Constitute, v. t. [imp. & p.p. Constituted; p.pr. & vb.n. Constituting.]
Etymology: [L. constitutus, p.p. of constiture to constitute; con- + statuere to place, set, fr. status station, fr. stare to stand. See Stand.]
1. To cause to stand; to establish; to enact. Laws appointed and constituted by lawful authority. Jer. Taylor.
2. To make up; to compose; to form. Truth and reason constitute that intellectual gold that defies destruction. Johnson.
3. To appoint, depute, or elect to an offie; to make and empower. Me didst Thou constitute a priest of thine. Wordsworth. Constituted authorities, the officers of government, collectively, as of a nation, city, town, etc. Bartlett.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Constitute, n.
An established law. [Obs.] T. Preston.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for constitute; he lists it under make.
Where he writes about it:
To make is to cause to exist, or to cause to exist in a certain form or in certain relations; the word thus includes the idea of create, as in Gen. i, 31, "And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." Make includes also the idea of compose, constitute; as, the parts make up the whole. — from make