The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Method \Meth"od\, n. [F. m['e]thode, L. methodus, fr. Gr.
   meqodos method, investigation following after; meta` after +
   "odo`s way.]
   1. An orderly procedure or process; regular manner of doing
      anything; hence, manner; way; mode; as, a method of
      teaching languages; a method of improving the mind.
      --Addison.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. Orderly arrangement, elucidation, development, or
      classification; clear and lucid exhibition; systematic
      arrangement peculiar to an individual.
      [1913 Webster]

            Though this be madness, yet there's method in it.
                                                  --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

            All method is a rational progress, a progress toward
            an end.                               --Sir W.
                                                  Hamilton.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Nat. Hist.) Classification; a mode or system of
      classifying natural objects according to certain common
      characteristics; as, the method of Theophrastus; the
      method of Ray; the Linnaean method.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. A technique used in acting in which the actor tries to
      identify with the individual personality of the specific
      character being portrayed, so as to provide a realistic
      rendering of the character's role. Also called the
      Method, method acting, the Stanislavsky Method or
      Stanislavsky System.
      [PJC]

   Syn: Order; system; rule; regularity; way; manner; mode;
        course; process; means.

   Usage: Method, Mode, Manner. Method implies
          arrangement; mode, mere action or existence. Method is
          a way of reaching a given end by a series of acts
          which tend to secure it; mode relates to a single
          action, or to the form which a series of acts, viewed
          as a whole, exhibits. Manner is literally the handling
          of a thing, and has a wider sense, embracing both
          method and mode. An instructor may adopt a good method
          of teaching to write; the scholar may acquire a bad
          mode of holding his pen; the manner in which he is
          corrected will greatly affect his success or failure.
          [1913 Webster] Methodic

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

173 Moby Thesaurus words for "method":
   MO, ability, action, actions, activity, acts, address, affectation,
   air, algorithm, anality, apple-pie order, approach, arrangement,
   art, avenue, behavior, behavior pattern, behavioral norm,
   behavioral science, blueprint, blueprinting, calculation, capacity,
   capital, carriage, charting, comportment, conception, conduct,
   contrivance, course, craft, culture pattern, custom, demeanor,
   deportment, design, device, devices, discipline,
   disposable resources, disposition, doing, doings, enterprise,
   envisagement, fashion, figuring, fine fettle, folkway, foresight,
   forethought, form, funds, game, gestures, goings-on,
   good condition, good shape, good trim, graphing, ground plan,
   guidelines, guise, idea, intention, layout, line, line of action,
   lines, lineup, long-range plan, maintien, manner,
   manner of working, manners, mapping, master plan, means, mechanics,
   mechanism, methodicalness, methodology, methods, mien, mode,
   mode of operation, mode of procedure, modus, modus operandi,
   modus vivendi, motions, movements, moves, neatness,
   observable behavior, operations research, order, orderliness,
   organization, pattern, plan, planning, planning function, poise,
   port, pose, posture, power, practice, praxis, prearrangement,
   presence, procedure, proceeding, process, program,
   program of action, rationalization, recourses, regularity, resorts,
   resources, road, route, routine, schedule, schema, schematism,
   schematization, scheme, scheme of arrangement, science, setup,
   skill, social science, stock, strategic plan, strategy, structure,
   style, supply, system, systematicness, systematization, tack,
   tactical plan, tactics, technic, technical know-how,
   technical knowledge, technical skill, technics, technique,
   technology, the big picture, the drill, the how, the picture,
   the way of, tidiness, tone, trimness, way, way of life, ways,
   ways and means, wherewith, wherewithal, wise, working plan,
   wrinkle



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

METHOD. The mode of operating or the means of attaining an object.
     2. It has been questioned whether the method of making a thing can be
patented. But it has been considered that a method or mode may be the
subject of a patent, because, when the object of two patents or effects to
be produced is essentially the same, they may both be valid, if the modes of
attaining the desired effect are essentially different. Dav. Pat. Cas. 290;
2 B. & Ald. 350; 2 H. Bl. 492; 8 T. R. 106; 4 Burr. 2397; Gods. on Pat. 85;
Perpigna, Manuel des Inventeurs, &c., c. 1, sect. 5, Sec. 1, p. 22.