pattern

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A model or original used as an archetype.
2. n. A person or thing considered worthy of imitation.
3. n. A plan, diagram, or model to be followed in making things: a dress pattern. See Synonyms at ideal.
4. n. A representative sample; a specimen.
5. n. An artistic or decorative design: a paisley pattern. See Synonyms at figure.
6. n. A design of natural or accidental origin: patterns of bird formations.
7. n. A consistent, characteristic form, style, or method, as:
8. n. A composite of traits or features characteristic of an individual or a group: one's pattern of behavior.
9. n. Form and style in an artistic work or body of artistic works.
10. n. The configuration of gunshots upon a target that is used as an indication of skill in shooting.
11. n. The distribution and spread, around a targeted region, of spent shrapnel, bomb fragments, or shot from a shotgun.
12. n. Enough material to make a complete garment.
13. n. A test pattern.
14. n. The flight path of an aircraft about to land: a flight pattern.
15. n. Football A pass pattern.
16. v. To make, mold, or design by following a pattern: We patterned this plan on the previous one. My daughter patterned her military career after her father's.
17. v. To cover or ornament with a design or pattern.
18. v. To make a pattern.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An original or model proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be copied or imitated: as, the pattern of a machine. See pattern-maker.
2. n. Hence A sufficient quantity to make a complete article from: as, a pattern, of dress-material.
3. n. Something resembling something else; hence, a precedent.
4. n. Something made after a model; a copy.
5. n. A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample.
6. n. An instance; an example; emphatically, a model example.
7. n. A design or figure corresponding in outline to an object that is to be fabricated, and serving as a guide for determining its exact shape and dimensions; in molding, the counterpart of a casting in wood or metal, from which the mold in the sand is made.
8. n. In numismatics, a specimen struck in metal by the mint as a model or sample for a proposed coin, but not ultimately adopted for the currency. Thus, the Gothic crown of Queen Victoria, struck as a model for a crown piece, but never adopted for currency, is a pattern. A proof, on the other hand, is an early impression struck from dies used for the production of coins actually current. See proof.
9. n. A decorative design intended to be carried out in any manufacture; hence, such a design when executed: as, a sprig pattern; a heraldic pattern; silk or damask of a beautiful pattern.
10. n. In gun-making, the distribution of shot in a target at which a shot-gun is fired. In a circle called the “killing circle” by sportsmen and gun-makers (which at a range of 40 yards is from 26 to 30 inches in diameter), the shot should be evenly distributed, so that there can be no possibility of escape for game within the periphery of this circle. The more uniform the distribution of the shot the better is the pattern. The number of shot in the pattern varies widely, according to the size of the shot, which is selected in accordance with the kind of game sought. To secure the desired pattern it is sometimes necessary to re-bore the barrel of a gun several times.
11. n. 10. Synonyms Model, Ideal, etc. See example.
12. To make in imitation of some pattern or model; copy.
13. To serve as a pattern, example, or precedent for.
14. To cover with a design or pattern.
15. To match; parallel.
16. n. A templet; a guide; a gage.

Wiktionary

1. n. Model, example.
2. n. Decorative arrangement.
3. v. to apply a pattern
4. v. To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
5. v. to follow an example
6. v. to fit into a pattern
7. v. transitive To serve as an example for.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Anything proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be, or is worthy to be, copied or imitated.
2. n. A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample; an example; an instance.
3. n. Stuff sufficient for a garment.
4. n. Figure or style of decoration; design.
5. n. Something made after a model; a copy.
6. n. Anything cut or formed to serve as a guide to cutting or forming objects.
7. n. (Founding) A full-sized model around which a mold of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mold without injuring it.
8. n. a recognizable characteristic relationship or set of relationships between the members of any set of objects or actions, or the properties of the members; also, the set having a definable relationship between its members.
9. n. (Gun.) A diagram showing the distribution of the pellets of a shotgun on a vertical target perpendicular to the plane of fire.
10. n. the recommended flight path for an airplane to follow as it approaches an airport for a landing. Same as landing pattern.
11. n. an image or diagram containing lines, usually horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, sometimes of varying widths, used to test the resolution of an optical instrument or the accuracy of reproduction of image copying or transmission equipment. Same as test pattern.
12. v. To make or design (anything) by, from, or after, something that serves as a pattern; to copy; to model; to imitate.
13. v. To serve as an example for; also, to parallel.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a model considered worthy of imitation
2. n. something regarded as a normative example
3. n. the path that is prescribed for an airplane that is preparing to land at an airport
4. n. a perceptual structure
5. n. a decorative or artistic work
6. v. plan or create according to a model or models
7. n. something intended as a guide for making something else
8. n. a customary way of operation or behavior
9. v. form a pattern
10. n. graphical representation (in polar or Cartesian coordinates) of the spatial distribution of radiation from an antenna as a function of angle