677

set changes1677

single1684

single change1688

Plain Bob1702

Stedman1731

Superlative Surprise1788

touch1788

triple1798

triple bob major1809

maximus1813

royal1813

call changes1837

slam1854

cater1872

cinques1872

triple change1872

plain hunt1874

plain hunting1874

quarter peal1888

method1901

short course1904

1668 Tintinnalogia 2 Before I Treat of the method and diversity of Peals, I think it not impertinent to speak something of the Properties wherewith a Young Ringer ought to be qualified.

1852 B. Thackrah Art Change Ringing 14 These twenty-four changes may be rung in several other methods.

1879 W. Banister Art & Sci. Change Ringing (ed. 2) 14 The Plain Bob Method—is applicable to any number of bells, but is properly an even bell method.

1901 H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Techn. Terms Bells & Ringing 10 Method, any special way in which continuous ‘changes’ on five or more bells are produced by the regular and orderly movement of all, without repetition of any one ‘change’.

1962 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay (ed. 2) xviii. 147 The old ringer answered.., ‘No tunes. We allus rang the method, the same as we did in the steeples.’

1965 W. G. Wilson Change Ringing xviii. 149 We showed how variations in a method could be made in the Plain Bob type of method by means of second place.

1976 Elem. Handbk. Change-ringing (Central Council Church Bell Ringers) 14 Each particular variation is called a method and is given a distinctive name.

II. Systematic arrangement, order.

†5. In Logic: the ordering and arrangement of propositions and arguments, esp. for the investigation of a thesis or the exposition of a subject; the study of this as a branch or application of logic. Also (occasionally) in Rhetoric: the effective marshalling of thoughts and arguments for exposition or literary composition; the study of this as a branch of rhetoric. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > particular branch or system of

logic1377

method1551

1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Eiiij^v The maner of handeling a single Question, and the readie waie howe to teache and sette forth any thyng plainlie, and in order, as it should be, in latine Methodus.]

1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Kij We spake before of a methode, or directe order to be vsed in all our doinges.

1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. i. f. 7 Methode hath only to deale with the ordering and setling of many axioms.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq1 Methode hath beene placed, and that not amisse in Logicke, as a part of Iudgement; For as the Doctrine of Syllogismes comprehendeth the rules of Iudgement vppon that which is inuented; So the Doctrine of Methode contayneth the rules of Iudgement vppon that which is to bee deliuered.

1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iii. ix. 244 To this body [sc. the art of logic] haue they not improperly added the doctrine of Methods as a necessary limbe thereof.

?1637 T. Hobbes tr. Aristotle Briefe Art Rhetorique i. 2 Wee see that all men naturally are able in some sort to accuse and excuse: some by chance; but some by method. This method may be discovered: and to discover method is all one with teaching an Art.

1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 7. 46 Their Children were instructed early in the Rules of Method.

1725 I. Watts Logick iv. i In logic..Method is the disposition of a variety of thoughts on any subject, in such order as may best serve to find out unknown truths.

1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. p. cci, (note) The particular uses of method are various: but the general one is, to enable men to understand the things that are the subjects of it.

1827 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) I. 3 Method is the art of disposing a train of arguments in a proper order, to investigate either the truth or falsity of a proposition, or to demonstrate it to others when it has been found out.

1849 W. Thomson Outl. Laws of Thought (ed. 2) 95 Method, which is usually described as the fourth part of Logic, is rather a complete practical Logic.

1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic xxiv. 201 Method is..defined as consisting in such a disposition of the parts of a discourse that the whole may be most easily intelligible.

a. Orderly arrangement of ideas and topics in thinking or writing; orderliness of thought or expression.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > topic, subject-matter > materials of topic > [noun] > of discourse > division of > orderly

method1559

1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 3 They [sc. certain writers] obserue no order or Methode in their teaching.

1588 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) ii. vii. 223 To me, that am desirous to follow some order, and Methode of discourse, the generall must alwayes go before the particular.

1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) Introd. to Rdr. iii. 39 Method and order, as it is the mother of memory, so it is a singular friend to a cleare understanding.

1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 38 Horace still charms with graceful Negligence, And without Method talks us into Sense.

1753 S. Johnson Adventurer No. 85. ⁋17 Method is the excellence of writing, and unconstraint the grace of conversation.

1818 S. T. Coleridge Gen. Introd. or Treat. on Method 2 in Encycl. Metrop. I The total absence of Method renders thinking impracticable.

1880 W. Sanday in Expositor 11 362 He sought to give to the allegorical interpretation a greater method.

1921 P. Lubbock Craft of Fiction xvii. 251 The whole intricate question of method, in the craft of fiction, I take to be governed by the question of the point of view—the question of the relation in which the narrator stands to the story.

b. method in one's madness (also variants of this expression, normally with allusion to quot. 1604 at sense 3a): reason, orderliness, or sense underlying one's apparent irrationality, folly, or stupidity.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > basis in reason > of behaviour

reasonablenessc1443

method in one's madness1845

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 208 Though this be madnesse, yet there is method in't .

1688 T. D'Urfey Fool's Preferment i. i. 4 Method in Madness, Grace even in Distraction: I'll never leave him, 'till, by Art or Prayer, I have restor'd his Senses to their Office.

1766 E. Griffith Double Mistake i. ii. 7 There is method in your madness, Emily.

1845 E. A. Poe Gold-bug in Tales 18 My friend, about whose madness I now saw, or fancied that I saw, certain indications of method.

1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxix. 241 A fear of completely knocking up..induced me to preserve some little method in my madness.

1894 A. Conan Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 128 I have usually found that there was method in his madness.

1911 C. S. H. Brereton & F. Rothwell tr. H. L. Bergson Laughter i. 2 The comic spirit has a logic of its own, even in its wildest eccentricities. It has a method in its madness.

1922 G. K. Chesterton Man who knew too Much 110 He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad being methodical.

1953 A. Huxley Let. 21 July (1969) 680 There is, in the long run (at least I hope so), some kind of method in my madness.

1960 Blackwood's Mag. July 72 By the time they..realise that there is crafty method in their opponent's apparent madness he has won the match.

1988 Jerusalem Post 7 Oct. 7 The breakers of the law of the land have become the makers of their own law of anarchy. No doubt there is method in their madness.

†7.

a. The order and arrangement in a particular discourse or literary composition; an author's design or plan. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > [noun] > form or order of a work

shape1357

form1551

methoda1586

structure1598

cast1774

composition1839

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. K4 Another tyme, with coursing of a Letter, as if they were bound to followe the method of a Dictionary.

1588 W. Kempe Education of Children in Learning sig. G3 He must obserue..not only the words and phrases..but also..the syllogisme, whereby it is concluded; the method of the whole treatise, and the passages, wherby the parts are ioyned together.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 116 To leaue this keen incounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower methode .

