compile Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb get or gather together
    amass; roll up; collect; accumulate; hoard; pile up.
    • I am accumulating evidence for the man's unfaithfulness to his wife
    • She is amassing a lot of data for her thesis
    • She rolled up a small fortune
  2. verb put together out of existing material
    compose.
    • compile a list
  3. verb use a computer program to translate source code written in a particular programming language into computer-readable machine code that can be executed

WordNet

Com*pile" transitive verb
Etymology
F. compiler, fr.L. compilare to plunder, pillage; com- + pilare to plunder. See Pill, v. t., Pillage.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Compiled ; present participle & verbal noun Compiling
Definitions
  1. To put together; to construct; to build. Obs.
    Before that Merlin died, he did intend A brazen wall in compass to compile. Spenser.
  2. To contain or comprise. Obs.
    Which these six books compile. Spenser.
  3. To put together in a new form out of materials already existing; esp., to put together or compose out of materials from other books or documents.
    He [Goldsmith] compiled for the use of schools a History of Rome. Macaulay.
  4. To write; to compose. Obs. Sir W. Temple.

Webster 1913