built adj.

Middle English bilden, from late Old English byldan "construct a house," verb form of bold "house," from Proto-Germanic *buthla- (source also of Old Saxon bodl, Old Frisian bodel "building, house"), from PIE *bhu- "to dwell," from root*bheue- "to be, exist, grow."

Rare in Old English; in Middle English it won out over the more common Old English timbran (see timber). The modern spelling is unexplained. Figurative use is from mid-15c. Of physical things other than buildings from late 16c. Related: Builded (archaic); built; building.

In the United States, this verb is used with much more latitude than in England. There, as Fennimore Cooper puts it, everything is BUILT. The priest BUILDS up a flock; the speculator a fortune; the lawyer a reputation; the landlord a town; and the tailor, as in England, BUILDS up a suit of clothes. A fire is BUILT instead of made, and the expression is even extended to individuals, to be BUILT being used with the meaning of formed. [Farmer, "Slang and Its Analogues," 1890]

past tense of go; originally a past tense and past participle of wend (v.), as sent from send.

The past tense forms of wend were wende, wended, but variants wente, went developed from c. 1200 as part of a Middle English pattern in which the -d of the past tense past participle becomes -t after -t-, -p-, -s-, -f-, in some cases -l- and -n- (also compare keep/kept, leave/left, gird/girt, build/built, feel/felt, dwell/dwelt, Middle English kissen/kiste, etc.

Went began to replace older past tenses of go in Middle English. By c. 1500 they were fully employed in that function, and wend retained the past tense form wended.