1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke Pref. As for the methode of the booke, although it be not such as may in euery point satisfie the curiositie of Dichotomistes: yet is it such as I thought most conuenient for the capacitie of the learner.

a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 2 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Tell them then, I pray you, in the same order that you haue now rehearsed them, for there can be no better method then this which the very matter it selfe offereth.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. i. 13 Verbatim to rehearse the Methode of my Penne.

1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. C2^v If my Methode they deride, Let them know, Loue is not tide In his free Discourse, to chuse Such strict rules as Arts-men vse.

1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme iii. x. 140 I Had here ended all my Stories, were I not tempted by that remarkable one in Bodinus, to out-run my Method.

1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. Pref. sig. A j^v The first of these Books was..perus'd by several ingenious Gentlemen, who liking the Method of it, were desirous to have it translated.

1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 279 What's that which brings contempt upon a book, And him who writes it, though the style be neat, The method clear, and argument exact?

b. An ordered systematic arrangement of literary materials; a methodical exposition of a subject. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > treatise or dissertation > [noun] > systematic treatise

syntagma1587

method1589

system1613

syntagm1621

1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. ii. 3 If Poesie be now an Art,..& yet were none, vntill by studious persons fashioned and reduced into a method of rules and precepts.

1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq3 The deliuerie of knowledge in Aphorismes, or in Methodes; wherein wee may obserue that it hath beene too much taken into Custome, out of a fewe Axiomes or Obseruations, vppon any Subiecte, to make a solemne, and formall Art; filling it with some Discourses, and illustratinge it with Examples; and digesting it into a sensible Methode: But the writinge in Aphorismes, hath manye excellent vertues, whereto the writinge in Methode doth not approach.

1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋3 Cutting off the superfluities of the lawes, and digesting them into some order and method.

1680 (title) A brief Method of the Law. Being an exact alphabetical disposition of all the heads necessary for a perfect Commonplace.

1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. Pref. sig. A ij Several gentlemen would often have ask'd us Questions relating to our Profession, but were at a Loss how to form them into a Method, and word them so that we might rightly understand what they meant.

1829 J. Bentham Justice & Codification Petitions Prelim. Expl. p.v In the disposition made of the matter of the original draft..a method..has been given to it.

c. The summary of the contents of a book, esp. as given in a list or analytical table of contents. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > summary or epitome > [noun] > synoptical statement

abstract1436

titling1465

capitulation1523

aphorism1528

argument1535

table1560

analysis1588

the brief1601

abstractive1611

synopsis1611

method1614

synopsy1616

modela1626

scheme1652

syllabus1653

précis1760

summing up1795

aperçu1828

conspectus1839

vidimus1884

auto-abstract1892

standfirst1972

1614 in T. Overbury et al. Wife now Widdow sig. B The Method. First of Mariage, and the effect thereof, children. Then of his contrarie, Lust; then [etc.].

a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. v. 217 Ol. In his bosome? In what chapter of his bosome? Vio. To answer by the method, in the first of his hart.

1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 3 And with these wee shall now begin; for the Method of the second Book is more conveniently put there before it.

8. Orderliness and regularity in doing anything; the habit of acting in a planned orderly way.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > methodicalness

formality1603

method1619

methodicalness1678

orderliness1830

systematicness1836

systematicity1845

methodicality1861

businesslikeness1870

1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher King & No King v. sig. L2 There is a method in mans wickednesse, It growes vp by degrees.

1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 17 That so the Houses being put into some Method and Order of their future debate, they would be more easily regulated, than if they were in the beginning left to that Liberty, which they naturally affected.

1714 J. Swift Pres. State Affairs ⁋2 After which I know no Talents necessary besides Method and Skill in the common forms of business.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xvii. 114 But early hours, and method, and ease, without hurry, will do every-thing.

1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 231/2 No man ever gave himself up more entirely to any object, or prosecuted it..with..more method and skilful management.

1984 V. S. Naipaul Finding Centre i. 26 That briefcase suggested method, steadiness, many commissions.

†9. A particular state of orderly arrangement; a disposition of things according to a regular plan or design. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > [noun]

ordinancec1390

compositionc1400

order?a1425

rayc1440

ordination1531

dispose1603

divisiona1616

compositure1625

composure1628

method1640

tactics1650

allocation1656

rangement1674

schematism1701

arrangement1715

orderedness1724

groupment1837

the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement > a particular

method1640

1640 J. Shirley Coronation i. sig. C A small wound Ith' head may spoyle the method of his haire.

1677 A. Marvell Let. 3 Nov. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 294 I am frequent with M^r Fisher and our Counsell having put all things into the best method for an hearing.

a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 207 The King was beginning to put things in great method, in his revenue, in his troops [etc.].

1716 J. Addison Drummer iv. 34 I wou'd have your Knives and Forks..laid in a Method.

1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xvii. 113 All is in such a method, that it seems impossible for the meanest servants to mistake their duty.

†10. Botany and Zoology. A system of classification. Obsolete.Now most naturally interpreted as short for ‘method of classification’, which would commonly be apprehended as an instance of senses 2 or 3. Of the difference between ‘system’ and ‘method’, contradictory accounts were formerly given: see quots. Cf. methodist n. 1b.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > taxonomy > [noun] > system of

method1826

methodology1835

1770 G. White Let. 15 Jan. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 123 It was no small matter of satisfaction to me to find that you were not displeased with my little methodus of birds.]

1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. 355 Method and System..have often been..used indifferently to signify the same thing... But if we consider their real meaning,—a Method should signify an Artificial, and a System a Natural arrangement of objects.

1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Method...3. Classification;..as,..the method of Ray; the Linnean method... A distinction is sometimes made between method and system .System is an arrangement founded, throughout all its parts, on some one principle. Method is an arrangement less fixed and determinate... Thus we say, the natural method, and the artificial or sexual system of Linne.

1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 4 This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the inferior, is called a method.

Compounds

method-act v. (a) transitive (reflexive), to identify oneself with a role according to the principles of method acting; (b) transitive, to play (a role) according to the principles of method acting.

ΚΠ

1970 ‘J. Quartermain’ Man who walked on Diamonds xvii. 90 Method-act yourself into a super-sleuth.

1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 181/1 Jane Fonda has spent over half a century Method-acting real-life roles that embrace, reflect, and embody the social and political climate around her.

1997 D. Wojahn Falling Hour 92 He is weeping on the bed as corn flakes method act a freezing rain, then snow.

method-acted adj. acted in accordance with the principles or techniques of method acting.

ΚΠ

1960 New Left Rev. Sept. 65/1 The method-acted Tomorrow With Pictures.

method acting n. the techniques and principles of the method of acting advocated by Konstantin Stanislavsky (see sense 3f); the style of acting associated with this method.

ΚΠ

1956 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. ii. 3/3 Because she [sc. Shelley Winters] and the other members of the fine cast seek authenticity, they continually startle the stagehands by their ‘method’ acting.

1985 K. Williams Just Williams xi. 214 ‘I can never remember how I was good you know!.. I suppose it's all instinct with me.’ ‘That is better than method acting,’ said Alfred.

