develop
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /dɪˈvɛl.əp/
rhymes: -ɛləp
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈɖɛv(ə)lɵp/
Forms: form: develops
form: developing
form: developed
form: developed
form: developt
form: developt
form: develope
Etymology: Borrowed from French développer, from Middle French desveloper, from Old French desveloper, from des- + voloper, veloper, vloper (“to wrap, wrap up”) (compare Italian sviluppare, Old Italian alternative form goluppare (“to wrap”)) from Vulgar Latin *vloppō, *wloppō (“to wrap”) ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrappaną, *wlappaną (“to wrap, roll up, turn, wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to turn, bend”) http://www.wordnik.com/words/envelop. Akin to Middle English wlappen (“to wrap, fold”) (Modern English lap (“to wrap, involve, fold”)), Middle English wrappen (“to wrap”), Middle Dutch lappen (“to wrap up, embrace”), dialectal Danish vravle (“to wind, twist”), Middle Low German wrempen (“to wrinkle, scrunch, distort”), Old English wearp (“warp”). The word acquired its modern meaning from the 17th-century belief that an egg contains the animal in miniature and matures by growing larger and shedding its envelopes.
Senses: examples: text: ‘The mystery which I cannot develop, may by that time be removed […].’
ref: 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 176:
text: The plaintiff's case on liability was pretty solid. One of the herbal ingredients in Vita-Pote turned out to have a well-recognized association with temporary impotence.
When it developed that the defendant had never really investigated what the ingredients in Vita-Pote could do to men, the local legal pundits started saying there was no way the plaintiff could lose.
ref: 1999 September 1, Jim McElhaney, ABA Journal, volume 94, number 2, published 1 February 2008, page 24a:
glosses: To discover, find out; to uncover.
examples: text: Let's see how things develop and then make our decision.
glosses: To change with a specific direction, progress.
examples: text: Isabel developed from a tropical depression to a tropical storm to a hurricane. An embryo develops into a fetus and then into an infant.
text: 1868-1869, Robert Owen, Comparative Anatomy and Physiology of Vertebrates
All insects […] acquire the jointed legs before the wings are fully developed.
glosses: To progress through a sequence of stages.
examples: text: We must develop our own resources to the utmost.
ref: 1881, Benjamin Jowett, Thucydides:
glosses: To advance; to further; to promote the growth of.
examples: text: I need to develop a plan for the next three weeks.
text: Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus.[…]A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that. Developed as a tool to electronically combine the sharpest bits of multiple digital images, focus stacking is a boon to biologists seeking full focus on a micron scale.
ref: 2013 July-August, Catherine Clabby, “Focus on Everything”, in American Scientist:
glosses: To create.
examples: text: Please develop this roll of film.
glosses: To bring out images latent in photographic film.
examples: text: I have been in England enough to develop a British accent.
text: You will develop calluses if you play the cello.
text: She developed bad eating habits.
glosses: To acquire something usually over a period of time.
examples: text: I need to develop my white-square bishop.
topics: board-games
chess
games
glosses: To place one's pieces actively.
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
snooker
sports
glosses: To cause a ball to become more open and available to be played on later. Usually by moving it away from the cushion, or by opening a pack.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: To change the form of (an algebraic expression, etc.) by executing certain indicated operations without changing the value.
Derived terms: co-develop
codevelop
developability
developable
developer
developing
development
misdevelop
overdevelop
predevelop
redevelop
underdevelop
Related terms: envelop
envelope