Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To make up the constituent parts of; constitute or form.
- intransitive verb To make or create by putting together parts or elements.
- intransitive verb To create or produce (a literary or musical piece).
- intransitive verb To make (oneself) calm or tranquil.
- intransitive verb To settle or adjust; reconcile.
- intransitive verb To arrange aesthetically or artistically.
- intransitive verb Printing To arrange or set (type or matter to be printed).
- intransitive verb To create a literary or musical piece.
- intransitive verb Printing To set type.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To make or form by uniting two or more things; put together the parts of; form by framing, fashioning, or arranging.
- In relation to literary authorship: as, to
compose a sermon or a sonnet. - In relation to musical authorship: as, to
compose a sonata. - In relation to artistic skill: as, to
compose (arrange the leading features of) a picture, statue, group, etc. - In printing: To put into type; set the types for: as, to
compose a page or a pamphlet. - To arrange in the composing-stick: set: as, to
compose a thousand ems. - To form by being combined or united; be the substance, constituents, or elements of; constitute; make up: as, levies of raw soldiers compose his army; the wall is composed of bricks and mortar; water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen.
- To bring into a composed state; calm; quiet; appease.
- To settle; adjust; reconcile; bring into a proper state or condition: as, to
compose differences. - To place or arrange in proper form; put into a settled state; arrange.
- To dispose; put into a proper mood or temper for any purpose.
- To practise composition, in any of the active senses of that word.
- To come to an agreement; adjust differences; agree.
- In painting, to combine or fall into a group or arrangement with artistic effect; admit of pleasing or artistic combination in a picture: as, the mountains composed well.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To form by putting together two or more things or parts; to put together; to make up; to fashion.
- transitive verb To form the substance of, or part of the substance of; to constitute.
- transitive verb To construct by mental labor; to design and execute, or put together, in a manner involving the adaptation of forms of expression to ideas, or to the laws of harmony or proportion.
- transitive verb To dispose in proper form; to reduce to order; to put in proper state or condition; to adjust; to regulate.
- transitive verb To free from agitation or disturbance; to tranquilize; to soothe; to calm; to quiet.
- transitive verb (Print.) To arrange (types) in a composing stick in order for printing; to set (type).
- intransitive verb obsolete To come to terms.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
make up the whole; toconstitute . - verb transitive, nonstandard To
comprise . - verb transitive or intransitive To
construct by mental labor; tothink up ; particularly, to produce or create aliterary or musical work. - verb reflexive To
calm oneself down. - verb To arrange the elements of a
photograph or other picture. - verb To
settle (an argument, dispute etc.); to come to asettlement .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb calm (someone, especially oneself); make quiet
- verb produce a literary work
- verb form the substance of
- verb put together out of existing material
- verb make up plans or basic details for
- verb write music
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Richter later spent some time in America, where, among other things, he collaborated with Jean Cocteau on the late surrealist romp 8x8: A Chess Sonata (portions of which are also online — check out this sequence featuring Paul Bowles awakening to compose from a slowly draining swimming pool.) posted by Matthew @ 10: 00 AM
Hats Off Matthew Guerrieri 2007
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Richter later spent some time in America, where, among other things, he collaborated with Jean Cocteau on the late surrealist romp 8x8: A Chess Sonata (portions of which are also online — check out this sequence featuring Paul Bowles awakening to compose from a slowly draining swimming pool.) posted by Matthew @ 10: 00 AM
Archive 2007-03-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2007
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But now the reality they do compose is not in some world over against the author but in the author's own articulated processes of sensation.
Strange Affinities: A Partial Return to Wordsworthian Poetics After Modernism 2003
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When the paroxysms had passed I would again compose a few bars until the pain overwhelmed me again.
Gilbert and Sullivan 1932
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I like to work in bursts, when stuff “comes” to me because I’m lazy and making my brain focus and compose is annoying if I’m not in the mood.
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All this information is also available in compose mode as well, so you know exactly who you’re sending it to.
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To comprise is to take in, embrace; to compose is to make up.
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There is, between our body and other bodies, an arrangement like that of the pieces of glass that compose a kaleidoscopic picture.
Evolution créatrice. English Henri Bergson 1900
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With these men, to compose is to hesitate; and to revise is to be mortified by fresh doubts and unsupplied omissions.
Literary Character of Men of Genius Drawn from Their Own Feelings and Confessions Isaac Disraeli 1807
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Third, tell MEF to actually go and compose, that is satisfy all imports.
MSDN Blogs 2009
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