method

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A means or manner of procedure, especially a regular and systematic way of accomplishing something: a simple method for making a pie crust; mediation as a method of solving disputes. See Usage Note at methodology.
2. n. Orderly arrangement of parts or steps to accomplish an end: random efforts that lack method.
3. n. The procedures and techniques characteristic of a particular discipline or field of knowledge: This field course gives an overview of archaeological method.
4. n. A technique of acting in which the actor recalls emotions and reactions from past experience and uses them in identifying with and individualizing the character being portrayed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Orderly regulation of conduct with a view to the attainment of an end; systematic procedure subservient to the purpose of any business; the use of a complete set of rules for carrying out any plan or project: as, to observe method in business or study; without method success is improbable: in this and the next two senses only in the singular.
2. n. A system, or complete set, of rules of procedure for attaining a given end; a short way to a desired result; specifically, in logic, a general plan for setting forth any branch of knowledge whatever; that branch of logic which teaches how to arrange thoughts for investigation or exposition.
3. n. Any way or manner of conducting any business.
4. n. A plan or system of conduct or action; the way or mode of doing or effecting something: as, a method of instruction; method of classification; the English method of pronunciation.
5. n. In music: Manner of performance : technique; style.
6. n. A manner or system of teaching.
7. n. An instruction-book, systematically arranged.
8. n. A method, introduced by Frischen, in duplex telegraphy for eliminating the effect of the transmitted current on the instruments at the transmitting station while leaving them available to record any message received at the same time. See telegraphy.
9. n. A method invented by Cauchy of treating the integral calculus. See residual.
10. n. A method in which, in analytical geometry, the functions which vanish on straight lines, etc.. are represented by single letters.
11. n. In algebra, a method in which, by the aid of umbræ, qualities are written as powers of polynomials.
12. n. Compression of the uterus made by the hand of the accoucheur in order to squeeze out the placenta after the birth of the child.
13. n. A method of resuscitation, in cases of asphyxia from chloroform or ether, by stroking the lower portion of the chest with the fingers in order to stimulate respiration and the action of the heart.
14. n. Induction of general anaesthesia by a mixture of chloroform, ether, and petroleum ether administered by inhalation.
15. n. Preparatory cuttings fit the stand for its reproduction by the removal of dead, dying, or defective trees, and prepare the ground for the germination of seeds. A stand in which one or more preparatory cuttings have been made is in the preparatory stage.
16. n. Seed cuttings encourage seed production by the further opening of the stand, and admit light in quantity favorable for the development of young growth. A forest in which one or more seed cuttings have been made is in the seedling stage.
17. n. Removal cuttings gradually remove the mature stand which would otherwise retard the development of the young trees. A stand in which one or more removal cuttings have been made is in the removal stage.
18. n. The final cutting is the last of the removal cuttings, in which all of the old stand still remaining is cut. Also called shelter-wood compartment system, method of successive thinnings, compartment system, and high forest compartment system.
19. n. In physical, the method of statistical mechanics in which a great number of systems, similar in nature but differing as to configurations and velocities, are simultaneously considered.

Wiktionary

1. n. A process by which a task is completed; a way of doing something.
2. n. A type of theatrical acting wherein the actor utilizes his personal emotions from personal experience to portray a scripted scene.
3. n. programming In object-oriented languages, a subroutine or function belonging to a class or object.
4. n. slang Marijuana.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing anything; hence, manner; way; mode.
2. n. Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic arrangement peculiar to an individual.
3. n. (Nat. Hist.) Classification; a mode or system of classifying natural objects according to certain common characteristics
4. n. A technique used in acting in which the actor tries to identify with the individual personality of the specific character being portrayed, so as to provide a realistic rendering of the character's role. Also called the Method, method acting, the Stanislavsky Method or Stanislavsky System.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a way of doing something, especially a systematic way; implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps)
2. n. an acting technique introduced by Stanislavsky in which the actor recalls emotions or reactions from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed