build

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English

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Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Proto-West Germanic*buþlijan
    Old Englishbytlan
    Middle Englishbylden
    Englishbuild

    FromMiddle Englishbilden,bulden,bylden,fromOld Englishbyldanandbytlan,bytlian(“to build”),fromProto-West Germanic*buþlijan(“to build”),fromProto-Germanic*buþlą,*bōþlą(“house, dwelling, farm”),fromProto-Indo-European*bʰuH-(“to become, grow, thrive, be, live, dwell”).Related toOld Englishbotl(“building, house”).More atbottle.

    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    build(third-person singular simple presentbuilds,present participlebuilding,simple past and past participlebuiltor(archaic or poetic)builded)

    1. (transitive)Toform(something) by combiningmaterialsorparts.
      • 1596,Edmund Spenser,“Book IV, Canto X”, inThe Faerie Queene.[…],part II (books IV–VI), London:[…][Richard Field] forWilliam Ponsonby,→OCLC,stanza 6,page140:
        It was a bridgeybuiltin goodly wize, / With curious Corbes and pendants grauen faire, [...]
      • 1892,Walter Besant,“Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, inThe Ivory Gate[…],New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers,[…],→OCLC,page16:
        Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance everbuiltcould contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
      • 1913,Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln,chapter I, inMr. Pratt’s Patients,New York, N.Y., London:D[aniel] Appleton and Company,→OCLC:
        A chap named Eleazir Kendrick and I had chummed in together the summer afore andbuilta fish-weir and shanty at Setuckit Point, down Orham way. For a spell we done pretty well.
    2. (transitive)Todevelopor give form to (something) according to aplanorprocess.
      • 2013June 21,Oliver Burkeman,“The tao of tech”,inThe Guardian Weekly,volume189,number 2, page27:
        The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you [...] "share the things you love with the world" and so on. But the real way tobuilda successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
    3. (transitive)Toincreaseorstrengthen(something) by adding gradually to.
      • 2013July 20, “The attack of the MOOCs”,inThe Economist,volume408,number8845:
        Since the launch early last year of […] two Silicon Valley start-ups offering free education through MOOCs, massive open online courses, the ivory towers of academia have been shaken to their foundations. University brandsbuiltin some cases over centuries have been forced to contemplate the possibility that information technology will rapidly make their existing business model obsolete.
    4. (transitive)Toestablishabasisfor (something).
    5. (intransitive)To form by combining materials or parts.
    6. (intransitive)To develop inmagnitudeorextent.
    7. (transitive,computing)To construct (software) bycompilingitssource code.
    8. (intransitive,computing,ofsource code)To be converted into software bycompilation,usually with minimal human intervention.
      This code won’tbuildany more. Have you made any changes?

    Usage notes

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    • The simple past tense and past participle used to bebuilded;however, that form is now archaic, having been superseded by the formbuilt.
      I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps / They havebuildedHim an altar in the evening dews and damps.(Julia Ward Howe,Battle Hymn of the Republic- 1861)

    Conjugation

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    Conjugation ofbuild
    infinitive (to)build
    present tense past tense
    1st-personsingularbuild built,builded†
    2nd-personsingular build,buildest† built,builded†,buildedst†
    3rd-personsingular builds,buildeth† built,builded†
    plural build
    subjunctive build built,builded†
    imperative build —
    participles building built,builded†

    Synonyms

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    Antonyms

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    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    Noun

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    build(countableanduncountable,pluralbuilds)

    2. (countable,uncountable)Thephysiqueof a human or animal body, or other object;constitutionorstructure.
      Rugby players are of sturdybuild.
    3. (computing,countable)Any of various versions of a software product as it is being developed for release to users.
      The computer company has introduced a new prototypebuildto beta testers.
    4. (countable)The time spent building something with blocks or plastic bricks.
      This new Lego set was a very nicebuild.
    5. (gaming,slang,countable)Astructure,such as abuilding,statue,poolorforest,or a configuration of a character's items or skills, created by theplayer.
      I made abuildthat looked like the Parthenon in that game.
      • 2005,Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker,Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies,page279:
        In fact, thousands of D&D players constantly debate the virtues of various characterbuilds(combinations of race, class, feat, and spell choices) and share their efforts with each other in hundreds of message boards and mailing lists.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    References

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    1. ^Terminology Search - Microsoft Language Portal

    Chinese

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    Etymology

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    From clipping ofEnglishbuilding.CompareJapaneseビル.

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    build

    1. (Hong Kong Cantonese,colloquial,only in compounds)building
      mainbuild[Cantonese]―ming1biu1[Jyutping]― main building
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