discover

discover
    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}]
    

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.]
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            Whether any man hath pulled down or discovered any
            church.                               --Abp.
                                                  Grindal.
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   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). [Archaic]
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            Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover
            The several caskets to this noble prince. --Shak.
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            Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity
            doth best discover virtue.            --Bacon.
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            We will discover ourselves unto them. --1 Sam. xiv.
                                                  8.
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            Discover not a secret to another.     --Prov. xxv.
                                                  9.
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   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. [WordNet sense
      1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]
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            Some to discover islands far away.    --Shak.
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   4. To manifest without design; to show.
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            The youth discovered a taste for sculpture. --C. J.
                                                  Smith.
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   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.
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Discover \Dis*cov"er\, v. i.
   To discover or show one's self. [Obs.]
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         This done, they discover.                --Decker.
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         Nor was this the first time that they discovered to be
         followers of this world.                 --Milton.
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156 Moby Thesaurus words for "discover":
      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