Method, n.
Etymology: [F. méthode, L. methodus, fr. Gr. meqodos method, investigation following after; meta after + odos way.]
1. An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of teaching languages; a method of improving the mind. Addison.
2. Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic arrangement peculiar to an individual. Though this be madness, yet there's method in it. Shak. All method is a rational progress, a progress toward an end. Sir W. Hamilton.
3. (Nat. Hist.)
Classification; a mode or system of classifying natural objects according to certain common characteristics; as, the method of Theophrastus; the method of Ray; the Linnæan method.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Order; system; rule; regularity; way; manner; mode; course; process; means. -- Method, Mode, Manner. Method implies arrangement; mode, mere action or existence. Method is a way of reaching a given end by a series of acts which tend to secmode relates to a single action, or to the form which a series of acts, viewed as a whole, exhibits. Manner is literally the handling of a thing, and has a wider sense, embracing both method and mode. An instructor may adopt a good method of teaching to write; the scholar may acquire a bad mode of holding his pen; the manner in which he is corrected will greatly affect his success or failure.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for method; he lists it under system.
Where he writes about it:
Method denotes a process, a general or established way of doing or proceeding in anything; rule, an authoritative requirement or an established course of things; system, not merely a law of action or procedure, but a comprehensive plan in which all the parts are related to each other and to the whole; as, a system of theology; a railroad system; the digestive system; manner refers to the external qualities of actions, and to those often as settled and characteristic; we speak of a system of taxation, a method of collecting taxes, the rules by which assessments are made; or we say, as a rule the payments are heaviest at a certain time of year; a just tax may be made odious by the manner of its collection. — from system