α. late Middle English weyes and meanes, late Middle English weys and menes, 1500s–1600s waies and means, 1500s–1600s wayes and meanes, 1500s–1600s wayes and means, 1600s– ways and means.
β. See way n.1 and and conj.1, adv., and n.1 and mean n.3
ways and meansn.
/ˌweɪz (ə)n(d) ˈmiːnz/, U.S. /ˌweɪz ən ˈminz/ I. In plural form (with plural agreement).
1. The methods and resources which are at a person's disposal for achieving some end.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > ways and means
ways and groundsc1400
ways and means1433
way and meanc1475
1433 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. July 1433 §51. m. 4 All the weys and menes by the whiche þei mowe enhaunce þe prises of her merchandises.
1483 in J. Gairdner Lett. Reigns of Richard III & Henry VII (1861) I. 48 His grace is wele content that his said commissioners finde suche weyes and meanes as the said Sir Rauff shalle move frely without enpechement or trouble.
1531 T. Elyot Bk. named Gouernour i. xxiii. sig. Lvi Those thinges, in whome other men trauayle, a person industrious lightly and with facilitie spedeth, and fyndeth newe wayes and meanes to bring to effecte that he desireth.
1589 J. Whitgift Serm. sig. C5v Gregorie..sought also waies and means secretly to murther him.
1631 W. Gouge Gods Three Arrowes i. xiv. 19 Yet hath God his wayes and means to deliver the righteous in the forementioned cases.
1699 G. Harvey Vanities Philos. & Physick v. 40 To preserve Health..no better ways and means can be used, than applying at certain intervals, to those cleansers or abstersives here before mentioned.
1710 R. Steele Tatler No. 195. ⁋6 I send with this, my Discourse of Ways and Means for encouraging Marriage.
1775 E. Burke Speech Resol. for Concil. Colonies 41 Fortunately I am not obliged for the ways and means of this substitute to tax my own unproductive invention.
1848 C. Dickens Dombey & Son liii. 529 He has been devising ways and means, all the way here, of explaining himself, and has been satisfied with none.
1882 ‘E. Lyall’ Donovan xv It was true that there were ways and means of raising money.
1912 F. A. Talbot Moving Pictures xxvi. 289 Ways and means of taking colour pictures direct from Nature.
1948 Life 6 Sept. 97 (caption) Ways and means to protect the vital interest of the United States.
2007 Ethiopian Herald 14 Aug. 6/5 The returnees are looking for ways and means for creating more job opportunities for fellow Ethiopians.
2. † c. colloquial. Financial resources. Obsolete.
a. spec. Methods of raising (esp. government) revenue. Also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > management of money > [noun] > public > methods of procuring funds for
ways and means1699
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > governing or legislative body of a nation or community > procedure of parliament or national assembly > [noun] > methods of procuring funding
ways and means1699
1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. v. v. §4 660 Hannibal considering this, beganne to examine the publique Reuenues; and to take a perfect note..how much came into the Treasurie, by wayes and meanes whatsoeuer.
1695 C. Davenant (title) An essay upon ways and means of supplying the war.]
1699 S. Garth Dispensary vi. 73 No Ways and Means their Cabinet employ; But their dark Hours they waste in barren Joy.
1767 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy IX. xi. 47 The first Lord of the Treasury thinking of ways and means, could not have returned home, with a more embarrassed look.
1824 T. B. Macaulay Prophetic Acct. Epic Poem in Knight's Q. Mag. Aug.–Nov. 440 His Lordship..advises him [sc. Mr. Vansittart] to look after the ways and means, and leave questions of peace and war to his betters.
1922 Missions June 348/1 The august Board sat around the long table and discussed ways and means and..the crying needs of the missionaries.
1973 Hansard Commons 10 July 1294 This new clause and the associated Ways and Means Resolution will provide powers whereby changes in stamp duty may be given effect to by means of a Budget Resolution.
1991 Inter-Regional Workshop Integration Housing Finance (U.N. Centre for Human Settlements) iii. 23/1 It must devise ways and means to provide loans to low-income and middle-income people.
2000 S. China Morning Post 5 May (Markets section) 12/2 A £17 billion overdraft the Government has with the central bank, known as the Ways and Means facility.
b. In full Committee of Ways and Means or Ways and Means Committee. Also attributive.
(a) A committee of the British House of Commons (between 1641 and 1967) concerned with raising government revenue. Now historical. Chairman of Ways and Means: the principal Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, who presides over the House in the Speaker's absence, formerly (until 1967) also chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > committee of whole legislative assembly > specific
ways and means1698
1644 Orig. Jrnls. House of Commons 27 May 27 f. 14v This Comittee (or any foure of them) is to considere of all waies and means for raysing of monies..and..to make Report to the Howse.
1685 Orig. Jrnls. House of Commons 17 Nov. 341 The House then..Resolued into a Committee of the whole House to consider of the wayes and meanes to raise his Majesties supply.]
1698 Abstr. Proc. House of Commons in relation to East India Comp. & Trade 4 The House Impowered the Committee of Ways and Means to receive Proposals for settling the Trade to the East-Indies.
1737 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 654/1 When we take this Affair into our Consideration in the Committee of Ways and Means.
1785 Rolliad i. xi. 92 Rapt in St. Stephen's future scenes, I sit perpetual Chairman of the Ways and Means.
1817 Ann. Reg. 1816 Gen. Hist. 66/1 The House of Commons having on May 27th, resolved itself into a committee of Ways and Means.
