find

I found this shell on the beach

Searching the window for a flint, I found/This paper, thus sealed up.

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]:

Among the Woods and Forests thou art found.

(transitive) To encounter or discover by accident; to happen upon.

I found my car keys. They were under the couch.

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.

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:

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.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

Plastics are energy-rich substances, which is why many of them burn so readily. Any organism that could unlock and use that energy would do well in the Anthropocene. Terrestrial bacteria and fungi which can manage this trick are already familiar to experts in the field. Dr Mincer and Dr Amaral-Zettler found evidence of them on their marine plastic, too.

2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:

(transitive) To encounter or discover something being searched for; to locate.

I found you a new place to live

(ditransitive) Locate on behalf of another

Water is found to be a compound substance.

(ditransitive) To discover by study or experiment direct to an object or end.

to find leisure; to find means

And in thoſe dayes ſhall men ſeke deeth / and ſhall nott fynde hyt / ſhall deſyre to deye / and deeth ſhall flye frõ them.

1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, The Revelacion off Sanct Jhon the Devine ix:[6], folio cccxxix, verso:

(transitive) To gain, as the object of desire or effort.

Looks like he found a new vehicle for himself!

(transitive) To attain to; to arrive at; to acquire.

Among newer procedures, the Robb and Steinberg contrast visualization of cardiac chambers and venous catheterization of the right heart have found the broadest study and application.

1951 March, J. H. Lehmann, A. D. Johnson, W. C. Bridges, J. Michel, D. M. Green, “Cardiac Catheterization—A Diagnostic Aid in Congenital Heart Disease”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 3, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 170:

He kept finding faults with my work.

I find your argument unsatisfactory.

I went looking for you in the bed we share, but tonight I found you not there.

I find you passing gentle.

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]:

The torrid zone is now found habitable.

“ 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.

1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:

(ditransitive) To decide that, to discover that, to form the opinion that.

to find a verdict; to find a true bill (of indictment) against an accused person

to find his title with some shows of truth

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]:

(transitive) To arrive at, as a conclusion; to determine as true; to establish.

to find food for workmen

(transitive, archaic) To supply; to furnish.

He finds his nephew in money.

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."

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:

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.

1892, W. E. Swanton, Notes on New Zealand:

The jury finds for the defendant.

(intransitive, law) To determine or judge.

Peters finds Jinkins, who is running down the left wing.

Van Persie scored a hat-trick against Wigan on Saturday and should have found the net again after Bendtner found him at the far post but the Dutchman's header rebounded to safety off the crossbar.

2011 January 25, Paul Fletcher, “Arsenal 3-0 Ipswich (agg. 3-1)”, in BBC:

(transitive, ball games) To successfully pass to or shoot the ball into.

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.

1945, Nancy Mitford, The Pursuit of Love, Penguin, published 2010, page 57:

(intransitive, hunting) To discover game.

en-verb

find (third-person singular simple present finds, present participle finding, simple past found or (dialectal) fand, past participle found or (archaic) founden)

finds (present singular third-person)
finding (participle present)
found (past)
fand (dialectal past)
found (participle past)
founden (archaic participle past)
find (infinitive)

even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while

even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while

find one's ass with both hands and a flashlight

it is easy to find a stick to beat a dog

look as if one had lost a shilling and found sixpence

look as if one has lost a shilling and found sixpence

scratch a liberal and you'll find a fascist

that's for me to know and you to find out

From Middle English finden, from Old English findan, from Proto-West Germanic *finþan, from Proto-Germanic *finþaną, a secondary verb from Proto-Indo-European *pent- (“to go, pass; path bridge”).
See also West Frisian fine, Low German finden, Dutch vinden, German finden, Danish finde, Norwegian Bokmål finne, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish finna; also English path, Old Irish étain (“I find”), áitt (“place”), Latin pōns (“bridge”), Ancient Greek πόντος (póntos, “sea”), Old Armenian հուն (hun, “ford”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬧𐬙𐬃 (paṇtā̊), Sanskrit पथ (pathá, “path”), Proto-Slavic *pǫtь.
For the meaning development compare Proto-Slavic *najьti > Russian найти́ (najtí), akin to Proto-Slavic *jьti > идти́ (idtí); Russian находи́ть (naxodítʹ), нахо́дка (naxódka), akin to ход (xod), ходи́ть (xodítʹ).


find

Shepard: How did you get these things to your father?
Tali: Sometimes I left packages at secure drops in civilized areas. Someone on Pilgrimage would see that it was shipped home.
Tali: For very valuable finds, I'd signal home, and Father would send a small ship.

2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Alarei:

Anything that is found (usually valuable), as objects on an archeological site or a person with talent.

ανακάλυψη f (anakálypsi, literally “discovery”)