discover

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /dɪˈskʌv.ə/, US /dɪˈskʌv.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English discoveren, borrowed from Old French descovrir (“to uncover, unveil, reveal”),^[2][3][4] from Late Latin discooperīre,^[3][5] from dis- (“opposite of”) and cooperīre (“to cover completely”).^[2][3] See cover.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To reveal or disclose: before 1325, in Cursor Mundi, in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline.^[3][2] At first it often meant to betray someone's secrets, and a discoverer was an informer.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it also meant literally to uncover, as to take off one's hat or the roof of a building,^[2][6] a sense Trench notes in the Bible: “The voice of the Lord discovereth the forests”.^[7] To reconnoitre is from 1375, now obsolete.^[6] To find out something unknown, the main modern sense, is from the 1550s,^[2] the 16th century in Hoad.^[4] Discovery is from 1553, in Hakluyt's Voyages.^[3] To make a person famous, as in discovering a new singer, is from 1908.^[2] In chess, discover check is from 1614.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1325 – to reveal.^[3]
• 1382 – to uncover.^[6]
• 1550s – to find out.^[2]
• 1553 – discovery.^[3]
• 1908 – to make famous.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To find something or someone, especially for the first time.
2. To find out or realize something: she discovered that he had lied.
3. To be the first to find or learn about something: Fleming discovered penicillin.
4. To find a talented person and make them known.
5. (archaic) To reveal or disclose.

Word family

• discoverable
• discoverer
• discoverably
• prediscover
• rediscover
• discovered check

Related words

• discovery
• cover
• recover
• uncover

Usage notes

Discover is used for finding what already exists, invent for making what did not exist before, as the Century Dictionary notes.^[2] Discover, ascertain, determine and learn all mean to gain knowledge of something not known before.^[8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin