[A late formation from L. construct- ppl. stem of construĕre to heap together, pile up, build, construct, f. con- together + struĕre to lay, pile, build. The present stem of the L. vb. has given CONSTRUE.]
1. trans. To make or form by fitting the parts together; to frame, build, erect.
1663. Boyle, Usefuln. Nat. Phil. (J.). Those divine attributes and prerogatives, for whose manifesting he was pleased to construct this vast fabrick.
1730–6. Bailey, Construct, to build, to frame.
1794. Sullivan, View Nat., II. A sacred ship, the first that was ever constructed.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit., xiii. (1870), 139. Des Cartes … said, Give me matter and motion and I will construct you the universe.
1844. H. H. Wilson, Brit. India, III. 37. The Burmas … constructed stockades on either bank of the Surma river.
1863. Mary Howitt, trans. F. Bremer’s Greece, I. i. 19. This splendid road has been lately constructed.
b. (immaterial objects, creations of the mind, etc.)
1755. Johnson, Construct, to form by the mind: as, he constructed a new system.
1812. Examiner, 4 May, 283/2. M. Didelot has constructed a fanciful ballet.
1849. Abp. Thomson, Laws Th., Introd. Before an Art of Rhetoric could be constructed.
1875. Jevons, Money (1878), 10. It is easy to construct a theory of the nature of exchange and value.
absol. 1832. Macaulay, Mirabeau. Demolition is undoubtedly a vulgar task; the highest glory of the statesman is to construct.
2. Gram. To put together (words) in syntactical arrangement; to combine in grammatical construction. (Used chiefly of the manner.)
1871. Publ. School Lat. Gram., 248. Syntax is that division of Grammar which teaches how sentences are constructed. Ibid., 257. The Vocative … is attached to the Sentence, but not constructed with it. Ibid., 321. Many Adjectives above mentioned [as governing a Genitive] are also constructed with Prepositions.
b. (See quot.)
1864. Alford, Queen’s Eng., 183. Suppose I … direct one of them to construe the sentence. He knows perfectly well what I mean … But suppose I tell him to construct the sentence. He … ought to know, that I mean that he is to explain the construction of the sentence, to give an account of its concords and governments.
3. Geom. The ordinary word for: To draw, delineate, or form geometrically. Also, to make the required construction or figure for (a problem in geometry, astronomy, navigation, etc.).
1726. trans. Gregory’s Astron., I. 357. Some construct this Problem of finding the Parallax of Longitude or Latitude from the given Parallax of Altitude, more expeditiously thus.
1828. J. H. Moore, Pract. Navig., 67. This case is constructed much the same as the last.
1840. Lardner, Geom., 132. A rectangle whose area is equal to that of a given triangle, may be found by constructing one with the same base as the triangle and half its altitude. Ibid., 277. A method of constructing or drawing a parabola by a series of points.
1882. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 125. Construct round P as centre the conic whose equation … is, etc.
b. To represent (an algebraical quantity or equation) by a geometrical construction.
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., The method of constructing equations is different, according to the diversity of equations.
1739. Saunderson, Fluxions (1756), 44. To construct this Fluent, that is, to find some geometrical Area with which it may be compared.
† 4. To put a specified construction or interpretation on; = CONSTRUE 4 b. Obs. Sc.
c. 1610. Sir J. Melvil, Mem. (1735), 84. Expressions which were constructed by the Queen of England as a Violation of their former Familiarity.
1668. Sir R. Murray, in Evelyn, Mem. (1857), III. 203. I … construct the design of all to be to express quaintly your kindness in desiring I may be where you are.
1676. W. Row, Contn. Blair’s Autobiog., xi. (1848), 361. This would be constructed by the King and others a homologating of the Protestor’s petition.
