Struc"ture (?), n. [L. structura, from
struere, structum, to arrange, build, construct; perhaps akin to E. strew: cf. F. structure. Cf. Construe, Destroy, Instrument, Obstruct.]
1. The act of building; the practice of erecting buildings;
construction. [R.]
His son builds on, and never is
content
Till the last farthing is in structure spent.
J. Dryden,
Jr. 2. Manner of building; form; make; construction.
Want of insight into the structure and constitution of the terraqueous globe.
Woodward. 3. Arrangement of parts, of organs, or of
constituent particles, in
a substance or body; as, the structure of a rock or a mineral;
the structure of a sentence.
It [basalt] has often a prismatic structure.
Dana.
4. (Biol.) Manner of organization; the arrangement of the different tissues or parts of animal and
vegetable organisms; as, organic structure,
or the structure of animals and plants; cellular structure.
5.
That which is built; a building; esp., a building of some size or
magnificence; an edifice.
There stands a structure of majestic frame.
Pope. Columnar structure.
See under Columnar.
Hear it pronounced