The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Design \De*sign"\ (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Designed; p.
pr. & vb. n. Designing.] [F. d['e]signer to designate, cf.
F. dessiner to draw, dessin drawing, dessein a plan or
scheme; all, ultimately, from L. designare to designate; de-
+ signare to mark, mark out, signum mark, sign. See Sign,
and cf. Design, n., Designate.]
1. To draw preliminary outline or main features of; to sketch
for a pattern or model; to delineate; to trace out; to
draw. --Dryden.
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2. To mark out and exhibit; to designate; to indicate; to
show; to point out; to appoint.
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We shall see
Justice design the victor's chivalry. --Shak.
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Meet me to-morrow where the master
And this fraternity shall design. --Beau. & Fl.
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3. To create or produce, as a work of art; to form a plan or
scheme of; to form in idea; to invent; to project; to lay
out in the mind; as, a man designs an essay, a poem, a
statue, or a cathedral.
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4. To intend or purpose; -- usually with for before the
remote object, but sometimes with to.
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Ask of politicians the end for which laws were
originally designed. --Burke.
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He was designed to the study of the law. --Dryden.
Syn: To sketch; plan; purpose; intend; propose; project;
mean.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Design \De*sign"\, v. i.
To form a design or designs; to plan.
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Design for, to intend to go to. [Obs.] "From this city she
designed for Collin [Cologne]." --Evelyn.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Design \De*sign"\, n. [Cf. dessein, dessin.]
1. A preliminary sketch; an outline or pattern of the main
features of something to be executed, as of a picture, a
building, or a decoration; a delineation; a plan.
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2. A plan or scheme formed in the mind of something to be
done; preliminary conception; idea intended to be
expressed in a visible form or carried into action;
intention; purpose; -- often used in a bad sense for evil
intention or purpose; scheme; plot.
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The vast design and purpos? of the King. --Tennyson.
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The leaders of that assembly who withstood the
designs of a besotted woman. --Hallam.
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A . . . settled design upon another man's life.
--Locke.
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How little he could guess the secret designs of the
court! --Macaulay.
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3. Specifically, intention or purpose as revealed or inferred
from the adaptation of means to an end; as, the argument
from design.
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4. The realization of an inventive or decorative plan; esp.,
a work of decorative art considered as a new creation;
conception or plan shown in completed work; as, this
carved panel is a fine design, or of a fine design.
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5. (Mus.) The invention and conduct of the subject; the
disposition of every part, and the general order of the
whole.
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Arts of design, those into which the designing of artistic
forms and figures enters as a principal part, as
architecture, painting, engraving, sculpture.
School of design, one in which are taught the invention and
delineation of artistic or decorative figures, patterns,
and the like.
Syn: Intention; purpose; scheme; project; plan; idea.
Usage: Design, Intention, Purpose. Design has reference
to something definitely aimed at. Intention points to
the feelings or desires with which a thing is sought.
Purpose has reference to a settled choice or
determination for its attainment. "I had no design to
injure you," means it was no part of my aim or object.
"I had no intention to injure you," means, I had no
wish or desire of that kind. "My purpose was directly
the reverse," makes the case still stronger.
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Is he a prudent man . . . that lays designs only
for a day, without any prospect to the remaining
part of his life? --Tillotson.
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I wish others the same intention, and greater
successes. --Sir W.
Temple.
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It is the purpose that makes strong the vow.
--Shak.
