All 17 Uses

function
in
The Devil in the White City
(Auto-generated)

He issued instructions that anticipated by many years Louis Sullivan's famous admonition that form must follow function.
p. 24.8 *

function = purpose
She stayed at the function for all of one hour, then bolted.
p. 262.9 *

function = social event
He was picky and frugal and seemed not to care how the building looked as long as it was functional.†
p. 24.8
The resultant harmony was reflected in the operation of their office, which, according to one historian, functioned with the mechanical precision of a "slaughterhouse," an apt allusion, given Burnham's close professional and personal association with the stockyards.†
p. 27.5
Skeletons hung in offices for easy anatomical reference; some transcended function to become works of art so detailed, so precisely articulated—every bleached bone hitched to its neighbor with brass, under a skull grinning with slap-shoulder bonhomie—that they appeared ready to race chattering down the street to catch the next grip-car.†
p. 38.7
The building's broad design and its function had come to him all at once, like a blueprint pulled from a drawer.†
p. 66.6
A worker might be ordered to perform a certain task—for example, to install the gas nozzle inside the big walk-in vault—but in the narrow context within which the worker functioned, the assignment could seem reasonable or at worst merely eccentric.†
p. 67.9 *
It was the first in a sequence of impossibly rich and voluminous banquets whose menus raised the question of whether any of the city's leading men could possibly have a functional artery.†
p. 97.8
Both men symbolized all that stood in the way of Sullivan's own emerging ethos that a building's function should express itself in its design—not merely that form should follow function but that "the function created or organized its form."†
p. 105.5
Both men symbolized all that stood in the way of Sullivan's own emerging ethos that a building's function should express itself in its design—not merely that form should follow function but that "the function created or organized its form."†
p. 105.5
Both men symbolized all that stood in the way of Sullivan's own emerging ethos that a building's function should express itself in its design—not merely that form should follow function but that "the function created or organized its form."†
p. 105.5
Sullivan admired both Root and Adler but believed they functioned on a lesser plane.†
p. 105.8
Next he organized these functions at other theaters and received regular commissions from each.†
p. 136.8
He created the new post of director of functions and assigned Frank Millet to the job, giving him wide latitude to do what he could to boost attendance.†
p. 241.8
Its function was to produce ice, store the perishable goods of exhibitors and restaurants, and operate an ice rink for visitors wishing to experience the novelty of skating in July.†
p. 278.3
Frank Millet, director of functions, meanwhile stepped up his own efforts to promote the fair and arranged an increasingly exotic series of events.†
p. 311.2
Police found a gas jet with no apparent function other than to admit gas into the vault.†
p. 364.4

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Definitions:

(1) (function as in: Its main function is to...)
purpose, job, or natural activity
(2) (function as in: can't function well without sleep)
work or operate -- sometimes to work or operate normally or in a particular way
(3) (function as in: I'm attending a function tonight)
a social event or ceremony -- especially one attended for work or out of a sense of duty
(4) (function as in: oxygen is a function of altitude)
saying one results from another; or saying that the amount of one thing is dependent upon the value of another.

If x is a function of y, then x results from y; or the amount of x can be calculated based on the amount of y.
(5) (function as in: Amazon's new search function)
computer code that performs a specific task
(6) (function as in: a mathematical function)
a formula or mathematical expression that describes a relationship between variables
(7) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
For more specialized meanings in math and chemistry, see a comprehensive dictionary.

function in The Devil in the White City (Auto-generated)

function
in
The Devil in the White City
(Auto-generated)