discoverer
nounUS /dɪˈskʌvəɹəɹ/
Etymology From Middle English discoverour, dyscowerer, partly from Middle French descouvreur and partly equivalent to discover + -er.
1
One who discovers: a person who has discovered something.
- [W]hen the flowꝛes there haue been ſufficiently wꝛought, they [bees] ſend abꝛoade their diſcouerers to finde out moꝛe foode.1577, Conradus Heresbachius [i.e., Konrad Heresbach], translated by Barnabe Googe, “The fourth Booke, entreatyng of Poultry, Foule, Fishe, and Bees”, in Foure Bookes of Husbandry, […], London: […] Richard Watkins, folio 175, verso:
- The ſpecies of elaſtic fluid, which its great diſcoverer, Dr. Prieſtley, denominated the dephlogiſticated nitrous air, and others have ſince called gazeous oxyd of azot, is in general not unknown to chemiſts, though they are unacquainted with its compoſition, its moſt extraordinary effects, and probably with its perfect preparation.1799, Robert John Thornton, chapter XXIII, in The Philosophy of Medicine: Or, Medical Extracts on the Nature of Health and Disease, Including the Laws of the Animal Œconomy, and the Doctrines of Pneumatic Medicine, 4th edition, volume 1, page 450:
2 more examples
- [M]any of the most successful discoverers of metallic wealth have been entirely ignorant of the methods by which a great mine should be opened, developed, and worked.1898, Charles A. Bramble, “Prospecting”, in The A B C of Mining[:] A Handbook for Prospectors […] , Chicago; New York: Rand, McNally & Company, page 7:
- But this was subterfuge to defeat the curiosity of a chance discoverer.1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, →OCLC, page 30:
- Derived terms
- codiscoverer, Discoverers' Day