Pa. t. and pple. built, poet. and arch. builded. Forms: Inf. 3–4 bulde(n, 4 bylden, bilden, (bield, byle), (4–5 belde(n, beelde), 4–6 byld(e, bild(e, 5 buylden, 5–6 buyld(e, 6 builde, (byeld, beald, Sc. beild), 6– build. Pa. t. 4 bildide, (bult), 4–5 bild(e, 5 buylde, byld, bylled, 5–6 bylded, -yd, buylded, (6 Sc. belt), 6– built, builded. Pa. pple., 2 ȝebyld, 4 i-, y-buld, y-beld, bilde, bulde, bilt, (bilid), 5 bild, bylte, beldid, bildid, 6 bylded, bylt, (bylled, -yd), buylded, -yt, buylt, (i-bylt), (8 build), 6– built, builded. [ME. bulden(ü), bylden, bilden:—OE. *byldan to build (recorded only in pa. pple. ʓebyld), f. bold a dwelling. Hence the two fundamental senses are ‘to construct a dwelling’ and ‘to take up one’s abode, dwell.’ The normal modern spelling of the word would be bild (as it is actually pronounced); the origin of the spelling bui- (buy- in Caxton), and its retention to modern times, are difficult of explanation.
The OE. pple. ʓebyld might be from a compound ʓebyldan: but cf. the southern bytlan (Gregory’s Past. Care 153, l. 9–10), later bytlian (see Bosw.-Toller), f. *buþlo- (whence botl, bold), which points to the antiquity of the vb. (Not to be confounded with OE. byldan, ʓebyldan, for bieldan to make bold: see BIELD.)]
I. To erect a building.
1. trans. Orig. To construct for a dwelling; to erect (a house), make (a nest). Hence, To erect, construct (any work of masonry), and by extension, To construct by fitting together of separate parts; chiefly with reference to structures of considerable size, as a ship or boat, a carriage, an organ, a steam-engine (not, e.g., a watch or a piano). Const. of, more rarely from, out of, with (the material), on (the foundation). In early mod. Eng. used with up without change of meaning; but to build up (in literal sense) now implies a contrast with pulling down, or with a previous state of decay, as ‘to build up again.’ To build a fire: to arrange or pile the fuel. To build a railroad, said in U.S., is unknown in England.
[c. 1150. The Grave, in Thorpe, Analecta, 142. Ðe wes bold ʓebyld er þu iboren were.]
c. 1205. Lay., 2656. He wolde bulden twa burh.
1297. R. Glouc., 439. At Wyndelsore … þat noble stede ys, Þat he let bulde hym sulf.
c. 1400. Maundev., 98. [He] destroyed it [Jerico] and cursed it, and alle hem that bylled it aȝen.
c. 1430. Lydg., Story of Thebes, d j in Dom. Archit., III. 47. A porche bylte of square stons.
1480. Caxton, Descr. Brit., 13. He bylded Caunterbury.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 138 b. Jerico, Hay, and Gabaon, whiche ye pagans buylded.
1541. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 164. Standyngs now made and buyldyd or hereafter to be made and buyld for the said fayre.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 168. Roome was not bylt on one day.
1601. Chester, Love’s Mart., cx. (1878), 27. At Mount Paladour he built his Tent.
1644. Evelyn, Mem. (1857), I. 75. A castle builded on a very steep cliff.
1718. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., II. liii. 78. The houses are tolerably well built.
1794. S. Williams, Vermont, 138. When the Indian builded his house.
1861. Flor. Nightingale, Nursing, 18. Your house must be so built as that the outer air shall find its way … to every corner of it.
b. build up.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1535. Priam … byld vp a bygge towne of þe bare vrthe.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, lxv. 166. Af thys cyte ben many in doubte who buylde it vppe.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. Hezekiah built up the wall that was broken.
Mod. It is far easier to pull down than to build up.
c. build a fire, gun, nest, organ, railroad, ship.
1567. Triall Treas. (1850), 9. Synce Noe’s ship Was made, and builded.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., IV. xii. 4. Swallowes haue built in Cleopatra’s Sailes their nests.
1651. Proc. Parliament, No. 123. 1910. A Vessell … built at Swansey.
1789. G. White, Selborne, xliii. (1853), 151. A pair of honey buzzards built them a nest.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., IV. Fires are built before the tents.
1852. Seidel, Organ, 21. In 1576, an organ with … a back-choir was built at Bernan.
a. 1856. Longf., Building Ship, 94. Thus, said he, we will build this ship!
1860. All Y. Round, No. 73. 545. The taste of the day is for guns that are built, not cast.
1883. F. E. Prendergast, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 939/1. About 550 miles of railroad had been built. Ibid. (1884), June, 127/2. He often built his own fire.
2. absol. To erect a building or buildings; ‘to play the architect’ (J.). Of birds or other animals: To construct nests, etc. (Possibly the earliest instances may belong rather to sense 8.)
c. 1205. Lay., 29671. Al … bigunnen … to bulden bi þan watere.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 509. Bryddeȝ busken to bylde.
1382. Wyclif, Esdra iv. 2. Bilde wee vp with you.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, V. xiv. (1483), 108. Yf thou … arte a maister werker, couthest thou bilde withouten mater.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., I. iii. 264. Our ayerie buildeth in the Cedars top.
1664. Gerbier, Counsel, 104. All Owners … whether they build or not.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1884), 294. The Ground was let out to build on.
1848. L. Hunt, Jar Honey, iii. 33. Building as if they were to live for ever.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cxv. The happy birds, that change their sky To build and brood.
b. With certain advbs., build forms virtual compounds founded on this sense, but used trans. with the notion ‘to affect in such or such ways by building.’ To build up: to obstruct (a doorway, window, etc.) by building. To build in: to immure, enclose by building. To build round: to surround with buildings.
