Etymology From mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”). Compare French moyens, German Mittel.
1
An instrument or condition to achieve a result.
She treated him as a means to an end.
A car is a means of transport.
4 more examples
There are two means of egress out of the building.
And by this means also he had them the more at vantage, being tired and harassed with a long march; and more at mercy, being cut off far from their country, and therefore not able by any sudden flight to get to retreat, and to renew their troubles.1622, Francis Bacon, History of the reign of King Henry VII:
Our hope in him is dead: let us return, And strain what other means is left unto us In our dear peril.1623, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act V, scene 1:
In his submission to the UN, [Christof] Heyns points to the experience of drones. Unmanned aerial vehicles were intended initially only for surveillance, and their use for offensive purposes was prohibited, yet once strategists realised their perceived advantages as a means of carrying out targeted killings, all objections were swept out of the way.2013 June 7, Ed Pilkington, “‘Killer robots’ should be banned in advance, UN told”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 6:
Etymology From mean (“method or course of action used to achieve some result”). Compare French moyens, German Mittel.
1
Financial resources; wealth.
a person of means; independent means
He was living beyond his means.
3 more examples
Where there is much means to be used, and conditions yet to be performed, for the continuation and Consummation of our Justification, there it is not yet continued or consummate.1676, Richard Baxter, A Treatise of Justifying Righteousness, page 163:
Because there is too much civilisation, too much means of subsistence, too much industry, too much commerce1888, Karl Marx, edited by Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, page 5:
Then the other 12 packers […] were men without much means, who lived in Fresno1921, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary, Authorizing association of producers of agricultural products, page 99:
2
Substantial wealth.
She is a woman of means.
Hotels that are so priced that only people of means can stay.
1 more example
Some kind of writer. He didn't have to make a living; he had means.1955, Rex Stout, “Die Like a Dog”, in Three Witnesses, Bantam Books, published 23 October 1994, →ISBN, page 154: