To draw the outline or figure of, especially of a proposed work of art; trace out; sketch, as a pattern or model.To plan or outline in general; determine upon and mark out the principal features or parts of, as a projected thing or act; plan; devise.To contrive for a purpose; project for the attainment of a particular end; form in idea, as a scheme.To devote to mentally; set apart in intention; intend.To purpose; intend; mean: with an infinitive as object: as, he designs to write an essay, or to study law.To mark out by tokens; indicate; point out; designate; appoint.To signify.To do original work in a graphic or plastic art; compose a picture, or make an original plan, as an architect, a landscape-gardener, or an inventor.To invent.To set out or start, with a certain destination in view; direct one's course.n. A drawing, especially in outline or little more; any representation made with pencil, pen, or brush.n. A plan or an outline in general; any representation or statement of the main parts or features of a projected thing or act; specifically, in architecture, a plan of an edifice, as represented by the ground-plans, elevations, sections, and whatever other drawings may be necessary to guide its construction.n. Artistic invention in drawing or sculpture; the practical application of artistic principles or exercise of artistic faculties; the art of designing.n. The arrangement or combination of the details of a picture, a statue, or an edifice.n. A scheme or plan in the mind; purpose; intention; aim.n. Specifically An intention or a plan to act in some particular way; a project; especially, in a bad sense, a plan to do something harmful or illegal: commonly with upon.n. Contrivance; adaptation of means to a preconceived end: as, the evidence of design in a watch.n. The purpose for which something exists or is done; the object or reason for something; the final purpose.n. Synonyms Drawing, outline, draft, delineation.n. Project, Scheme, etc. (see plan, n.), intent, aim, mark, object.n. Specifically, in music, either the melodic pattern, the harmonic process, or the rhythmic and metric form adopted in composition, by which a particular work or a class of works is made coherent and characteristic. In the evolution of artistic music the principles of design have been but slowly perceived and established.