Meth"od (?), n. [F. m'ethode, 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.
2.
Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic arrangement peculiar to an individual.
Though this be madness, yet there's method in it.
Shak.
All method is a rational progress, a progress toward an end.
Sir W. Hamilton.
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 Linnaean method.
Syn. -- Order; system; rule; regularity; way; manner; mode; course; process; means. -- 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 secre 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.
© Webster 1913.