Part 342

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.

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.

Dis*cov`er*a*bil"i*ty (?), n. The quality of being discoverable. [R.] Carlyle.

Dis*cov"er*a*ble (?), a. Capable of being discovered, found out, or perceived; as, many minute animals are discoverable only by the help of the microscope; truths discoverable by human industry.

Dis*cov"er*er (?), n. 1. One who discovers; one who first comes to the knowledge of something; one who discovers an unknown country, or a new principle, truth, or fact.

The discoverers and searchers of the land.

Sir W. Raleigh.

2. A scout; an explorer. Shak.

Dis*cov"er*ment, n. Discovery. [Obs.]

Dis*cov"ert (?), a. [Cf. F. découvert uncovered, OF. descovert. See Discover, Covert.] (Law) Not covert; not within the bonds of matrimony; unmarried; -- applied either to a woman who has never married or to a widow.

Dis*cov"ert, n. An uncovered place or part. [Obs.]

At discovert, uncovered. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Dis*cov"er*ture (?; 135), n. [Pref. dis- + coverture: cf. OF. descoverture.] 1. Discovery. [Obs.]

2. (Law) A state of being released from coverture; freedom of a woman from the coverture of a husband.

Dis*cov"er*y (?), n.; pl. Discoveries (&?;). 1. The action of discovering; exposure to view; laying open; showing; as, the discovery of a plot.

2. A making known; revelation; disclosure; as, a bankrupt is bound to make a full discovery of his assets.

In the clear discoveries of the next [world].

South.

3. Finding out or ascertaining something previously unknown or unrecognized; as, Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood.

A brilliant career of discovery and conquest.

Prescott.

We speak of the "invention" of printing, the discovery of America.

Trench.