Adjacent Words

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISCOVER, v.t. [See Cover.]
1. Literally, to uncover; to remove a covering. Isaiah 22.
2. To lay open to the view; to disclose; to show; to make visible; to expose to view something before unseen or concealed.
Go, draw aside the curtains and discover the several caskets to this noble prince.
He discovereth deep things out of darkness. Job 12.
Law can discover sin, but not remove.
3. To reveal; to make known.
We will discover ourselves to them. 2 Samuel 14.
Discover not a secret to another. Proverbs 25.
4. To espy; to have the first sight of; as, a man at mast-head discovered land.
When we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand. Acts 21.
5. To find out; to obtain the first knowledge of; to come to the knowledge of something sought or before unknown. Columbus discovered the variation of the magnetic needle. We often discover our mistakes, when too late to prevent their evil effects.
6. To detect; as, we discovered the artifice; the thief, finding himself discovered, attempted to escape.
Discover differs from invent. We discover what before existed, though to us unknown; we invent what did not before exist.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: discover or determine the existence, presence, or fact of; "She detected high levels of lead in her drinking water"; "We found traces of lead in the paint" [syn: detect, observe, find, discover, notice]
2: get to know or become aware of, usually accidentally; "I learned that she has two grown-up children"; "I see that you have been promoted" [syn: learn, hear, get word, get wind, pick up, find out, get a line, discover, see]
3: make a discovery, make a new finding; "Roentgen discovered X-rays"; "Physicists believe they found a new elementary particle" [syn: discover, find]
4: make a discovery; "She found that he had lied to her"; "The story is false, so far as I can discover" [syn: discover, find]
5: find unexpectedly; "the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb"; "she struck a goldmine"; "The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake" [syn: fall upon, strike, come upon, light upon, chance upon, come across, chance on, happen upon, attain, discover]
6: make known to the public information that was previously known only to a few people or that was meant to be kept a secret; "The auction house would not disclose the price at which the van Gogh had sold"; "The actress won't reveal how old she is"; "bring out the truth"; "he broke the news to her"; "unwrap the evidence in the murder case" [syn: unwrap, disclose, let on, bring out, reveal, discover, expose, divulge, break, give away, let out]
7: see for the first time; make a discovery; "Who discovered the North Pole?"
8: identify as in botany or biology, for example [syn: identify, discover, key, key out, distinguish, describe, name]

Merriam Webster's

verb (discovered; discovering) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French descoverir, descovrir, from Late Latin discooperire, from Latin dis- + cooperire to cover — more at cover Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. a. to make known or visible ; expose b. archaic display 2. a. to obtain sight or knowledge of for the first time ; find <discover the solution> b. find out <discovered he was out of gas> intransitive verb to make a discovery • discoverable adjective • discoverer noun Synonyms: discover, ascertain, determine, unearth, learn mean to find out what one did not previously know. discover may apply to something requiring exploration or investigation or to a chance encounter <discovered the source of the river>. ascertain implies effort to find the facts or the truth proceeding from awareness of ignorance or uncertainty <attempts to ascertain the population of the region>. determine emphasizes the intent to establish the facts definitely or precisely <unable to determine the origin of the word>. unearth implies bringing to light something forgotten or hidden <unearth old records>. learn may imply acquiring knowledge with little effort or conscious intention (as by simply being told) or it may imply study and practice <I learned her name only today> <learning Greek>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 (often foll. by that + clause) a find out or become aware of, whether by research or searching or by chance (discovered a new entrance; discovered that they had been overpaid). b be the first to find or find out (who discovered America?). 2 give (check) in a game of chess by removing one's own obstructing piece. 3 (in show business) find and promote as a new singer, actor, etc. 4 archaic a make known. b exhibit; manifest. c disclose; betray. Derivatives: discoverable adj. discoverer n. Etymology: ME f. OF descovrir f. LL discooperire (as DIS-, COVER)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Discover Dis*cov"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Discovered; p. pr. & vb. n. Discovering.] [OE. discoveren, discuren, descuren, OF. descovrir, descouvrir, F. d['e]couvrir; des- (L. dis-) + couvrir to cover. See Cover.] 1. To uncover. [Obs.] Whether any man hath pulled down or discovered any church. --Abp. Grindal. 2. To disclose; to lay open to view; to make visible; to reveal; to make known; to show (what has been secret, unseen, or unknown). Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince. --Shak. Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity doth best discover virtue. --Bacon. We will discover ourselves unto them. --1 Sam. xiv. 8. Discover not a secret to another. --Prov. xxv. 9. 3. To obtain for the first time sight or knowledge of, as of a thing existing already, but not perceived or known; to find; to ascertain; to espy; to detect. Some to discover islands far away. --Shak. 4. To manifest without design; to show. The youth discovered a taste for sculpture. --C. J. Smith. 5. To explore; to examine. [Obs.] Syn: To disclose; bring out; exhibit; show; manifest; reveal; communicate; impart; tell; espy; find; out; detect. -- To Discover, Invent. We discover what existed before, but remained unknown; we invent by forming combinations which are either entirely new, or which attain their end by means unknown before. Columbus discovered America; Newton discovered the law of gravitation; Whitney invented the cotton gin; Galileo invented the telescope.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Discover Dis*cov"er, v. i. To discover or show one's self. [Obs.] This done, they discover. --Decker. Nor was this the first time that they discovered to be followers of this world. --Milton.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(discovers, discovering, discovered) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If you discover something that you did not know about before, you become aware of it or learn of it. She discovered that they'd escaped... It was difficult for the inspectors to discover which documents were important... Haskell did not live to discover the deception... It was discovered that the tapes were missing. = find out, learn VERB: V that, V wh, V n, it be V-ed that 2. If a person or thing is discovered, someone finds them, either by accident or because they have been looking for them. A few days later his badly beaten body was discovered on a roadside outside the city. = find VERB: be V-ed, also V n 3. When someone discovers a new place, substance, scientific fact, or scientific technique, they are the first person to find it or become aware of it. ...the first European to discover America... They discovered how to form the image in a thin layer on the surface. VERB: V n, V wh, also V that • discoverer (discoverers) ...the myth of Columbus as the heroic discoverer of the Americas 500 years ago. N-COUNT: oft N of n 4. If you say that someone has discovered a particular activity or subject, you mean that they have tried doing it or studying it for the first time and that they enjoyed it. I wish I'd discovered photography when I was younger... VERB: V n 5. When a actor, musician, or other performer who is not well-known is discovered, someone recognizes that they have talent and helps them in their career. The Beatles were discovered in the early 1960's. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dis-kuv'-er: In modern usage the word "discover" signifies "to get first sight or knowledge of," "to ascertain," or "to explore." Such usage appears in 1Sa 22:6 of the discovery of David's hiding-place, where the Hebrew uses yadha`. In the King James Version the word "discover" often occurs in a sense now archaic or even obsolete. (Note in the cases cited below the Hebrew word is galah, except Jer 13:26 (chashaph, "to make bare") and Hab 3:13 (`arar, "to make naked").)

