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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Invent \In*vent"\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Invented}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Inventing}.] [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to E. come: cf. F. inventer. See {Come}.]
1. To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [Obs.]
And vowed never to return again, Till him alive or dead she did invent. --Spenser.
2. To discover, as by study or inquiry; to find out; to devise; to contrive or produce for the first time; -- applied commonly to the discovery of some serviceable mode, instrument, or machine.
Thus first Necessity invented stools. --Cowper.
3. To frame by the imagination; to fabricate mentally; to forge; -- in a good or a bad sense; as, to invent the machinery of a poem; to invent a falsehood.
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. --Milton.
He had invented some circumstances, and put the worst possible construction on others. --Sir W. Scott.
Syn: To discover; contrive; devise; frame; design; fabricate; concoct; elaborate. See {Discover}.
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |