Free Translator Free Translator
Translators Dictionaries Courses Other
Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Purpose   /pˈərpəs/   Listen
noun
Purpose  n.  
1.
That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. "He will his firste purpos modify." "As my eternal purpose hath decreed." "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it."
2.
Proposal to another; discourse. (Obs.)
3.
Instance; example. (Obs.)
In purpose, Of purpose, On purpose, with previous design; with the mind directed to that object; intentionally. On purpose is the form now generally used.
Synonyms: design; end; intention; aim. See Design.



verb
Purpose  v. t.  (past & past part. purposed; pres. part. purposing)  
1.
To set forth; to bring forward. (Obs.)
2.
To propose, as an aim, to one's self; to determine upon, as some end or object to be accomplished; to intend; to design; to resolve; often followed by an infinitive or dependent clause. "Did nothing purpose against the state." "I purpose to write the history of England from the accession of King James the Second down to a time which is within the memory of men still living."



Purpose  v. i.  To have a purpose or intention; to discourse. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |





"Purpose" Quotes from Famous Books



... think this was a very good idea, but when the Semi-drunk attempted to rise for the purpose of carrying it out, he was thrown down by a sudden lurch of the carriage on the top of the prostrate figure of the bugle man and by the time the others had assisted him back to his seat they had forgotten all about their plan of getting ...
— The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists • Robert Tressell

... circumstances of the invention of the first ball are enveloped in some doubt. Herodotus attributes it to the Lydians, but several other writers unite in conceding to a certain beautiful lady of Corcyra, Anagalla by name, the credit of first having made a ball for the purpose of pastime. Several passages in Homer rather sustain this latter view, and, therefore, with the weight of evidence, and to the glory of woman, we, too, shall adopt this theory. Anagalla did not apply for letters patent, but, whether from goodness of heart or ...
— Base-Ball - How to Become a Player • John M. Ward

... acknowledgment is due to Mr. R. Stuart Poole, the learned curator of the coins and gems in the British Museum, for his kind selection of the most suitable medals, and for procuring casts of them for me for the present purpose. These casts were, with one exception, all photographed to a uniform size of four-tenths of an inch between the pupils of the eyes and the division between the lips, which experience shows to be the most convenient size on the whole to work with, regard being paid to many ...
— Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development • Francis Galton

... of maize, must not be sparing of his labor, but must keep the ground constantly stirring during the whole growth of the crop. And it is a rare instance to see the plough introduced as an assistant, unless it be the slook plough, for the purpose of introducing a sowing of wheat for the following year, even while the present crop is growing; and this is frequently practiced in fields of maize, and sometimes in fields of tobacco, which may be ranked amongst the best fallow crops, ...
— Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce • E. R. Billings

... conscious as he wiped his perspiring mop of a forehead that the tenor trombone coughed in his instrument. The strange cackle caused the composer to start: "How's that, what's that?" The man apologized. "Yes, yes, of course you didn't do it on purpose. But how did you do it? Try it again." The trombone blatted and the orchestra roared with laughter. "Gentlemen, gentlemen, this will never do. I needed just such a crazy tone effect and always imagined ...
— Melomaniacs • James Huneker


More quotes...



Copyright © 2024 Free-Translator.com