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Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
438 Moby Thesaurus words for "design":
abstract art, action, aim, aim at, ambition, anagnorisis, angle,
animus, approach, architectonics, architecture, argument, arrange,
arrangement, art, art form, art object, artful dodge, artifice,
artist, arts and crafts, arts of design, aspiration, aspire after,
aspire to, atmosphere, attack, background, background detail,
bag of tricks, balance, be after, beget, black and white, blind,
blueprint, blueprinting, bluff, bosey, brainchild, breed,
bric-a-brac, bring forth, bring into being, brouillon, brushwork,
cabal, calculate, calculation, call into being, calligraphy,
canon form, cartoon, cast, catastrophe, catch, cave art, ceramics,
chalk, characterization, charcoal, charcoal drawing, chart,
charting, chiaroscuro, chicanery, chouse, classic, coin, color,
complication, composition, conation, conceive, conception, concert,
concoct, configuration, connivance, conniving, conspiracy,
constitution, construct, construction, contemplate, continuity,
contrivance, contrive, cook up, copy, counsel, coup, craft, crayon,
create, creation, crosshatch, curve, curve-ball, cut out,
cute trick, dash off, daub, deceit, decoration,
decorative composition, decorative style, deliberation, delineate,
delineation, denouement, depict, desideration, desideratum,
designing, designs, desire, destine, detail, determination,
determine, develop, development, device, devise, diagram,
dirty deal, dirty trick, disposition, dodge, doodle, dope out,
draft, draftsmanship, draw, draw up, drawing, dream up, drive at,
ebauche, effect, elevation, engender, engraving, enterprise,
envisage, envisagement, envision, episode, esquisse, etching,
evil intent, evolve, expedient, fable, fabricate, fakement,
falling action, fashion, fast deal, feint, fetch, ficelle, figure,
figuring, fine arts, fixed purpose, foil, folk art, forecast,
foreground detail, foresight, forethought, forge, form, format,
formation, frame, fugue form, function, gambit, game, game plan,
generate, gimmick, give being to, give rise to, go for, goal,
googly, graph, graphic arts, graphing, grift, grotesque,
ground plan, grouping, guidelines, harbor a design, hatch,
have every intention, hocus-pocus, house plan, ichnography, idea,
improvise, incident, intend, intendment, intent, intention,
intrigue, invent, invention, joker, juggle, jugglery, kitsch,
knavery, lay out, lay plans, layout, lied form, limn, line,
line drawing, lineup, little game, local color, long-range plan,
machination, make, make a projection, make arrangements,
make do with, make up, maneuver, manipulation, map, map out,
mapping, master, master plan, masterpiece, masterwork, mature,
mean, meaning, method, methodize, methodology, mind, mint, mobile,
model, mood, motif, motive, mould, move, movement, museum piece,
mythos, national style, nisus, nude, object, objective, old master,
operations research, organization, organize, originate,
ornamental motif, outline, paint, paint a picture, painterliness,
pass, pastel, pasticcio, pastiche, pattern, pen-and-ink, pencil,
pencil drawing, period style, peripeteia, perspective, photography,
picture, picturize, piece, piece of virtu, plan, plan ahead,
planning, planning function, plastic art, plot, ploy, point,
portray, prearrange, prearrangement, primary form, primitive art,
procedure, procreate, produce, profile, program, program of action,
project, projection, proposal, propose, prospectus, prototype,
purport, purpose, racket, rationalization, rationalize,
recognition, red herring, reflection, repeated figure, resolution,
resolve, rising action, rondo form, rough, rough copy, rough draft,
rough outline, ruse, sake, schedule, schema, schematism,
schematization, schematize, scheme, scheme of arrangement, scratch,
sculpture, scumble, scurvy trick, secondary plot, set out, set up,
setting, setup, shade, shading, shadow, shape, shift, silhouette,
silver-print drawing, sinopia, skeleton, sketch, sketch out, slant,
sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, sonata allegro,
sonata form, spawn, stabile, statue, stencil, still life, story,
stratagem, strategic plan, strategy, strike out, striving,
structure, study, style, subject, subplot, subterfuge, switch,
symphonic form, system, systematization, systematize, table,
tactic, tactical plan, tactics, target, technique, the arts,
the big picture, the picture, thematic development, theme, think,
think of, think out, think up, thinking, thought, tint,
toccata form, tone, topic, touch, trace, tracing, treatment, trick,
trickery, twist, undertaking, values, view, vignette, virtu,
visualize, volition, way, wile, will, wily device, work,
work of art, work out, work up, working drawing, working plan