1991 Sky Mag. Feb. 86 The role..required Ms Basinger to do some serious Method acting.

method actor n. an actor who follows the principles or style of method acting.

ΚΠ

1955 P. Chayefsky Television Plays 265 Most young actors today are what is known as ‘method’ actors. The method is a school of acting that is so broad that it defies definition, but it generally involves a depth of understanding of the role that approaches psychoanalysis.

1994 Spy (N.Y.) July 58/2 Pathological method actor Sean Penn raised his art to new heights while filming his forthcoming Irish-mob emote-o-rama, State of Grace.

† method-monger n. Obsolete (depreciative) a person who deals excessively or over-subtly in logical distinctions and schemes of classification (in quot. 1647 with a play on Greek μεθοδεία, rendered ‘wiles’ in the Revised Version of 1881).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > adherent or student of

logician1382

logicianer1548

method-mongera1631

logicalist1865

methodologist1865

a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) I. 256 We steale our Learning, if we..deale upon Rhapsoders, and Common placers, and Method-mongers.

1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Eph. iv. 14) The devil and his disciples are notable method-mongers, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect.

1676 R. Dixon Nature Two Test. i. To Rdr. sig. c2^v Such are our systematical Methodmongers, blundering in their Dichotomies after the way of Ramus or Keckerman.

methods engineer n. Business a person whose occupation is methods engineering.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > people who study work or technology > [noun]

technologist1815

technographer1900

human engineer1916

job analyst1917

methods engineer1939

systems engineer1940

cyberneticist1949

cybernetician1950

human factors engineer1959

nanotechnologist1986

1928 R. C. Davis Princ. Factory Organization & Managem. vi. 72 The methods manager or industrial engineer is concerned primarily with the efficient application of the human forces of the organization.]

1939 H. B. Maynard & G. J. Stegemerten Operation Anal. i. 5 Time formulas are useful mathematical devices that the methods engineer employs.

1960 News Chron. 28 July 8/8 (advt.) Methods Engineer..experience of Time and Methods Study and Ratefixing.

methods engineering n. Business the organization or improvement of business and management methods by method study.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > study of work > [noun] > specific studies or techniques

time study1904

motion study1911

work study1921

acid test ratio1925

network analysis1930

methods study1932

methods engineering1939

methods–time measurement1948

activity sampling1956

rhochrematics1960

1939 H. B. Maynard & G. J. Stegemerten Operation Anal. i. 1 Before discussing the methods-engineering procedure in detail, it will be advisable to formulate a clear statement of what the term covers... Methods engineering is the industrial science which is chiefly concerned with increasing labor effectiveness.

1953 J. R. Immer Materials Handling iv. 41 The methods-engineering department has the responsibility for ‘planning the manual part of the operation’.

1968 H. Johannsen & A. Robertson Managem. Gloss. 87 Methods Time Measurement, a predetermined motion time work measurement technique devised by the Methods Engineering Council (USA).

methods study n. Business rare = method study n.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > study of work > [noun] > specific studies or techniques

time study1904

motion study1911

work study1921

acid test ratio1925

network analysis1930

methods study1932

methods engineering1939

methods–time measurement1948

activity sampling1956

rhochrematics1960

1932 A. H. Mogenson Common Sense appl. to Motion & Time Study i. 11 More attention is being given to this phase of methods study at present.

method study n. Business the systematic use of time-and-motion study and other techniques as a means of increasing efficiency.

ΚΠ

1955 Furnit. Devel. Council Newslet. June 3/2 Efficient method study cannot be put into practice without a sound knowledge of the work in hand.

1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques i. 167 The Method Study Officer..analyses the purpose and function of each step in the process.

