Dictionary

find

Etymology

From Middle English finden, from Old English findan, from Proto-West Germanic *finþan, from Proto-Germanic *finþaną (compare Western Frisian fine, Low German finden, Dutch vinden, German finden, Danish finde, Norwegian Bokmål finne, Norwegian Nynorsk - and Swedish finna), a secondary verb from Proto-Indo-European *pent-, whence *póntoh₁s (compare English path, Old Irish étain, áitt ("place"), Latin pōns, Ancient Greek πόντος, xcl հուն, Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃, Sanskrit पथ, sla-pro *pǫtь).

Pronunciation

enPR: fīnd, IPA: /faɪnd/

Verb

find (finds, present participle finding; simple past and past participle found)

To locate
1. (transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.
  I found this shell on the beach
  - 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]:
    Searching the window for a flint, I found/This paper, thus sealed up.
  - a. 1667, Abraham Cowley, The Request:
    Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.
2. (transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.
  I found my car keys. They were under the couch.
  - 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 ↗:
    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.
  - 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC ↗:
    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.
3. (ditransitive) Locate on behalf of another
  I found you a new place to live
(ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.
Water is found to be a compound substance.
(transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.
to find leisure; to find means
(transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.
Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!
(transitive) To meet with; to receive.
(transitive) To point out.
He kept finding faults with my work.
(ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.
I find your argument unsatisfactory.
I went looking for you in the bed we share, but tonight I found you not there.
- 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]:
  I find you passing gentle.
- 1647, Abraham Cowley, The Request:
  The torrid zone is now found habitable.
- 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC ↗:
  “ 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.
(transitive) To 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
- 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]:
  to find his title with some shows of truth
(transitive, archaic) To supply; to furnish.
to find food for workmen
(transitive, archaic) To provide for
He finds his nephew in money.
- 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 ↗:
  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."
- 1892, W. E. Swanton, Notes on New Zealand:
  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.
(intransitive, law) To determine or judge.
The jury finds for the defendant.
(transitive, ball sports) To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.
Peters finds Jinkins, who is running down the left wing.
(intransitive, hunting) To discover game.
- 1945, Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love, Penguin, published 2010, page 57:
  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.

Conjugation

Conjugation of find

infinitive	(to) find
	present tense	past tense
1st-person singular	find	found, fand^*
2nd-person singular	find, findest^†	found, fand^*, foundest^†
3rd-person singular	finds, findeth^†	found, fand^*
plural	find	found, fand^*

subjunctive	find	found, fand^*

imperative	find	—

participles	finding	found, founden^†