find
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: fīnd
ipa: /faɪnd/
ipa: /fæn(d)/
note: Local Dublin
ipa: /fəɪn/
ipa: /faɪnd/
ipa: /fʌɪnd/
ipa: [fəi̯nd]
ipa: /fɪnd/
rhymes: -aɪnd
homophone: fined
Forms: form: finds
form: finding
form: found
form: fand
form: found
form: fand
form: founden
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: find
form: find
form: found
form: fand
form: find
form: findest
form: found
form: fand
form: foundest
form: finds
form: findeth
form: found
form: fand
form: find
form: found
form: fand
form: find
form: found
form: fand
form: find
form: -
form: finding
form: found
form: founden
Etymology: From Middle English finden, from Old English findan, from Proto-West Germanic *finþan, from Proto-Germanic *finþaną, a secondary verb from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass; path bridge”).
See also West Frisian fine, Low German finden, Dutch vinden, German finden, Danish finde, Norwegian Bokmål finne, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish finna; also English path, Old Irish étain (“I find”), áitt (“place”), Latin pōns (“bridge”), Ancient Greek πόντος (póntos, “sea”), Old Armenian հուն (hun, “ford”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊), Sanskrit पथ (pathá, “path”), Proto-Slavic *pǫtь.
For the meaning development compare Proto-Slavic *najьti > Russian найти́ (najtí), akin to Proto-Slavic *jьti > идти́ (idtí); Russian находи́ть (naxodítʹ), нахо́дка (naxódka), akin to ход (xod), ходи́ть (xodítʹ).
Senses: examples: text: I found this shell on the beach.
text: She arrived home to find that the house had gone up in flames.
text: Searching the window for a flint, I found/This paper, thus sealed up.
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.
ref: a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Request:
text: I had occasion to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return, much to my surprise, I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: To locate
To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
examples: text: I found my car keys. They were under the couch.
text: I went looking for you in the bed we share, but tonight I found you not there.
text: It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.
ref: 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
glosses: To locate
To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
examples: text: I found you a new place to live
glosses: To locate
To locate on behalf of another.
examples: text: Water is found to be a compound substance.
text: The researchers found the two variables to be strongly correlated.
glosses: To discover by study or experiment directed to an object or end.
examples: text: to find leisure; to find means
text: And in thoſe dayes ſhall men ſeke deeth / and ſhall nott fynde hyt / ſhall deſyre to deye / and deeth ſhall flye frõ them.
ref: 1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Revelacion off Sanct Jhon the Devine ix:[6], folio cccxxix, verso:
glosses: To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
examples: text: Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!
glosses: To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
examples: text: The proposal found little support within the government.
text: Among newer procedures, the Robb and Steinberg contrast visualization of cardiac chambers and venous catheterization of the right heart have found the broadest study and application.
ref: 1951 March, J. H. Lehmann, A. D. Johnson, W. C. Bridges, J. Michel, D. M. Green, “Cardiac Catheterization—A Diagnostic Aid in Congenital Heart Disease”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 170:
glosses: To meet with; to receive.
examples: text: He kept finding faults with my work.
glosses: To point out.
examples: text: I find your argument unsatisfactory.
text: I found it strange {sleeping - to sleep} in your house last night.
text: I find you passing gentle.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: The torrid zone is now found habitable.
ref: 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Request:
text: “ the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes And then, when you see [the senders], you probably find that they are the most melancholy old folk with malignant diseases.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
glosses: To decide that, to conclude that, to form the opinion that, to consider.
examples: text: to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person
text: to find his title with some shows of truth
ref: 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.
examples: text: to find food for workmen
glosses: To supply; to furnish.
examples: text: He finds his nephew in money.
text: They stand idle in the market-place, not because they have not been hired, but because they do not want to be hired; being able to live like the Lazzaroni of Naples, on "Midshipman's half-pay—nothing a day, and find yourself."
ref: 1871, Charles Kingsley, “Port of Spain”, in At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies. […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 135:
text: the pay is good, the musterer receiving ten shillings a day, and all found, all the time he is engaged on the "run," even should he be compelled to remain idle on account of rain or mist.
ref: 1892, W. E. Swanton, Notes on New Zealand:
glosses: To provide for
examples: text: The jury finds for the defendant.
topics: law
glosses: To determine or judge.
examples: text: Peters finds Jinkins, who is running down the left wing.
text: Van Persie scored a hat-trick against Wigan on Saturday and should have found the net again after Bendtner found him at the far post but the Dutchman's header rebounded to safety off the crossbar.
ref: 2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC:
topics: ball-games
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.
examples: text: They found at once, and there was a short sharp run, during which Linda and Tony, both in a somewhat showing-off mood, rode side by side over the stone walls.
ref: 1945, Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love, Penguin, published 2010, page 57:
topics: hobbies
hunting
lifestyle
glosses: To discover game.
Derived terms: barn find
befind
come to find out
even a blind pig can find an acorn
even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while
even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while
fault-find
faultfind
findability
findable
find a friendly bush
find a new gear
find another gear
find as you type
finder
findfault
find fault
find favour
find forth
find God
find in
find it in oneself
find it in one's heart
findless
find one's account
find one's ass with both hands and a flashlight
find oneself
find one's feet
find one's legs
find one's place
find one's tongue
find one's voice
find one's way
find out
find out the hard way
find religion
findspot
find the gap
find the gaps
find the lady
find the latchstring out
find the net
find time
find wanting
find work
find your height
fork found in kitchen
fuck around and find out
gold is where you find it
hard-to-find
I can't find my ...
it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog
look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence
look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence
newfind
outfind
pathfind
please find attached
refind
scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist
seek and ye shall find
shed find
speak as one finds
that's for me to know and you to find out
unfindability
unfindable
viewfinder
where can I find a hotel