ON PURPOSE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of On purpose

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/ɑn pˈərpəs/ Listen

noun

Purpose n.

That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; the end or aim to which the view is directed in any plan, measure, or exertion; view; aim; design; intention; plan. "He will his firste purpos modify." "As my eternal purpose hath decreed." "The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it."

Proposal to another; discourse. (Obs.)

Instance; example. (Obs.)

In purpose, Of purpose, On purpose, with previous design; with the mind directed to that object; intentionally. On purpose is the form now generally used.

Synonyms: design; end; intention; aim. See Design.

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Etymology of 'On purpose'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"On purpose" Quotes from Famous Books

... the day. He was Farquhar's lifelong friend, and appeared in all his plays, except Love and a Bottle which was produced in London during Wilks's absence in Dublin. This actor's most famous part was 'Sir Harry Wildair' (The Constant Couple), which our author drew on purpose for him, and which ran for fifty-two nights on its first appearance. Farquhar himself said that when the stage had the misfortune to lose Wilks, 'Sir Harry Wildair' might go to the Jubilee! Peg Woffington ...

— The Beaux-Stratagem • George Farquhar

... program that solves a standard problem (such as the Eight Queens puzzle or implementing the {life} algorithm) in a deliberately nonstandard way. Distinguished from a {crock} or {kluge} by the fact that the programmer did it on purpose as a mental exercise. Such constructions are quite popular in exercises such as the {Obfuscated C Contest}, and occasionally in {retrocomputing}. Lew Lasher was a student at Harvard around 1980 who became notorious for ...

— The Jargon File, Version 4.0.0

... other woman, though, of course, she knew as well as I knew that Jerry never would—She didn't finish her sentence, and because she didn't finish it, it made me think all the more. And I wondered if she left it unfinished—on purpose. ...

— Mary Marie • Eleanor H. Porter

... dusting the cobwebs from her hands. "You look so nice and interesting and mysterious just on purpose to discourage promising young sleuths like me. I wish I hadn't given you the satisfaction of bothering with you," and she leaned against the wall ...

— Lucile Triumphant • Elizabeth M. Duffield

... about it. As he sat there eating his pork pie, bulging his cheek out, she felt he was like a doom to her. And she raged against the doom of him. It wasn't that he was gross. His way was common, almost on purpose. But he himself wasn't really common. For instance, his food was not particularly important to him, he was not greedy. He had a charm, too, particularly for women, with his blondness and his sensitiveness and his way of making a woman feel that she was a higher being. But Fanny knew him, ...

— England, My England • D.H. Lawrence

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