Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A usually repeating artistic or decorative design: synonym: figure.
  • noun A natural or accidental arrangement or sequence.
  • noun A plan, diagram, or model to be followed in making things.
  • noun A model or original used for imitation or as an archetype. synonym: ideal.
  • noun A consistent, characteristic form, style, or method, as.
  • noun A composite of traits or features characteristic of an individual or a group.
  • noun Form and style in an artistic work or body of artistic works.
  • noun The configuration of gunshots upon a target that is used as an indication of skill in shooting.
  • noun The distribution and spread, around a targeted region, of spent shrapnel, bomb fragments, or shot from a shotgun.
  • noun Enough material to make a complete garment.
  • noun A test pattern.
  • noun The flight path of an aircraft about to land.
  • noun Football A pass pattern.
  • intransitive verb To make, mold, or design by following a pattern.
  • intransitive verb To cover or ornament with a design or pattern.
  • intransitive verb To make a pattern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An original or model proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be copied or imitated: as, the pattern of a machine. See pattern-maker.
  • noun Hence A sufficient quantity to make a complete article from: as, a pattern, of dress-material.
  • noun Something resembling something else; hence, a precedent.
  • noun Something made after a model; a copy.
  • noun A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample.
  • noun An instance; an example; emphatically, a model example.
  • noun A design or figure corresponding in outline to an object that is to be fabricated, and serving as a guide for determining its exact shape and dimensions; in molding, the counterpart of a casting in wood or metal, from which the mold in the sand is made.
  • noun In numismatics, a specimen struck in metal by the mint as a model or sample for a proposed coin, but not ultimately adopted for the currency.
  • noun A decorative design intended to be carried out in any manufacture; hence, such a design when executed: as, a sprig pattern; a heraldic pattern; silk or damask of a beautiful pattern.
  • noun In gun-making, the distribution of shot in a target at which a shot-gun is fired.
  • noun 10. Synonyms Model, Ideal, etc. See example.
  • noun A templet; a guide; a gage.
  • To make in imitation of some pattern or model; copy.
  • To serve as a pattern, example, or precedent for.
  • To cover with a design or pattern.
  • To match; parallel.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Anything proposed for imitation; an archetype; an exemplar; that which is to be, or is worthy to be, copied or imitated.
  • noun A part showing the figure or quality of the whole; a specimen; a sample; an example; an instance.
  • noun Stuff sufficient for a garment.
  • noun Figure or style of decoration; design.
  • noun Something made after a model; a copy.
  • noun Anything cut or formed to serve as a guide to cutting or forming objects.
  • noun (Founding) A full-sized model around which a mold of sand is made, to receive the melted metal. It is usually made of wood and in several parts, so as to be removed from the mold without injuring it.
  • noun a recognizable characteristic relationship or set of relationships between the members of any set of objects or actions, or the properties of the members; also, the set having a definable relationship between its members.
  • noun (Gun.) A diagram showing the distribution of the pellets of a shotgun on a vertical target perpendicular to the plane of fire.
  • noun the recommended flight path for an airplane to follow as it approaches an airport for a landing. Same as landing pattern.
  • noun an image or diagram containing lines, usually horizontal, vertical, and diagonal, sometimes of varying widths, used to test the resolution of an optical instrument or the accuracy of reproduction of image copying or transmission equipment. Same as test pattern.
  • noun (Figure Weaving) devices, in a loom, for presenting several shuttles to the picker in the proper succession for forming the figure.
  • noun (Weaving) One of the perforated cards in a Jacquard apparatus.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English patron, from Old French; see patron.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originally a variant form of patron.

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Examples

  • If there are fewer elements in the $replacement array than in the $pattern array, any extra $pattern will be replaced by an empty string. limit: The maximum possible replacements for each pattern in each $subject string.

    Muti 2009

  • Next year book features a change in the title pattern and is also called "Changes" another must-read for me.

    Archive 2009-12-01 Liviu 2009

  • Next year book features a change in the title pattern and is also called "Changes" another must-read for me.

    Mihir’s Top Reads of 2009 Liviu 2009

  • The pattern is the Gauntlet pattern from the Not Just Socks book by Sandi Rosner.

    October 2005 2005

  • The pattern is the Gauntlet pattern from the Not Just Socks book by Sandi Rosner.

    Happy Halloween! 2005

  • Three years after Van Dine inaugurated his title pattern, Ellery Queen founded a title dynasty of their own and for nine novels we consistently used the formula implicit in THE ROMAN HAT MYSTERY.

    In The Queens' Parlour Queen, Ellery 1864

  • Allen Brain Atlas that shows the expression pattern of almost every gene in the mouse brain, detailed in a huge series of microscopic images.

    Boing Boing David J. Linden 2011

  • Photo: Reuters The Obama administration denied Mr. Hekmati worked for the CIA and criticized Tehran for what it called a pattern of arresting innocent people for political reasons.

    Iran Sentences Ex-Marine to Death Farnaz Fassihi 2012

  • The only real exception to this pattern is the weeks immediately after the invasion.

    Matthew Yglesias » Does the GOP Governors Split Foreshadow the Party’s Future? 2009

  • The only real exception to this pattern is the weeks immediately after the invasion.

    Matthew Yglesias » Does the GOP Governors Split Foreshadow the Party’s Future? 2009

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