The advb. may either follow or precede the object.
1878. Browning, La Saisiaz, 6. Now built round by rock and boulder.
Mod. When we first came here, the situation was very open, but we are now completely built in.
3. transf. To construct by a process or with a result analogous to that of the builder. Said, e.g., of the Creator, or of natural forces, as when a crystal, an organic body, or the world, is compared to an edifice. Often said in passive of the human body, as ‘His frame was strongly built’ (cf. BUILD sb.). Const. as in 1.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. vi. (1641), 49/2. Beasts which thou This-Day didst build.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 54. Built as it were to make a good Boxer.
1843. J. A. Smith, Product. Farming, 137. Hence the reason why bodies can be nourished and built up upon food comparatively poor in nitrogen.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 1. 2. An amethyst is a crystal built up from particles of silica.
1883. E. A. Parkyn, Syllabus Lect. Anim. & Pl. Life, 4. This power of building-up living from non-living matter is called Assimilation.
4. fig. With reference to immaterial objects: To construct, frame, raise, by gradual means (anything that is compared to an edifice, as a philosophical system, a literary work, a reputation, an empire). Often with up. In religious use, after N. T., To build up (the Church, an individual) = to EDIFY (also absol.). To build up (any one’s health, strength, etc.): to establish it by gradual means.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom. (1879), 86. All þat is ayens conscience, beldith toward helle.
1526. Tindale, Acts xx. 32. I commende you to God and to the worde of his grace which is able to bylde further [1611 to build you vp].
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 36. That … they may meryte and buylde to theyr crowne in heuen.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, II. xiii. (1811), 109. Meetres … builded with polysillables.
a. 1593. Marlowe, Mass. at Paris, III. ii. Who will help to build religion?
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 11. He knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. v. 18. Build our selves Men againe.
1726. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 269. I rejoice that the Lord is building up your family.
1814. Wordsw., Excurs., IV. 1254. So build we up the Being that we are.
1842. Tennyson, Godiva, 79. She … built herself an everlasting name.
1860. Farrar, Orig. Lang., i. 7. Building systems before they had collected facts.
1862. Stanley, Jew. Ch. (1877), I. iii. 52. His fortunes were built up.
1881. N. T. (Rev.), 2 Cor. x. 8. Our authority (which the Lord gave for building you up, and not for casting you down).
5. lit. and fig. To work up (material) into (a building); to join together so as to form a structure. Also with up.
1388. Wyclif, Gen. ii. 22. The Lord God bildide the rib … in to a womman.
1884. Manchester Exam., 18 Sept., 4/6. He collects the spoils of many sessions … like a skilful architect, builds them into a fair and seemly edifice.
6. fig. a. trans. To found (a statement, argument, hope, or confidence, etc.) on a basis.
1528. More, Dial. Heresyes, IV. Wks. 249/2. He taketh the same … for a ground therupon to byeld the distruccion of that holy sacrament of penaunce.
1658. Whole Duty Man, Sund. x. § 1. 79. I shall … build all the particular duties … on those two general ones.
1689. Locke, Govt., I. ix. 87. Sovereignty built on ‘property’ … comes to nothing.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 253, ¶ 4. The Fame that is built on Candour and Ingenuity.
1781. J. Moore, View Soc. It. (1790), I. vii. 70. The independence of Venice was not built on usurpation.
1837. J. H. Newman, Par. Serm. (ed. 3), I. vi. 90. A Christian’s faith and obedience is built on all this.
b. absol. To found one’s confidence, establish an argument, etc. on; to rely confidently on a person or thing (obs. or arch.).
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (1884), 27. I … tould him I wuld bilde uppon him.
1624. Massinger, Renegado, IV. iii. Heaven … will not suffer you to want a man To do that sacred office, build upon it.
1635. Swan, Spec. M., i. § 3 (1643), 33. I find … little in Iosephus concerning this to build upon.
1674. trans. Machiavelli’s Prince, ix. (1883), 66. He that builds upon the people builds upon the sand.
1699. Bentley, Phal., 238. One may build upon this piece of History, as a thing undeniable.
1741. Richardson, Pamela, I. 144. I am deny’d … to go to Church, as I had built upon I might.
1799. Med. & Phys. Jrnl., II. 222. Whether or not that evidence is admissible to build upon.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VII. 60. Not tho’ he built upon the babe restored.
1876. E. Mellor, Priesth., vii. 323. The next passage upon which the Romanists and Ritualists build.
7. quasi-passive use of the pr. pple., as in the house is building, orig. the house is a building, where building was the vbl. sb., and a = on. See A prep.1 12, and BUILDING.
[1535. Coverdale, Ezra v. 16. Sence that tyme hath it bene in buyldinge. Ibid., John ii. 20. Sixe and fourtye yeare was this temple abuyldinge.
a. 1665. J. Goodwin, Filled w. the Spirit (1867), 390. The wall that is a-building.]
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind. (1844), II. xlvi. 95. A pretty little town, building up.
1860. Merc. Mar. Mag., VII. 300. The … lighthouse is stated to be building.
1862. Thornbury, Turner, I. 199. Five drawings of the abbey, then building.
II. [See the etymology.]
† 8. intr. To take up one’s abode, to dwell. Also, To arise, form. Obs.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 25. Of alle that here bult of Bretaygne kynges Ay watz Arthur þe hendest.
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 142. The holy goste will in the byldon.
1470. Harding, Chron., lxi. ii. Galerius had the este there into bylde [v.r. theryn hym to bylde].
1599. Greene, Alphons. (1861), 241. A blister build upon that traitors tongue!