(1) "To exhibit," "uncover" (or "betray"), in which examples the English Revised Version also reads with the King James Version "discover"; the American Standard Revised Version "uncover" (Ex 20:26; Job 12:22; Isa 57:8 ("discovered thyself" the King James Version and the English Revised Version); Jer 13:26; La 2:14; Ho 7:1; Na 3:5).

(2) "To cause to be no longer a covering," "to lay bare" (2Sa 22:16 the King James Version).

(3) "To bring to light," "disclose" (1Sa 14:8,11 (the English Revised Version with the King James Version "discover")).

(4) "To unmask" or "reveal oneself" (Pr 18:2 the King James Version).

(5) "To take away the covering of" (Isa 22:8 the King James Version).

(6) "To lay bare" (Hab 3:13). In Ps 29:9, the King James Version reads: "The voice of the Lord .... discovereth the forests," where the Revised Version (British and American) reads, "strippeth the forests bare," i.e. "strippeth the forests of their leaves" (Perowne, The Psalms, I, 248); "strippeth bare the forests" (Briggs, Psalms, I, 251, 253).

In the New Testament (the King James Version), the word "discover" occurs as a translation of the Greek anaphanantes in Ac 21:3, and for katenooun in Ac 27:39, where the Revised Version (British and American) reads in the first instance "had come in sight of," and in the latter case "perceived."

W. N. Stearns

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Reveal, communicate, tell, disclose, exhibit, show, manifest, make manifest, impart, make known, lay open, lay bare, expose to view. 2. Ascertain, detect, find out. 3. Find out (originally), be the discoverer of, be the first to find. 4. Descry, discern, espy, see, behold, get sight of, get a glimpse of.

Moby Thesaurus

advertise, ascertain, bare, be informed, become acquainted with, beget, behold, betray, break the seal, breed, bring forth, bring into being, bring to light, broaden the mind, call into being, catch on, catch sight of, clap eyes on, coin, conceive, concoct, contrive, cook up, cram the mind, debunk, descry, design, detect, determine, develop, devise, dig up, discern, disclose, dismask, distinguish, divulge, draw the veil, dream up, encounter, engender, espy, evolve, expose, fabricate, ferret out, find, find out, find out about, frame, gain knowledge, generate, get, get hold of, get wise to, give away, give being to, give rise to, glimpse, hatch, have in sight, hear, hit, hunt down, identify, impart, improvise, innovate, introduce, introduce new blood, invent, ken, lay bare, lay eyes on, lay open, learn, learn about, let daylight in, let out, load the mind, locate, look on, look upon, make do with, make innovations, make out, make up, manifest, mature, meet with, mint, mouth, neologize, note, notice, observe, open, open up, originate, perceive, pick out, pick up information, pioneer, plan, proclaim, procreate, publish, raise the curtain, recognize, rediscover, reveal, revolutionize, root out, run down, run to earth, search out, see, show, show up, sight, smoke out, spawn, spill, spot, spy, strike, strike out, strip bare, take in, tell, think out, think up, trace, trace down, track down, tumble, turn up, twig, uncloak, uncover, undrape, undress, unearth, unfold, unfurl, unkennel, unmask, unpack, unroll, unscreen, unsheathe, unshroud, unveil, unwrap, view, witness