catflap.org Online Dictionary Query

  Method \Meth"od\, n. [F. m['e]thode, L. methodus, fr. Gr.
     meqodos method, investigation following after; meta` after +
     "odo`s way.]
     1. An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing
        anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of
        teaching languages; a method of improving the mind.
        --Addison.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or
        classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic
        arrangement peculiar to an individual.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Though this be madness, yet there's method in it.
                                                    --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All method is a rational progress, a progress toward
              an end.                               --Sir W.
                                                    Hamilton.
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     3. (Nat. Hist.) Classification; a mode or system of
        classifying natural objects according to certain common
        characteristics; as, the method of Theophrastus; the
        method of Ray; the Linn[ae]an method.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. 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.
        [PJC]
  
     Syn: Order; system; rule; regularity; way; manner; mode;
          course; process; means.
  
     Usage: Method, Mode, Manner. Method implies
            arrangement; mode, mere action or existence. Method is
            a way of reaching a given end by a series of acts
            which tend to secure it; mode relates to a single
            action, or to the form which a series of acts, viewed
            as a whole, exhibits. Manner is literally the handling
            of a thing, and has a wider sense, embracing both
            method and mode. An instructor may adopt a good method
            of teaching to write; the scholar may acquire a bad
            mode of holding his pen; the manner in which he is
            corrected will greatly affect his success or failure.
            [1913 Webster]