1992 Professional Engin. Nov. 19/1 So-called ‘Jit in the office’ programmes are being used to apply method study and automation to reduce the lead time lost in the processing and specifying steps.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	method
释义	methodn. Brit. /ˈmɛθəd/, U.S. /ˈmɛθəd/ Forms: late Middle English methede, late Middle English–1600s methode, late Middle English– method, 1600s metod; also Scottish pre-1700 methoid. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin methodus. Etymology: < classical Latin methodus mode of proceeding (in Vitruvius; in post-classical Latin also in senses ‘medicine of the Methodist school’ (4th cent.; already in classical Latin as a Greek word), ‘rational procedure’ (1518 or earlier), ‘system of classification’ (1682 or earlier)) < ancient Greek μέθοδος pursuit of knowledge, mode of investigation (in Hellenistic Greek also in sense ‘medicine of the Methodist school’) < μετα- meta- prefix + ὁδός way (see -ode comb. form²), partly via Middle French methode (1537 in sense ‘medicine of the Methodist school’, 1546 in sense ‘rational procedure’ (in Rabelais), French méthode system of classification (1763), disposition of materials according to a plan or design (1765)). The sense of ‘systematic arrangement’ (branch II.) is not present in Greek: it was probably originally developed through the special application of Latin methodus by some logicians of the 16th cent. (see sense 5).By the end of the 17th cent., post-classical Latin methodus (or occasionally French méthode ) had been borrowed into all the main Romance and Germanic languages (compare Italian metodo (1545), Portuguese método (16th cent.), Spanish método (1611); Dutch methode (1652), German Methode (17th cent.), Swedish metod (1655)) with the same basic senses as in English, and subsequently passed into most Baltic and Slavonic languages (frequently via English or German). In sense 3f probably after Russian metod (as used by Russian actor and theatre director Stanislavsky (1863–1938), real name Konstantin Sergeevič Alekseev). I. A procedure for attaining an object. †1. Medicine. a. A recommended or prescribed medical treatment for a specific disease. Also in figurative context. Obsolete.Now merged in sense 2a. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > [noun] > plan or method of treatment intentionc1400 method?a1425 scope1583 cure1842 pathy1842 modality1932 ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 64^v If forsoþ þer be deperdicioun of substaunce..we vse alwise farmaciez which method, i. riȝt rwle.., taȝt vs for to vse in concaue, i. holow, vicerez. ?1541 R. Copland tr. Galen Terapeutyke sig. Aiij Euery kynde of dysease hath his owne Methode. 1563 T. Gale Certaine Wks. Chirurg. i. f. 21^v The Methode of curyng compounde tumors against nature. 1578 J. Banister Hist. Man Epist. Chirurg. sig. Aiiij Then did I clearely see, how that to write Methodes or meanes to cure the affected partes of the body. 1597 R. Hooker Of Lawes Eccl. Politie v. i. 1 To see wherein the harme which they feele consisteth,..and the method of curing it. 1696 E. Phillips New World of Words (new ed.) Method,..that part of Physick whereby, remedies are found out by the Indications for the Restoration of Health. a1716 R. South Serm. Several Occasions (1744) IX. 38 Let such persons..not quarrel with the great physician of souls, for having cured them by easy and gentle methods. b. Ancient History. The system of medicine practised by the Methodists (methodist n. 2). Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > art or science of medicine > medical theories or doctrines > [noun] > Methodism method?1541 Methodism1896 ?1541 R. Copland tr. Galen Terapeutyke sig. Div That is the maner to heale by Methode..yf it so be that Methode is an vnyuersall way. a1790 W. Cullen Lect. Hist. Med. in Wks. (1827) I. 383 This easy plan was, by way of eminence, called the Method, and the persons who followed it the Methodics. 2. a. More generally: a way of doing anything, esp. according to a defined and regular plan; a mode of procedure in any activity, business, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > [noun] wayeOE costOE wise971 gatec1175 custc1275 form1297 guise13.. mannerc1300 kindc1330 assizea1375 plighta1393 makea1400 fashionc1400 reason?c1400 method1526 voye1541 how1551 way1563 garb1600 quality1600 mould1603 quomodo1623 modus1648 mode1649 turn1825 road1855 gait1866 methodology1932 stylee1982 the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > course adopted to achieve an end waya1225 wonec1290 mean waya1425 policyc1430 method1526 politicsa1529 politic1588 game1595 dent1597 efficacy1690 tactics1772 tactic1791 strategy1834 game plan1957 1526 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. v. 67 The King had hopes to train the Emperor to reason by doulce methods. 1602 T. Heywood How Man may chuse Good Wife B 3 b I will prescribe a methode How thou shalt win hir without al peraduenture. a1616 W. Shakespeare Comedy of Errors (1623) ii. ii. 34 If you will iest with me, know my aspect, And fashion your demeanor to my lookes, Or I will beat this method in your sconce. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) i. iii. 7 Madam, me thinkes if you did loue him deerly, You do not hold the method, to enforce The like from him. View more context for this quotation 1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 42 The Hen did walk in a fourfold Method towards her Chickens. View more context for this quotation a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 359 He did very often assure me, he was against all violent methods, and all persecution for conscience sake. 1725 N. Robinson New Theory of Physick 262 This is the only Method to be continued while the Symptoms are not extremely dangerous. a1771 T. Gray Sketch in Mem. (1775) 264 2 Too poor for a bribe, and too proud to importune; He had not the method of making a fortune. 1793 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse (ed. 2) §274 In our work, it was performed in the following method. 1800 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 4 494 Mr. P. was delighted to hear that I thought a cure was not impracticable, and laboured ardently to persuade me to inform him of the method I should use. 1819 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto I vii. 6 That is the usual method, but not mine—My way is to begin with the beginning. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Parish Churches 200 A perfect method of warming churches has yet to be invented. 1887 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Feb. 448/2 Benefit from this line of treatment must not be expected immediately, and the method should be persevered with for at least some months. 1924 G. W. Hillyard Forty Years Lawn Tennis 69 He..never did acquire the right method of hitting the ball on the forehand. 1957 W. S. Churchill Hist. Eng.-speaking Peoples III. ix. i. 199 New methods of smelting brought a tenfold increase in the output of iron. 1981 M. Angelou Heart of Woman ii. 38 I was certain the members had a method of separating the wheat from the chaff. †b. A scheme, a plan of action. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > will > intention > planning > [noun] > a plan redeeOE devicec1290 casta1300 went1303 ordinancec1385 intentc1386 imaginationa1393 drifta1535 draught1535 forecast1535 platform1547 ground-plat?a1560 table1560 convoy1565 design1565 plat1574 ground-plota1586 plot1587 reach1587 theory1593 game1595 projectment1611 projecting1616 navation1628 approach1633 view1634 plan1635 systema1648 sophism1657 manage1667 brouillon1678 speculationa1684 sketch1697 to take measures1698 method1704 scheme1704 lines1760 outline1760 measure1767 restorative1821 ground plan1834 strategy1834 programme1837 ticket1842 project1849 outline plan1850 layout1867 draft1879 dart1882 lurk1916 schema1939 lick1955 1704 J. Trapp Abra-Mule i. i. 319 All my Designs and Methods still were cross'd. †c. An occupation, mode of employment. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > [noun] > regular occupation, trade, or profession > manner or type of method1712 1712 R. Steele Spectator No. 294. ¶1 Sixteen hundred Children, including Males and Females, put out to Methods of Industry. d. The principles or procedures of any mode or field of cognitive activity, themselves considered as an object or branch of study. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > [noun] > system or way of proceeding > considered as branch of study school1340 method1848 1848 W. Ross (title) The teacher's manual of method; or general principles of teaching and school-keeping. 1879 A. Park (title) A Manual of method for pupil-teachers and assistant masters. 1972 B. J. F. Lonergan (title) Method in theology. 3. a. A special form of procedure or characteristic set of procedures employed (more or less systematically) in an intellectual discipline or field of study as a mode of investigation and inquiry, or of teaching and exposition. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun] > process, method, rule masterya1425 method1570 approach1905 1570 H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. xi. f. 346^v Methods, and engines..whereby to execute thys Problematicall Lemma. 1586 E. Hoby tr. M. Coignet Polit. Disc. Trueth iv. 8 And Plato called a Methode, a fire sent from heauen, which giueth the light that maketh the trueth knowen. 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alphabet. Method, an order, or readie way to teach, or doo any thing. 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq2 Knowledge..ought to bee deliuered and intimated, if it were possible, in the same Methode wherein it was inuented. View more context for this quotation 1644 J. Milton Of Educ. 2 The same method is necessarily to be follow'd in all discreet teaching. a1711 T. Ken Hymnotheo ix, in Wks. (1721) III. 254 He has of Knowledge the true Method shewn, To rise Truths abstruse, from Truths well-known. 1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. p. ccxcv The method of division here pursued. 1852 J. Curwen (title) The Pupil's Manual of the Tonic Sol-Fa Method of teaching to sing. 1869 J. Martineau Ess., Rev., & Addr. (1891) II. 55 Mental science does not differ from physical in its methods. 1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues III. 240 The theses of Parmenides are expressly said to follow the method of Zeno. 1875 H. J. S. Maine Lect. Early Hist. Inst. i. 18 It is a distinct property of the Comparative Method of investigation to abate national prejudices. 1876 L. Stephen Hist. Eng. Thought 18th Cent. I. i. §30. 30 Hume..agrees with Descartes..in pursuing the simple introspective method. 1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. v. 139 The methods of archæological investigation are as trustworthy as those of any natural science. 1919 H. Lindlahr (title) Iridiagnosis and other diagnostic methods. 1951 N. Annan Leslie Stephen vi. 183 Some critics declare that form-criticism, which discloses the tradition of the early Church, rather than source-criticism, is the most fruitful method of interpreting the evidence. 1964 J. M. Argyle Psychol. & Social Probl. x. 133 There has been a swing away from traditional teaching methods towards group discussion, joint report-writing by syndicates, case-studies and the management game. b. In the titles of treatises or manuals of instruction in an art or science. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > [noun] > treatise on method1583 technology1612 1583 P. Barrough (title) The methode of phisicke, conteyning the cavses, signes, and cvres of inward diseases in mans body. 1637 J. Danes (title) A light to Lilie. Being an easie method for the better teaching and learning of the Latine tongue. 1667 C. Simpson (title) A compendium of practical musick in five parts: teaching, by a new, and easie method, 1. The rudiments of song. 2. The principles of composition. [etc.] 1686 (title) A new and easie Method to learn to sing by book, etc. 1758 T. Nugent tr. C. Lancelot et al. (title) A new method of learning with facility the Latin tongue. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Amphion in Poems (new ed.) II. 169 They read Botanic Treatises, And Works on Gardening thro' there, And Methods of transplanting trees, To look as if they grew there. 1958 G. B. Lamb (title) New method commercial correspondence. †c. A set of rules and procedures proper to a particular practical art. Obsolete. ΚΠ 1585 R. Bostocke Difference Aunc. & Latter Phisicke sig. Fii^v He had first learned all their decrees and determinations perfectly, and had gotten a briefe method to iudge them. a1684 J. Evelyn Diary anno 1662 (1955) III. 333 The intention being to reduce that art [sc. ship-building] to as certaine a Method as any other part of Architecture. d. Any of various specific named procedures in mathematics and experimental science.Debye–Scherrer, Hittorf, Hofmann's, lunar, replica, etc.: see the first element. method of least squares: see square n. 8b. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > systematic knowledge, science > [noun] > scientific procedure method1660 principle1723 model1901 scenario1962 1660 tr. I. Barrow Euclide's Elements i. 14 The method of cutting angles..is as yet unknown to Geometricians. 1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra lxxiii. 280 The Method of Exhaustions. 1685 J. Wallis Treat. Algebra lxxxv. 318 Another Method of Approximation, by Mr. Isaac Newton. 1719 Philos. Trans. 1717–19 (Royal Soc.) 30 923 A letter of M. l'Abbé Conti..concerning the dispute about the Invention of the Method of Fluxions, or Differential Method. 1727–41 E. Chambers Cycl. Method, methodus, is more peculiarly used in mathematics for divers particular processes for solving problems.—In this sense we say Method of exhaustions..Method of fluxions..Method of tangents. a1832 A. De Morgan Theory Probab. in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) II. 451 The method of correction known by the name of that of least squares..was proposed by Legendre in 1806. 1861 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 151 37 (title) On an extension of Arbogast's method of derivations. 1901 Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. 1900 11 At the same time, with the perturbations of Minerva, the perturbations of..Thyra were computed by Hansen's method. This brought the list of asteroids for which perturbations..have been determined by the Berkeley astronomical department, up to 12. 1937 T. W. Vaughan Internat. Aspects Oceanogr. 14/2 The method of electrical conductivity..used on the vessels of the Ice Patrol..is not sufficiently accurate to recognize the finer differences in salinity in the greater depths. 1968 R. G. West Pleistocene Geol. & Biol. ix. 160 The fluorine method is useful for the relative dating of animal skeletal remains found in sand and gravel. 1992 Elle Jan. 86/1 An offer to try out The Feldenkrais Method of Functional Integration filled me with only marginally more enthusiasm than a trip to the dentist. e. Philosophy. Any of various principles or canons of inductive reasoning used by scientists in searching for or testing causal laws, esp. the general principles of experimental inquiry discussed in J. S. Mill's Syst. Logic (1843) (cf. Mill's Methods n.). method of agreement n. the principle that the single circumstance or factor common to all the cases of the phenomenon being investigated is a cause or effect of that phenomenon. method of difference n. the principle that if a case in which a phenomenon occurs and one in which it does not occur differ by only one other factor, that factor is either a cause or an effect of the phenomenon. method of residues n. the principle that when one or more aspects of a complex phenomenon are known to be caused by certain antecedent circumstances or factors, the remainder of that phenomenon is caused by the remaining antecedent circumstances or factors. method of concomitant variations n. the principle that when variations in one phenomenon correlate with variations in another, the phenomena are linked through some causal relationship. ΚΠ 1840 W. Whewell Philos. Inductive Sci. II. 557 The Method of Residues extricates Laws from their combination, bringing them into view in succession; while the Method of Means discovers each Law, not by bringing the others into view, but by destroying their effect through an accumulation of observations. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 450 These two methods may be respectively denominated the Method of Agreement, and the Method of Difference. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 462 This method may be called the Indirect Method of Difference, or the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 465 The Method of Residues is one of the most important among our instruments of discovery. 1843 J. S. Mill Syst. Logic I. iii. viii. 470 The method by which these results were obtained, may be termed the Method of Concomitant Variations. 1860 W. Whewell Philos. Discov. xxii. 264 Mr. Mill's four methods have a great resemblance to Bacon's ‘Prerogatives of Instances’. 1893 Pop. Sci. Monthly June 173 This conclusion is conspicuously warranted by one of the methods of inductive logic, known as the method of concomitant variations. 1916 H. W. B. Joseph Introd. Logic (ed. 2) xx. 434 So obvious is the difficulty of finding such instances as these canons require, that Mill, having begun by mentioning four methods (of Agreement, of Difference, of Residues, and of Concomitant Variations), adds a fifth, which he calls the Joint Method of Agreement and Difference. 