detect
adjEtymology From Latin detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere (“to uncover or disclose”), from de- + tegere (“to cover”); see tegument, tile, thatch.
1
Obsolete Detected.
detect
verbUK /dɪˈtɛkt/
Etymology From Latin detectus, perfect passive participle of detegere (“to uncover or disclose”), from de- + tegere (“to cover”); see tegument, tile, thatch.
1
To discover or find by careful search, examination, or probing.
- Cantharidin, although readily decomposed by chemical agents, is so permanent in the body that it has been detected in the corpse of a cat eighty-four days after death.1885, Alexander Wynter Blyth, Poisons, Their Effects and Detection: A Manual for the Use of Analytical Chemists and Experts, volume I, New York: William Wood and Co., page 430:
- Diesel maintenance schedules are benefiting from work done on the magnificent Hilger & Watts electronic spectrograph for oil analysis, which detects minute quantities of metals in samples of used lubricating oil; [...].1960 June, “Talking of Trains: New B.R. research laboratory”, in Trains Illustrated, page 329:
2
Rare To work as a detective.
- Derived terms
- autodetect, codetect, detectability, detectable, detecter, detectible, detection, detective, detectograph, detector, immunodetect, metal-detect, misdetect, nondetect, overdetect, redetect, underdetect, undetectability
- Related terms
- discover, find, stumble upon