I. də̇ˈzīn, dēˈ- verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle French designer, from Latin designare, literally, to mark out, from de- + signare to mark — more at sign
transitive verb
1.
a. : to conceive and plan out in the mind
a savage on seeing a watch would at once conclude that it was designed — Samuel Butler †1902
b. : devote , consign , destine
a city designed to destruction
grants designed in his will for making amends
c. : to make up one's mind to set apart : settle in mind to reserve
mementos of his travels that he had designed for friends
d. : to plan or have in mind as a purpose : intend , purpose , contemplate
he was sociable by disposition, and I believe he designed particularly to shine in the world of talk and manners — Osbert Sitwell
when some other foreign power designed division or seizure — Roger Burlingame
e. archaic : to have in mind or include as a matter of consideration
f. : to devise or propose for a specific function
a book designed primarily as a college textbook
a program obviously designed as a first approach to this problem
g. : to create, plan, or calculate for serving a predetermined end : prepare or lay out deliberately
the challenging problem of designing a college curriculum for young women
a little group of members which is designed for study, propaganda, and energetic canvassing — R.M.Dawson
designed to form a frame for what was to come after — E.M.Lustgarten
2.
a. obsolete : to indicate with a distinctive mark or sign
b. archaic : to indicate by name or distinctive phrase
c. : to designate for office or function
designing a friend to act as substitute
the other parties named and designed in the summons
d. archaic : assign , grant
3.
[Middle French desseigner, from Italian disegnare, from Latin designare ]
a. archaic : to make a drawing or sketch of (an object or scene)
b. : to outline or sketch in proportion for creating a work of art or to serve as a pattern in the practical arts
she has designed the dances for several Broadway hits
a curious woman whose dresses always looked as if they had been designed in a rage — Oscar Wilde
c. : to plan and plot out the shape and disposition of the parts of and the structural constituents of : draw the plans for
he designed many buildings and bridges
d. : to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan
he was also a clever artist and designed scenes with a flair for color — Winifred Bambrick
buildings of the institution are so designed that each patient's room opens upon a porch — American Guide Series: Michigan
e. : to originate, draft, and work out, set up, or set forth : devise , contrive
a landscaping authority to design the city's park system
can start to design and execute a foreign policy without fear — H.W.Barber
like most Communist propaganda it was very cleverly designed — Patrick McMahon
knows how to design a part so that it develops and acquires momentum in performance — Brooks Atkinson
f. : to plan or produce with special intentional adaptation to a specific end — used in passive or participial form
statutes are designed to meet the fugitive exigencies of the hour — B.N.Cardozo
slogans are normally designed to get action without reflection — A.E.Stevenson b.1900
marriage was a social institution designed to fit instinct into a legal framework — Bertrand Russell
would do it for $5000, a price … designed to discourage offers — Elsa Maxwell
intransitive verb
1. : to conceive a plan for making something
2. : to draw, lay out, or otherwise prepare a design or designs
those who design for the home
in designing for motion pictures there is also the problem of geography — Cedric Gibbons
a. : to draw a preliminary figure, outline, or sketch (as for a machine, structure, or work of art)
b. : to fashion a work of art
c. : to fashion a decorative figure or pattern
3. : to plan or intend to start out on a trip or course
this ship designs for Guam
the young man designs for law
Synonyms: see intend , plan I
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French dessein, from Italian disegno, from disegnare to mark out
1. : a mental project or scheme in which means to an end are laid down : plan
morality also, like religion, is a product of human design — Benjamin Farrington
had no rivals among the secular rulers of Europe for largeness of designs — R.W.Southern
2.
a. : a particular purpose held in view by an individual or group : a planned intention
my design in writing this preface is to forestall certain critics
he has ambitious designs for his son
b. : deliberate purposive planning
what superficially may appear to be a masterpiece of design was likely to have been just an empirical policy of muddling through — Times Literary Supplement
his clumsiness is due to inattention rather than design
battle was joined apparently more by accident than design — John Buchan
also : direction toward an ultimate end
the teleological, which shows the marks of design in nature, and from them argues to a great designer — Encyc. Americana
— opposed to accident
3.
a. : a deliberate undercover project or scheme entertained with discreditable or hostile and often dishonest, treacherous, sinister, or seductive intent
each camp accusing the other of imperialist designs
eager to ferret out any subversive design
a declaration of a design upon his life — John Locke
b. designs plural : such a scheme contemplating some rapacious or disruptive aggression or some illicit encroachment — used with on or against
the United States has no … designs against any of its neighbors anywhere — A.H.Vandenberg †1951
has designs on the money
4. : a preliminary sketch or outline (as a drawing on paper or a modeling in clay) showing the main features of something to be executed : delineation
a textile design and its specifications constitute the complete working plan for the manufacture of a fabric — Alfred Higgins & R.L.La Vault
5.
a. : a painter or sculptor's preliminary drawing or model
he made two or three charming and blasphemous designs — W.B.Yeats
b. : a scheme for the construction, finish, and ornamentation of a building as embodied in the plans, elevations, and other architectural drawings pertaining to it
c. : a conceptual outline or sketch according to which the elements of a literary or dramatic composition or series are disposed
his sense of structure, both in the general design of Paradise Lost and Samson, and in his syntax — T.S.Eliot
it is now widely agreed that such compositions as Moby Dick and Billy Budd are complete designs — Nathalia Wright
the main designs of the poem, an imaginative control of dispersed material — Times Literary Supplement
d. : a settled coherent program followed or imposed ; usually : an underlying scheme that governs functioning, developing or unfolding : pattern , motif
his ad-libbing … is not unfortified by design because he is far too fine a professional ever to trust entirely to chance — John Mason Brown
whether or not there be a design , … in nature, a man's biography frequently discloses haunting glimpses of a pattern — Perry Miller
6.
a. : the arrangement of elements that make up a work of art, a machine, or other man-made object
systematic art instruction begins with the study of design , which includes little except the perception and creation of formal relations — Hunter Mead
made her decide to introduce choreographic design into her free skating — Current Biography
b. : the process of selecting the means and contriving the elements, steps, and procedures for producing what will adequately satisfy some need
industrial design
included in design are the arrangement of the basic text page, choice of typeface, title page, and special pages — Joseph Blumenthal
specifically : the drawing up of specifications as to structure, forms, positions, materials, texture, accessories, decorations in the form of a layout for setting up, building, or fabrication
the design of the ship's bridge
his experiments were noted for their simple design
the problems of stability were corrected by better design in duplicating equipment — R.O.Jordan
c. : structural constitution or fundamental framework of a musical composition
unacceptable to our sense of melodic design — P.H.Lang
inflated music with ambitious and mystical programmatic designs — Nicolas Slonimsky
7.
a. : a visual arrangement or disposition of lines, parts, figures, details usually unified by an implicit key or clue of signification or an artistic motif (as in engravings, medals, textiles, metalwork)
linoleum in a great number of designs
the designs on the reverse of our coins
an iron balustrade with a design of bows and arrows that rises from the eaves of the house — American Guide Series: Maine
b. : a pattern or figuration applied to a surface (as of a vase) : decoration
porcelain with carved or engraved floral designs
a gold-tooled design impressed on bookbindings
Synonyms: see intention , plan
III. adjective
: used as a basis for anticipating practical problems and solving them at the engineering stage — used chiefly in highway designing
the design speed of a highway