Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Discover \Dis*cov"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Discovered}; p. pr.
   & vb. n. {Discovering}.] [OE. discoveren, discuren, descuren,
   OF. descovrir, descouvrir, F. d['e]couvrir; des- (L. dis-) +
   couvrir to cover. See {Cover}.]
   1. To uncover. [Obs.]

            Whether any man hath pulled down or discovered any
            church.                               --Abp.
                                                  Grindal.

   2. To disclose; to lay open to view; to make visible; to
      reveal; to make known; to show (what has been secret,
      unseen, or unknown).

            Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The
            several caskets to this noble prince. --Shak.

            Prosperity doth best discover vice; but adversity
            doth best discover virtue.            --Bacon.

            We will discover ourselves unto them. --1 Sam. xiv.
                                                  8.

            Discover not a secret to another.     --Prov. xxv.
                                                  9.

   3. To obtain for the first time sight or knowledge of, as of
      a thing existing already, but not perceived or known; to
      find; to ascertain; to espy; to detect.

            Some to discover islands far away.    --Shak.

   4. To manifest without design; to show.

            The youth discovered a taste for sculpture. --C. J.
                                                  Smith.

   5. To explore; to examine. [Obs.]

   Syn: To disclose; bring out; exhibit; show; manifest; reveal;
        communicate; impart; tell; espy; find; out; detect. --
        To {Discover}, {Invent}. We discover what existed
        before, but remained unknown; we invent by forming
        combinations which are either entirely new, or which
        attain their end by means unknown before. Columbus
        discovered America; Newton discovered the law of
        gravitation; Whitney invented the cotton gin; Galileo
        invented the telescope.