1929 A. N. Whitehead Process & Reality 6 When the method of difference fails, factors which are constantly present may yet be observed under the influence of imaginative thought. 1949 L. S. Stebbing Mod. Introd. Logic (ed. 4) xvii. 332 His [sc. Mill's] analysis of scientific method..culminated in the formulation of four methods which..have been hotly espoused and derisively criticized. 1953 I. M. Copi Introd. Logic xii. 365 We may begin with an example or two in which the scrupulous use of the Methods results in a more or less conspicuous failure to discover the cause of a given phenomenon. 1965 S. F. Barker Elem. Logic vii. 237 When we infer from these data that the hamburgers caused the ptomaine, we are employing what Mill called the method of concomitant variation. 2003 J. Losee Theories Sci. Progress xv. 107 Implementation of the inductive method of difference..allowed nineteenth-century scientists to set up controlled experiments designed to discover causal relationships. Mill recommended the method of difference as both an investigative procedure and a ‘rule of proof'’ of causal connections. f. Theatre. A theory and technique of acting associated with the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavsky, in which an actor seeks as complete a personal identification as possible with a role, esp. by means of introspection, improvised role play, etc. Frequently attributive and in compounds (see Compounds).Stanislavsky himself referred to his metod only as part of his sistema system, and resisted the use of the word method in the Western theatre to codify something that he considered organic and subject to continuous development: ‘My so-called “system”, the method of acting work that I discovered and that allows the actor to create his role, uncover within it the life of a human soul, and naturally embody it on stage..is the result of the researches of my entire life. The laws of the organic nature of the artist, which I have studied in practice, have served as the basis for this method.’ ( Sobranie sočinenij (1954) I. 408). ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > drama > acting > [noun] > specific technique method1923 biomechanics1924 biomechanism1928 pixilation1947 impro1979 1923 O. M. Sayler Russian Theatre 254 ‘My method, though imperfect,’ he [sc. Stanislavsky] says, ‘I consider psychologically natural.’ 1925 H. Carter New Spirit European Theatre xviii. 225 The third movement also was a form of protest by theatrical reformers, who were sick of M. Stanislavsky's hair-for-hair actualistic method. 1954 Time 8 Nov. 56/2 Actress Kim Stanley, 29, belongs to a growing school of young stage people (Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Geraldine Page) whose particular brand of acting is laughingly called The Method. 1959 Times Lit. Suppl. 27 Mar. 172/1 The whole ‘Method’ school about which so much pedantic and often absurd controversy has raged are dealt with mordantly. 1963 Times 17 Jan. 4/6 Even the Method groups that were flourishing in London a few years ago have now mainly vanished. 1971 J. Willett in A. Bullock 20th Cent. 243/1 In America..the Group Theater..applied the realistic Stanislavsky ‘method’ for social ends. 1989 Empire Sept. 40/1 Marlon Brando brought The Method from the stage to the screen. 4. Campanology. Any of various ordered sets of changes. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > bell-ringing > [noun] > going through all the changes > changes > specific set peal16.. grandsire1668 whole pull1668 bob1671 peal1671 course1677 set changes1677 single1684 single change1688 Plain Bob1702 Stedman1731 Superlative Surprise1788 touch1788 triple1798 triple bob major1809 maximus1813 royal1813 call changes1837 slam1854 cater1872 cinques1872 triple change1872 plain hunt1874 plain hunting1874 quarter peal1888 method1901 short course1904 1668 Tintinnalogia 2 Before I Treat of the method and diversity of Peals, I think it not impertinent to speak something of the Properties wherewith a Young Ringer ought to be qualified. 1852 B. Thackrah Art Change Ringing 14 These twenty-four changes may be rung in several other methods. 1879 W. Banister Art & Sci. Change Ringing (ed. 2) 14 The Plain Bob Method—is applicable to any number of bells, but is properly an even bell method. 1901 H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Techn. Terms Bells & Ringing 10 Method, any special way in which continuous ‘changes’ on five or more bells are produced by the regular and orderly movement of all, without repetition of any one ‘change’. 1962 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay (ed. 2) xviii. 147 The old ringer answered.., ‘No tunes. We allus rang the method, the same as we did in the steeples.’ 1965 W. G. Wilson Change Ringing xviii. 149 We showed how variations in a method could be made in the Plain Bob type of method by means of second place. 1976 Elem. Handbk. Change-ringing (Central Council Church Bell Ringers) 14 Each particular variation is called a method and is given a distinctive name. II. Systematic arrangement, order. †5. In Logic: the ordering and arrangement of propositions and arguments, esp. for the investigation of a thesis or the exposition of a subject; the study of this as a branch or application of logic. Also (occasionally) in Rhetoric: the effective marshalling of thoughts and arguments for exposition or literary composition; the study of this as a branch of rhetoric. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > particular branch or system of logic1377 method1551 1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Eiiij^v The maner of handeling a single Question, and the readie waie howe to teache and sette forth any thyng plainlie, and in order, as it should be, in latine Methodus.] 1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Kij We spake before of a methode, or directe order to be vsed in all our doinges. 1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. i. f. 7 Methode hath only to deale with the ordering and setling of many axioms. 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq1 Methode hath beene placed, and that not amisse in Logicke, as a part of Iudgement; For as the Doctrine of Syllogismes comprehendeth the rules of Iudgement vppon that which is inuented; So the Doctrine of Methode contayneth the rules of Iudgement vppon that which is to bee deliuered. View more context for this quotation 1627 G. Hakewill Apologie iii. ix. 244 To this body [sc. the art of logic] haue they not improperly added the doctrine of Methods as a necessary limbe thereof. ?1637 T. Hobbes tr. Aristotle Briefe Art Rhetorique i. 2 Wee see that all men naturally are able in some sort to accuse and excuse: some by chance; but some by method. This method may be discovered: and to discover method is all one with teaching an Art. 1713 R. Steele Englishman No. 7. 46 Their Children were instructed early in the Rules of Method. 1725 I. Watts Logick iv. i In logic..Method is the disposition of a variety of thoughts on any subject, in such order as may best serve to find out unknown truths. 1789 J. Bentham Introd. Princ. Morals & Legisl. xvi. p. cci, (note) The particular uses of method are various: but the general one is, to enable men to understand the things that are the subjects of it. 1827 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) I. 3 Method is the art of disposing a train of arguments in a proper order, to investigate either the truth or falsity of a proposition, or to demonstrate it to others when it has been found out. 1849 W. Thomson Outl. Laws of Thought (ed. 2) 95 Method, which is usually described as the fourth part of Logic, is rather a complete practical Logic. 1870 W. S. Jevons Elem. Lessons Logic xxiv. 201 Method is..defined as consisting in such a disposition of the parts of a discourse that the whole may be most easily intelligible. 6. a. Orderly arrangement of ideas and topics in thinking or writing; orderliness of thought or expression. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > topic, subject-matter > materials of topic > [noun] > of discourse > division of > orderly method1559 1559 W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 3 They [sc. certain writers] obserue no order or Methode in their teaching. 1588 W. Lambarde Eirenarcha (new ed.) ii. vii. 223 To me, that am desirous to follow some order, and Methode of discourse, the generall must alwayes go before the particular. 1649 F. Roberts Clavis Bibliorum (ed. 2) Introd. to Rdr. iii. 39 Method and order, as it is the mother of memory, so it is a singular friend to a cleare understanding. 1711 A. Pope Ess. Crit. 38 Horace still charms with graceful Negligence, And without Method talks us into Sense. 1753 S. Johnson Adventurer No. 85. ⁋17 Method is the excellence of writing, and unconstraint the grace of conversation. 1818 S. T. Coleridge Gen. Introd. or Treat. on Method 2 in Encycl. Metrop. I The total absence of Method renders thinking impracticable. 