Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To form by combining materials or parts; construct.
  • intransitive verb To order, finance, or supervise the construction of.
  • intransitive verb To develop or give form to according to a plan or process; create.
  • intransitive verb To increase or strengthen by adding gradually to.
  • intransitive verb To establish a basis for; found or ground.
  • intransitive verb To make something by combining materials or parts.
  • intransitive verb To engage in the construction or design of buildings.
  • intransitive verb To develop in magnitude or extent.
  • intransitive verb To progress toward a maximum, as of intensity.
  • noun The physical makeup of a person or thing, especially one's physique.
  • noun Computers Any of various versions of a software product as it is being developed for release to users.
  • idiom (build on sand) To provide with an unstable foundation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Manner of construction; make; form: as, the build of a ship.
  • To frame or construct, as an edifice; form by uniting materials into a regular structure; erect.
  • Figuratively— To form by art in any way; construct.
  • To raise as on a support or foundation; rear.
  • To establish, increase, and strengthen: generally with up: as, to build up a fine business; to build up a character.
  • To exercise the art or practise the business of building; construct.
  • Figuratively, to rear, erect, or construct anything, as a plan or a system of thought.
  • To rest or depend, as on a foundation; base; rely: with on or upon.
  • In casino, to combine certain cards so that their total pip-value equals that of a single card in the player's hand.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To exercise the art, or practice the business, of building.
  • intransitive verb To rest or depend, as on a foundation; to ground one's self or one's hopes or opinions upon something deemed reliable; to rely.
  • transitive verb To erect or construct, as an edifice or fabric of any kind; to form by uniting materials into a regular structure; to fabricate; to make; to raise.
  • transitive verb To raise or place on a foundation; to form, establish, or produce by using appropriate means.
  • transitive verb To increase and strengthen; to increase the power and stability of; to settle, or establish, and preserve; -- frequently with up.
  • noun Form or mode of construction; general figure; make.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive to form (something) by combining materials or parts
  • verb transitive to develop or give form to (something) according to a plan or process
  • verb transitive to increase or strengthen (something) by adding gradually to
  • verb transitive to establish a basis for (something)
  • verb intransitive to form by combining materials or parts
  • verb intransitive to develop in magnitude or extent
  • noun The physique of a human body; constitution or structure of a human body.
  • noun computing any of various versions of a software product as it is being developed for release to users
  • noun Internet slang a structure, nominally an abbreviation of building (see usage notes below).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb order, supervise, or finance the construction of
  • noun constitution of the human body
  • verb give form to, according to a plan
  • verb develop and grow
  • verb improve the cleansing action of
  • verb found or ground

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bilden, from Old English byldan; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bilden, from Old English byldan ("to build, construct"), from Proto-Germanic *buldijanan, *budlijanan (“to build”), from Proto-Germanic *budlan, *buþlan, *bōdlan, *bōþlan (“house, dwelling, farm”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhōw- (“to swell, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell”). Related to Old English bold ("abode, house, dwelling-place, mansion, hall, castle, temple"). More at bottle.

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