Definition of "find"

find

/faɪnd/

verb
third-person singular simple present finds, present participle finding, simple past found or (dialectal) fand, past participle found or (archaic) founden
1. To locate
  1. (transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
    Quotations
    Searching the window for a flint, I found/This paper, thus sealed up.
    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, [Act II, scene i]
    Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.
    a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Request
  2. (transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
    Quotations
    I had occasion to make a somewhat long business trip to Chicago, and on my return […] I found Farrar awaiting me in the railway station. He smiled his wonted fraction by way of greeting, and finally leading me to his buggy, turned and drove out of town.
    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.
    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.
    1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company
    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.
    2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845
  3. (ditransitive) Locate on behalf of another
2. (ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.
3. (transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
4. (transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
5. (transitive) To meet with; to receive.
  Quotations
  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.
  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
6. (transitive) To point out.
7. (ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.
  Quotations
  I find you passing gentle.
  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, [Act II, scene i]
  The torrid zone is now found habitable.
  1647, Abraham Cowley, The Request
  “ 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.
  1922, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest‎
8. (transitive) To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.
  Quotations
  to find his title with some shows of truth
  1599, 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, [Act I, scene ii]
9. (transitive, archaic) To supply; to furnish.
10. (transitive, archaic) To provide for
  Quotations
  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."
  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., page 135
  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.
  1892, W. E. Swanton, Notes on New Zealand
11. (intransitive, law) To determine or judge.
12. (transitive, ball sports) To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.
  Quotations
  Van Persie scored a hat-trick against Wigan Atheltic F. C. 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.
  2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC
13. (intransitive, hunting) To discover game.
  Quotations
  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.
  1945, Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love, Penguin, published 2010, page 57
noun
plural finds
1. Anything that is found (usually valuable), as objects on an archeological site or a person with talent.
  Quotations
  Shepard: How did you get these things to your father?Tali: Sometimes I left packages at secure drops in civilized areas. Someone on Pilgrimage would see that it was shipped home.Tali: For very valuable finds, I'd signal home, and Father would send a small ship.
  2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, PC, scene: Alarei
2. The act of finding.

Definition of "find"

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