1880 W. Sanday in Expositor 11 362 He sought to give to the allegorical interpretation a greater method. 1921 P. Lubbock Craft of Fiction xvii. 251 The whole intricate question of method, in the craft of fiction, I take to be governed by the question of the point of view—the question of the relation in which the narrator stands to the story. b. method in one's madness (also variants of this expression, normally with allusion to quot. 1604 at sense 3a): reason, orderliness, or sense underlying one's apparent irrationality, folly, or stupidity. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > [noun] > basis in reason > of behaviour reasonablenessc1443 method in one's madness1845 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 208 Though this be madnesse, yet there is method in't . View more context for this quotation 1688 T. D'Urfey Fool's Preferment i. i. 4 Method in Madness, Grace even in Distraction: I'll never leave him, 'till, by Art or Prayer, I have restor'd his Senses to their Office. 1766 E. Griffith Double Mistake i. ii. 7 There is method in your madness, Emily. 1845 E. A. Poe Gold-bug in Tales 18 My friend, about whose madness I now saw, or fancied that I saw, certain indications of method. 1850 F. E. Smedley Frank Fairlegh xxix. 241 A fear of completely knocking up..induced me to preserve some little method in my madness. 1894 A. Conan Doyle Mem. Sherlock Holmes 128 I have usually found that there was method in his madness. 1911 C. S. H. Brereton & F. Rothwell tr. H. L. Bergson Laughter i. 2 The comic spirit has a logic of its own, even in its wildest eccentricities. It has a method in its madness. 1922 G. K. Chesterton Man who knew too Much 110 He may be mad, but there's method in his madness. There nearly always is method in madness. It's what drives men mad being methodical. 1953 A. Huxley Let. 21 July (1969) 680 There is, in the long run (at least I hope so), some kind of method in my madness. 1960 Blackwood's Mag. July 72 By the time they..realise that there is crafty method in their opponent's apparent madness he has won the match. 1988 Jerusalem Post 7 Oct. 7 The breakers of the law of the land have become the makers of their own law of anarchy. No doubt there is method in their madness. †7. a. The order and arrangement in a particular discourse or literary composition; an author's design or plan. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > [noun] > form or order of a work shape1357 form1551 methoda1586 structure1598 cast1774 composition1839 a1586 Sir P. Sidney Apol. Poetrie (1595) sig. K4 Another tyme, with coursing of a Letter, as if they were bound to followe the method of a Dictionary. 1588 W. Kempe Education of Children in Learning sig. G3 He must obserue..not only the words and phrases..but also..the syllogisme, whereby it is concluded; the method of the whole treatise, and the passages, wherby the parts are ioyned together. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard III i. ii. 116 To leaue this keen incounter of our wits, And fall somewhat into a slower methode . View more context for this quotation 1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke Pref. As for the methode of the booke, although it be not such as may in euery point satisfie the curiositie of Dichotomistes: yet is it such as I thought most conuenient for the capacitie of the learner. a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 2 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) Tell them then, I pray you, in the same order that you haue now rehearsed them, for there can be no better method then this which the very matter it selfe offereth. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iii. i. 13 Verbatim to rehearse the Methode of my Penne. View more context for this quotation 1622 G. Wither Faire-virtue sig. C2^v If my Methode they deride, Let them know, Loue is not tide In his free Discourse, to chuse Such strict rules as Arts-men vse. 1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme iii. x. 140 I Had here ended all my Stories, were I not tempted by that remarkable one in Bodinus, to out-run my Method. 1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. Pref. sig. A j^v The first of these Books was..perus'd by several ingenious Gentlemen, who liking the Method of it, were desirous to have it translated. 1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 279 What's that which brings contempt upon a book, And him who writes it, though the style be neat, The method clear, and argument exact? b. An ordered systematic arrangement of literary materials; a methodical exposition of a subject. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > treatise or dissertation > [noun] > systematic treatise syntagma1587 method1589 system1613 syntagm1621 1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie i. ii. 3 If Poesie be now an Art,..& yet were none, vntill by studious persons fashioned and reduced into a method of rules and precepts. 1605 F. Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Qq3 The deliuerie of knowledge in Aphorismes, or in Methodes; wherein wee may obserue that it hath beene too much taken into Custome, out of a fewe Axiomes or Obseruations, vppon any Subiecte, to make a solemne, and formall Art; filling it with some Discourses, and illustratinge it with Examples; and digesting it into a sensible Methode: But the writinge in Aphorismes, hath manye excellent vertues, whereto the writinge in Methode doth not approach. View more context for this quotation 1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋3 Cutting off the superfluities of the lawes, and digesting them into some order and method. 1680 (title) A brief Method of the Law. Being an exact alphabetical disposition of all the heads necessary for a perfect Commonplace. 1706 G. London & H. Wise Retir'd Gard'ner I. Pref. sig. A ij Several gentlemen would often have ask'd us Questions relating to our Profession, but were at a Loss how to form them into a Method, and word them so that we might rightly understand what they meant. 1829 J. Bentham Justice & Codification Petitions Prelim. Expl. p.v In the disposition made of the matter of the original draft..a method..has been given to it. c. The summary of the contents of a book, esp. as given in a list or analytical table of contents. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > non-fiction > summary or epitome > [noun] > synoptical statement abstract1436 titling1465 capitulation1523 aphorism1528 argument1535 table1560 analysis1588 the brief1601 abstractive1611 synopsis1611 method1614 synopsy1616 modela1626 scheme1652 syllabus1653 précis1760 summing up1795 aperçu1828 conspectus1839 vidimus1884 auto-abstract1892 standfirst1972 1614 in T. Overbury et al. Wife now Widdow sig. B The Method. First of Mariage, and the effect thereof, children. Then of his contrarie, Lust; then [etc.]. a1616 W. Shakespeare Twelfth Night (1623) i. v. 217 Ol. In his bosome? In what chapter of his bosome? Vio. To answer by the method, in the first of his hart. View more context for this quotation 1652 M. Nedham tr. J. Selden Of Dominion of Sea 3 And with these wee shall now begin; for the Method of the second Book is more conveniently put there before it. 8. Orderliness and regularity in doing anything; the habit of acting in a planned orderly way. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > methodicalness formality1603 method1619 methodicalness1678 orderliness1830 systematicness1836 systematicity1845 methodicality1861 businesslikeness1870 1619 F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher King & No King v. sig. L2 There is a method in mans wickednesse, It growes vp by degrees. 1702 Clarendon's Hist. Rebellion I. i. 17 That so the Houses being put into some Method and Order of their future debate, they would be more easily regulated, than if they were in the beginning left to that Liberty, which they naturally affected. 1714 J. Swift Pres. State Affairs ⁋2 After which I know no Talents necessary besides Method and Skill in the common forms of business. 1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xvii. 114 But early hours, and method, and ease, without hurry, will do every-thing. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVII. 231/2 No man ever gave himself up more entirely to any object, or prosecuted it..with..more method and skilful management. 1984 V. S. Naipaul Finding Centre i. 26 That briefcase suggested method, steadiness, many commissions. †9. A particular state of orderly arrangement; a disposition of things according to a regular plan or design. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > [noun] ordinancec1390 compositionc1400 order?a1425 rayc1440 ordination1531 dispose1603 divisiona1616 compositure1625 composure1628 method1640 tactics1650 allocation1656 rangement1674 schematism1701 arrangement1715 orderedness1724 groupment1837 the world > relative properties > order > [noun] > quality of being systematic > systematic arrangement > a particular method1640 1640 J. Shirley Coronation i. sig. C A small wound Ith' head may spoyle the method of his haire. 1677 A. Marvell Let. 3 Nov. in Poems & Lett. (1971) II. 294 I am frequent with M^r Fisher and our Counsell having put all things into the best method for an hearing. a1715 Bp. G. Burnet Hist. Own Time (1724) I. 207 The King was beginning to put things in great method, in his revenue, in his troops [etc.]. 1716 J. Addison Drummer iv. 34 I wou'd have your Knives and Forks..laid in a Method. 1753 S. Richardson Hist. Sir Charles Grandison V. xvii. 113 All is in such a method, that it seems impossible for the meanest servants to mistake their duty. †10. Botany and Zoology. A system of classification. Obsolete.Now most naturally interpreted as short for ‘method of classification’, which would commonly be apprehended as an instance of senses 2 or 3. Of the difference between ‘system’ and ‘method’, contradictory accounts were formerly given: see quots. Cf. methodist n. 1b. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > taxonomy > [noun] > system of method1826 methodology1835 1770 G. White Let. 15 Jan. in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 123 It was no small matter of satisfaction to me to find that you were not displeased with my little methodus of birds.] 1826 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. IV. 355 Method and System..have often been..used indifferently to signify the same thing... But if we consider their real meaning,—a Method should signify an Artificial, and a System a Natural arrangement of objects. 1828 N. Webster Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Method...3. Classification;..as,..the method of Ray; the Linnean method... A distinction is sometimes made between method and system .System is an arrangement founded, throughout all its parts, on some one principle. Method is an arrangement less fixed and determinate... Thus we say, the natural method, and the artificial or sexual system of Linne. 1834 H. McMurtrie tr. G. Cuvier Animal Kingdom (abridged ed.) 4 This scaffolding of divisions, the superior of which contain the inferior, is called a method. Compounds method-act v. (a) transitive (reflexive), to identify oneself with a role according to the principles of method acting; (b) transitive, to play (a role) according to the principles of method acting. ΚΠ 1970 ‘J. Quartermain’ Man who walked on Diamonds xvii. 90 Method-act yourself into a super-sleuth. 1992 J. Stern & M. Stern Encycl. Pop Culture 181/1 Jane Fonda has spent over half a century Method-acting real-life roles that embrace, reflect, and embody the social and political climate around her. 1997 D. Wojahn Falling Hour 92 He is weeping on the bed as corn flakes method act a freezing rain, then snow. method-acted adj. acted in accordance with the principles or techniques of method acting. ΚΠ 1960 New Left Rev. Sept. 65/1 The method-acted Tomorrow With Pictures. method acting n. the techniques and principles of the method of acting advocated by Konstantin Stanislavsky (see sense 3f); the style of acting associated with this method. ΚΠ 1956 N.Y. Times 29 Apr. ii. 3/3 Because she [sc. Shelley Winters] and the other members of the fine cast seek authenticity, they continually startle the stagehands by their ‘method’ acting. 1985 K. Williams Just Williams xi. 214 ‘I can never remember how I was good you know!.. I suppose it's all instinct with me.’ ‘That is better than method acting,’ said Alfred. 1991 Sky Mag. Feb. 86 The role..required Ms Basinger to do some serious Method acting. method actor n. an actor who follows the principles or style of method acting. ΚΠ 1955 P. Chayefsky Television Plays 265 Most young actors today are what is known as ‘method’ actors. The method is a school of acting that is so broad that it defies definition, but it generally involves a depth of understanding of the role that approaches psychoanalysis. 1994 Spy (N.Y.) July 58/2 Pathological method actor Sean Penn raised his art to new heights while filming his forthcoming Irish-mob emote-o-rama, State of Grace. † method-monger n. Obsolete (depreciative) a person who deals excessively or over-subtly in logical distinctions and schemes of classification (in quot. 1647 with a play on Greek μεθοδεία, rendered ‘wiles’ in the Revised Version of 1881). ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > [noun] > adherent or student of logician1382 logicianer1548 method-mongera1631 logicalist1865 methodologist1865 a1631 J. Donne Serm. (1953) I. 256 We steale our Learning, if we..deale upon Rhapsoders, and Common placers, and Method-mongers. 1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (Eph. iv. 14) The devil and his disciples are notable method-mongers, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. 1676 R. Dixon Nature Two Test. i. To Rdr. sig. c2^v Such are our systematical Methodmongers, blundering in their Dichotomies after the way of Ramus or Keckerman. methods engineer n. Business a person whose occupation is methods engineering. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > people who study work or technology > [noun] technologist1815 technographer1900 human engineer1916 job analyst1917 methods engineer1939 systems engineer1940 cyberneticist1949 cybernetician1950 human factors engineer1959 nanotechnologist1986 1928 R. C. Davis Princ. Factory Organization & Managem. vi. 72 The methods manager or industrial engineer is concerned primarily with the efficient application of the human forces of the organization.] 1939 H. B. Maynard & G. J. Stegemerten Operation Anal. i. 5 Time formulas are useful mathematical devices that the methods engineer employs. 1960 News Chron. 28 July 8/8 (advt.) Methods Engineer..experience of Time and Methods Study and Ratefixing. methods engineering n. Business the organization or improvement of business and management methods by method study. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > study of work > [noun] > specific studies or techniques time study1904 motion study1911 work study1921 acid test ratio1925 network analysis1930 methods study1932 methods engineering1939 methods–time measurement1948 activity sampling1956 rhochrematics1960 1939 H. B. Maynard & G. J. Stegemerten Operation Anal. i. 1 Before discussing the methods-engineering procedure in detail, it will be advisable to formulate a clear statement of what the term covers... Methods engineering is the industrial science which is chiefly concerned with increasing labor effectiveness. 1953 J. R. Immer Materials Handling iv. 41 The methods-engineering department has the responsibility for ‘planning the manual part of the operation’. 1968 H. Johannsen & A. Robertson Managem. Gloss. 87 Methods Time Measurement, a predetermined motion time work measurement technique devised by the Methods Engineering Council (USA). methods study n. Business rare = method study n. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > study of work > [noun] > specific studies or techniques time study1904 motion study1911 work study1921 acid test ratio1925 network analysis1930 methods study1932 methods engineering1939 methods–time measurement1948 activity sampling1956 rhochrematics1960 1932 A. H. Mogenson Common Sense appl. to Motion & Time Study i. 11 More attention is being given to this phase of methods study at present. method study n. Business the systematic use of time-and-motion study and other techniques as a means of increasing efficiency. ΚΠ 1955 Furnit. Devel. Council Newslet. June 3/2 Efficient method study cannot be put into practice without a sound knowledge of the work in hand. 1969 J. Argenti Managem. Techniques i. 167 The Method Study Officer..analyses the purpose and function of each step in the process. 1992 Professional Engin. Nov. 19/1 So-called ‘Jit in the office’ programmes are being used to apply method study and automation to reduce the lead time lost in the processing and specifying steps. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022). † methodv. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: method n. Etymology: < method n. Obsolete. rare. transitive. To arrange methodically. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > order > put in (proper) order [verb (transitive)] > reduce to order reduce1567 methodizea1586 correct1594 method1607 1607 T. Ridley View Civile & Eccl. Law 68 The text [printed sext] is the worke of Boniface the eight, methoded by him in the year 1298. 1640 E. Reynolds Treat. Passions xlii. 547 He [sc. the Devil] is able..so to method and contrive his devices, that [etc.]. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online September 2018). < n.?a1425v.1607
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methodn.

Compounds

† methodv.