Structure \Struc"ture\, n. [L. structura, from struere, structum, to arrange, build, construct; perhaps akin to E. strew: cf. F. structure. Cf. Construe, Destroy, Instrument, Obstruct.]

1. The act of building; the practice of erecting buildings; construction. [R.]

His son builds on, and never is content Till the last farthing is in structure spent. --J. Dryden, Jr.

2. Manner of building; form; make; construction.

Want of insight into the structure and constitution of the terraqueous globe. --Woodward.

3. Arrangement of parts, of organs, or of constituent particles, in a substance or body; as, the structure of a rock or a mineral; the structure of a sentence.

It [basalt] has often a prismatic structure. --Dana.

4. (Biol.) Manner of organization; the arrangement of the different tissues or parts of animal and vegetable organisms; as, organic structure, or the structure of animals and plants; cellular structure.

5. That which is built; a building; esp., a building of some size or magnificence; an edifice.

There stands a structure of majestic frame. --Pope.

Columnar structure. See under Columnar.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)