1839 Railway Times 17 Aug. 629/1 On the motion for bringing up the Report of the Ways and Means' Committee, Mr. O'Connell moved..that an address be presented to the Queen.
1868 T. E. May Law of Parl. (ed. 6) vii. 223 The house resolved that during his [sc. the Speaker's] absence the chairman of ways and means should take the chair as deputy speaker.
1908 A. L. Lowell Govt. Eng. I. xviii. 343 A similar use might be made of the motion to go into Committee of Ways and Means.
1959 K. R. Mackenzie Parliament v. 58 (caption) The Chairman of Ways and Means presides, sitting by the Clerks at the table.
2005 M. Rush Parl. Today ix. 204 The Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the annual Budget..to the Committee of Ways and Means.
(b) U.S. Also Committee on Ways and Means. A committee of the House of Representatives having jurisdiction over revenue and related issues, (now) including some aspects of social services programmes such as Social Security and Medicare. Also: a similar committee in various state legislatures.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > types of body or spec. bodies > [noun] > committee > committees of U.S. legislature
Committee on Ways and Means1789
Rules Committee1870
1789 Essex Jrnl. & New Hampsh. Packet 5 Aug. 2/4 Proceedings of Congress... Friday, July 24... Upon motion of Mr. Fitzsimons, the estimate of supplies for 1789, was read, and taken into consideration. It was then voted that a committee of ways and means be appointed, to which the said estimate was referred.
1818 Weekly Recorder (Chillicothe, Ohio) 6 Mar. 247/3 On motion of Mr. Huntingdon, it was Resolved, That the committee on Ways and Means be instructed to examine an act entitled ‘act regulating the currency within the United States, of the gold coins of Great Britain, France, [etc.]’.
1838 N.Y. Rev. July 250 (heading) Report upon the Finances and Internal Improvements of the State of New York, 1838, by the Committee of Ways and Means.
1867 Oregon State Jrnl. 5 Jan. 2/2 The Ways and Means Committee decided to postpone an action on Mr. Boutwell's bill.
1919 Lit. Digest 22 Mar. 21/2 Mr. Fordney, of Michigan,..will probably be..Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.
1951 Christian Sci. Monitor 13 Nov. 16/5 A $1,166,324 slash in the House-approved $22,612,630 supplementary budget was favored today by the Massachusetts Senate Committee on Ways and Means.
1977 Time 12 Dec. 34/2 Al Ullman, the House Ways and Means chairman, has been pleading with Carter for a ‘minimalist’ rather than a ‘maximalist’ tax bill.
2002 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 26 June The two lawmakers testified before a House Ways and Means subcommittee.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > funds or pecuniary resources > [noun]
coffer1377
pursec1384
possibilityc1385
moneyc1390
financec1475
abilityc1503
purse stringc1530
moyen1547
means1560
financy1600
pocket1633
fonds1669
wherewith1674
apoinctee1682
funds1700
ways and means1738
money stock1743
pecuniary1748
pecuniar1793
wherewithal1809
ante1843
pocketbook1897
1738 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 41/2 So have I known a buxom lad..taught by kind mamma at home; Who gives him many a well try'd rule, With ways and means—to act a fool.
1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse §313 And whenever it shall appear to be necessary to renew it [sc. the gilding], I doubt not but ways and means will be found.
1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. vi. lviii. 278 She had not yet had any anxiety about ways and means.
1879 ‘E. Lyall’ Won by Waiting xxi She..went to the nursery, to discuss ways and means with Bella's nurse.
3. In form way and mean. A method or resource for achieving some end. Formerly also as a mass noun. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > ways and means
ways and groundsc1400
ways and means1433
way and meanc1475
c1475 (?c1400) Apol. Lollard Doctr. (1842) 83 In þe þrid maner is a þing seid better þan an oþer, in þis; as it helpiþ better by sum wey and mene to þe ȝend of a þing þan an oþer doþ.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 287/2 Wey or meane, acheison.]
1534 N. Udall Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence f. 67v To..get his fauor, whether it be by voyce and wordes, orels by gesture of the body, or by any other way and meane what so euer it be.
1579 G. Gilpin tr. P. van Marnix van Sant Aldegonde Bee Hiue of Romishe Church i. ii. f. 22 Which religion doth conteine a newe way and meane, whereby a man may mortifie him selfe and his fleshly lustes.
1622 (?a1513) W. Dunbar Poems (Reidpeth) (1998) I. 66 The for to pleis thai socht all way and mein.
1679 Nations Agrievance 3 Your Majesty will be pleased according to such your Princely care..to appoint how shall be provided, the way and mean by which all these things may be speedily remedied and redressed, that are amiss.
1739 B. Holloway Nullity Repentance without Faith 74 That by no other Way or Mean He could be at all Accepted.
1824 J. Shaw Gospel Call 29 To give a sinner acceptance with God, to the utter exclusion of every other way and mean of acceptance.
1925 Amer. Naturalist 59 562 That would only be following life's simplest way and mean.
Phrases
†to be upon ways and means: to be trying to raise money. Obsolete.
ΚΠ
1695 R. Ferguson Brief Acct. Incroachm. & Depredations of Dutch upon Eng. 60 Should they at Westminster, as they easily may, make all those English that have put in their Shares into the Scots Stock pay quadruple Taxes to the War, which they are upon Ways and Means to support.
1760 S. Foote Minor ii. 52 People that are upon ways and means, must not be nice.
1794 J. Adams Let. 10 May (1841) II. 159 The House is upon ways and means, which will take us the rest of the month, I fear.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
<
n.1433