Exact historical dictionary sense
Mode in Webster's 1913 dictionary
The 1913 record labels mode as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.
[L. modus a measure, due or proper measure, bound, manner, form; akin to E. mete: cf. F. mode. See Mete, and cf. Commodious, Mood in grammar, Modus.]
Cross-verified historical senseIn Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "mode" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[L. modus a measure, due or proper measure, bound, manner, form; akin to E. mete: cf. F. mode. See Mete, and cf. Commodious, Mood in grammar, Modus.]" The selected historical definition says: "Manner of doing or being; method; form; fashion; custom; way; style; as, the mode of speaking; the mode of dressing."