find

present singular third person finds · participle present finding · past found · dialectal past fand · participle past found · dialectal participle past fand · archaic participle past founden · first person past singular found · dialectal first person past singular fand · archaic present second person singular findest · past second person singular found · dialectal past second person singular fand · archaic past second person singular foundest · present singular third person finds · archaic present singular third person findeth · past singular third person found

1. To locate.
   1. transitiveTo encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.

      I found this shell on the beach.

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      She arrived home to find that the house had gone up in flames.

      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, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

      Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.

      a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Request

      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.

      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

      Synonyms: come upon, encounter, happen across, run across, catch, check, come upon, detect

   2. transitiveTo encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.

      I found my car keys. They were under the couch.

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      I went looking for you in the bed we share, but tonight I found you not there.

      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, →OCLC

      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

      Synonyms: localize, pinpoint · Antonyms: lose, miss

   3. ditransitiveTo locate on behalf of another.

      I found you a new place to live

2. ditransitiveTo discover by study or experiment directed to an object or end.

   Water is found to be a compound substance.

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   The researchers found the two variables to be strongly correlated.

   The B.C. Lottery Corporation commissioned two independent studies that found its voluntary self-exclusion program isn't always catching gamblers who've requested help in staying away.

   2011 August 18, “Problem gambler crackdown coming to B.C. casinos”, in CBC News

3. transitiveTo gain, as the object of desire or effort.

   to find leisure; to find means

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   And in thoſe dayes ſhall men ſeke deeth / and ſhall nott fynde hyt / ſhall deſyre to deye / and deeth ſhall flye frõ them.

   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

4. transitiveTo attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.

   Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!

   Synonyms: gain, get, obtain, achieve, acquire, attain, collect, earn · Antonyms: lose, forlese, leave behind, lose

5. transitiveTo meet with; to receive.

   The proposal found little support within the government.

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   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. transitiveTo point out.

   He kept finding faults with my work.

7. ditransitiveTo decide that, to conclude that, to form the opinion that, to consider.

   I find your argument unsatisfactory.

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   I found it strange {sleeping - to sleep} in your house last night.

   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, →OCLC, [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.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   Of those respondents who detected an odor, most found it musky/urine, many others floral.

   1987 October, Avery N. Gilbert and Charles J. Wysocki, “Results of the Smell Survey”, in National Geographic, volume 172, number 4, page 516

   Synonyms: consider, hold, look upon, account, appraise, count, esteem, see

8. transitiveTo arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.

   to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person

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   to find his title with some shows of truth

   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]

9. archaictransitiveTo supply; to furnish.

   to find food for workmen

10. archaictransitiveTo provide for.

    He finds his nephew in money.

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    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., →OCLC, 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. intransitivelawTo determine or judge.

    The jury finds for the defendant.

    Synonyms: decide, make a decision, choose up, decide, determine, resolve, judge, posken

12. transitiveball gamesTo successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.

    Peters finds Jinkins, who is running down the left wing.

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    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.

    2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC

13. intransitivehobbiesTo discover game.

    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

plural finds

1. Anything that is found (usually valuable), as objects on an archeological site or a person with talent.

   One of the most exciting finds made by Chinese archaeologists within the last twenty years are the sites located in Inner Mongolia and Liaoning Province, particularly the Neolithic Hung-shan culture (c. 3500-2500 B.C.E.).

   2001, Chün-fang Yü, “Feminine Forms of Kuan-yin in Late Imperial China”, in Kuan-yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokiteśvara, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 409

   1 more example

   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, →OCLC, PC, scene: Alarei

   Synonyms: discovery, catch

2. The act of finding.