means

Etymology

See mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”).

noun

1. plural of mean

noun

1. An instrument or condition for attaining a purpose.
   She treated him as a means to an end.
   A car is a means of transport.
   And by this means also he had them the more at vantage, being tired and harassed with a long march; and more at mercy, being cut off far from their country, and therefore not able by any sudden flight to get to retreat, and to renew their troubles. 1622, Francis Bacon, History of the reign of King Henry VII
   Our hope in him is dead: let us return, And strain what other means is left unto us In our dear peril. 1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act V, scene 1
   In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way. 2013-06-07, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6

noun

1. (uncountable) Resources; riches.
   a person of means; independent means
   He was living beyond his means.
   Where there is much means to be used, and conditions yet to be performed, for the continuation and Consummation of our Justification, there it is not yet continued or consummate. 1676, Richard Baxter, A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness, page 163
   Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce 1888, Karl Marx, edited by Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, page 5
   Then the other 12 packers […] were men without much means, who lived in Fresno 1921, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, Authorizing association of producers of agricultural products, page 99
   Some kind of writer. He didn't have to make a living; he had means. 1955, Rex Stout, “Die Like a Dog”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam Books, published October 1994, page 154

verb

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of mean