Search

[bild] /bɪld/

verb (used with object), built or (Archaic) builded; building.
1.
to construct (especially something complex) by assembling and joining parts or materials:
to build a house.
2.
to establish, increase, or strengthen (often followed by up):
to build a business; to build up one’s hopes.
3.
to mold, form, or create:
to build boys into men.
4.
to base; found:
a relationship built on trust.
5.
Games.

verb (used without object), built or (Archaic) builded; building.
6.
to engage in the art, practice, or business of building.
7.
to form or construct a plan, system of thought, etc. (usually followed by on or upon):
He built on the philosophies of the past.
8.
to increase or develop toward a maximum, as of intensity, tempo, or magnitude (often followed by up):
The drama builds steadily toward a climax.
noun
9.
the physical structure, especially of a person; physique; figure:
He had a strong build.
10.
the manner or form of construction:
The house was of modern build.
11.
Computers.

12.
Masonry.

Verb phrases
13.
build in/into, to build or incorporate as part of something else:
to build in bookcases between the windows; an allowance for travel expenses built into the budget.
14.
build up,

/bɪld/
verb builds, building, built
1.
to make, construct, or form by joining parts or materials: to build a house
2.
(intransitive) to be a builder by profession
3.
(transitive) to order the building of: the government builds most of our hospitals
4.
foll by on or upon. to base; found: his theory was not built on facts
5.
(transitive) to establish and develop: it took ten years to build a business
6.
(transitive) to make in a particular way or for a particular purpose: the car was not built for speed
7.
(intransitive) often foll by up. to increase in intensity: the wind was building
8.
(cards)

noun
9.
physical form, figure, or proportions: a man with an athletic build
v.

late Old English byldan “construct a house,” verb form of bold “house,” from Proto-Germanic *buthlam (cf. Old Saxon bodl, Old Frisian bodel “building, house”), from PIE *bhu- “to dwell,” from root *bheue- “to be, exist, grow” (see be). Rare in Old English; in Middle English it won out over more common Old English timbran (see timber). Modern spelling is unexplained. Figurative use from mid-15c. Of physical things other than buildings from late 16c. Related: Builded (archaic); built; building.

In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is BUILT. The priest BUILDS up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, BUILDS up a suit of clothes. A fire is BUILT instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be BUILT being used with the meaning of formed. [Farmer, “Slang and Its Analogues,” 1890]

n.

“style of construction,” 1660s, from build (v.). Earlier in this sense was built (1610s). Meaning “physical construction and fitness of a person” attested by 1981. Earliest sense, now obsolete, was “a building” (early 14c.).

noun

verb

To prepare someone for swindling, extortion, etc; SET someone UP (1920s+ Underworld)

[first noun sense perhaps influenced by earlier build, ”the look and shape of tailored clothing”]