findern.
/ˈfʌɪndə/, U.S. /ˈfaɪndər/ 1. A person who or thing which finds something (in various senses of the verb).† a. A person who contrives or invents; an inventor, deviser. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [noun] > contriving or devising > one who contrives or devises
finderc1384
coiner1581
mint master1599
architectress1601
minter1603
inventioner1612
architector1639
contrivera1652
architect1788
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > [noun] > one who finds or discovers
finderc1384
discoverer1576
founder1577
finder-outa1616
repertor1650
ferreter1863
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > [noun] > creator or inventor
craftsmana1382
feigner1382
finderc1384
finder-upc1425
engineer?a1513
finder-out1534
inventor1555
conceiver1581
conceiter1603
conceitist1628
commenter1645
ideas man1845
think-man1967
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Macc. vii. 31 Thou, that art maad fynder [L. inventor] of al malice in to Ebrues.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1869) II. 223 (MED) Enoch was fyndere of lettres [L. adinvenit aliquas litteras].
c1400 (?a1300) Kyng Alisaunder (Laud) (1952) 4785 Ne heldeþ me þerof no fynder—Her bokes ben my shewer.
a1450 ( G. Chaucer Bk. Duchess (Tanner 346) (1871) l. 1168 Pictagoras..the fyrste finder was Of the arte.
a1450 St. Katherine (Richardson 44) (1884) 25 Þe fynder of alle euels þe fende.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. viii. f. 134v The Chaldeans (beynge the fyrste fynders of letters).
1660 T. Fuller Mixt Contempl. i. xviii. 29 The first Finders, Founders, and Forgers of false reports.
b. A person who comes upon or discovers something by chance or search. Also: †a person who makes a discovery (of a region, a scientific fact, etc.) (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > traveller > [noun] > explorer or discoverer
finder1405
explorer1577
Columbus1593
pioneera1817
explorator1836
pathfinder1840
path-cleaver1896
trail-blazer1908
trail-hound1931
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > [noun] > one who finds or discovers > specifically of a country
finder1555
1405 in H. M. Flasdieck Mittelengl. Originalurkunden (1926) 39 (MED) Ȝif only Burgeis..fyrst fynde only [perhaps read ony] wrek..the fyndere shal haue the vte parte of the value paide to hym.
1487 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VII (Electronic ed.) Parl. Nov. 1487 §14. m. 6 The kyng to have the one halfe therof, and the fynder and prover the other halfe.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. CCiiiv The fynder of the right waye to heuyn.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde ii. vii. f. 77 Christophorus Colonus the fyrst fynder of those landes.
1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem 4 Quhen ane man is slane,..or is found dead in any place; in this case, the finder sall raise the hoyes, as said is.
1659 Proc. Council of Maryland 23 Sept. in W. H. Browne Arch. Maryland (1885) III. 369 The first finder and fundator of that New world.
1711 S. Centlivre Mar-plot v. 59 By Mar-plot's Direction [I found you], you know he's a very good finder.
1765 W. Blackstone Comm. Laws Eng. I. i. ix. 349 Concerning treasure trove, he is..to enquire who were the finders.
1827 J. Kent Comm. Amer. Law II. v. xxxvi. 293 The statute law of Massachusetts..disposed of estrays, lost money, and goods..by giving one half of the proceeds to the finder, and the other half to the poor.
1870 R. W. Emerson Society & Solitude xii. 269 Time..is the finder, the unweariable explorer.
1903 H. James W. W. Story & his Friends 332 He did, for years, what he desired—expressed himself with the rewarded pertinacity of the seeker, the finder, of the rare.
1923 Humorist 22 Dec. 548/2 The finder happened to be a dog fancier, who was rude enough to suggest that if he were the owner of such a tyke he would be only too glad to lose him.
2014 Guardian 10 May (Do Something Suppl.) 39/2 Each letter box contains a notebook and rubber stamp so finders can prove that they've found the box.
c. A person whose occupation it is to find specific things; †in early use erroneously = searcher n. 2b (obsolete); †formerly also spec. (slang) a person who picks up the refuse of the meat markets (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > clearing of refuse matter > refuse disposal > [noun] > rag-collecting or dust-heap picking > one who
kennel-raker1570
finder1607
rag-raker1631
rag-picker1680
bunter1706
rake-kennel1707
rag collector1820
rag gatherer1851
chiffonier1856
gutter-snipe1869
picker1884
tatter1890
totter1891
dumpster diver1985
1607 J. Cowell Interpreter Ff2/2 Finders, anno 18. Ed. 3. stat. 1. cap. vnico. anno 14. R. 2. cap. 10 seeme to be all one with those, which in these dayes we call searchers.
1636 Rastell's Termes de la Ley (new ed.) f. 173v Finders is a word used in many Statutes,..and it seemes to be allone with those Officers which we now call Searchers, imployedfor the discovery of goods which are imported or exported without paying custome.
1653 E. Manlove Liberties & Customes Lead-mines Derby 53 But first the finder his two meers must free With oar there found, for the Barghmaster's fee Which is one dish for one meer of the ground.
1764 T. Legg Low-life (ed. 3) 16 The whole Company of Finders..are marching towards all the markets.
1839 F. Marryat Diary in Amer. II. 129 Finders, who would search all over the country for..every appearance on the surface of a good vein of metal.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 255/2 Leadenhall-market..was infested..with..‘finders’. They carry bags round their necks, and pick up bones or offal.
1916 Shoe & Leather Reporter 13 Apr. 49/1 As much buying is being done in Philadelphia, by finders, as the sellers care to take on at this time.
1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 30 Mar. a9 [A man]..who described himself as a ‘finder’ in the commodities market was convicted of interstate transportation of 5,000 pounds of stolen uranium.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 16 Apr. c4 Mr. Wissman acted as a finder in connection with certain investments that were presented to the New York State Common Retirement Fund.
2. Hunting. Originally: †a dog trained to find and bring game that has been shot, such as a water spaniel or retriever (obsolete). Subsequently: a dog used to discover the track of, or put up, game for the hunter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > other types of dog > [noun] > retriever
findera1425
retriever1819
wavy1884
golden retriever1908
golden1915
goldie1980
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dogs used for specific purposes > [noun] > sporting or hunting dog > that retrieves or seizes prey
water dogc1400
findera1425
seizer1718
bird dog1755
catch dog1841
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > other types of dog > [noun] > spaniel > land or water
findera1425
water spaniel1558
land-spaniel1576
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dogs used for specific purposes > [noun] > sporting or hunting dog > that starts or indicates prey
retriever1486
setting dog1611
beating-dog1669
setter1678
starter1766
finder1805
reporter1895
a1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) xxxi. 96 Whann he seeth þat is of an herte þat he fyndeþ of, vncouple þe fynders.
1576 A. Fleming tr. J. Caius Of Eng. Dogges 42 The water Spaniell..is..called a fynder..because..he findeth such things as be lost.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) vii. xxii. 679 It is hard to haue one spannell..to be an excellent raunger, an excellent finder, and an excellent retainer.
1681 E. Hickeringill Char. Sham-plotter (single sheet) This Couple or pair usually Hunt together..as..a Grey-Hound and a Finder.
1766 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. i. 26 The Aquaticus, or Fynder, was another species used in fowling.
1805 Ann. Reg. 1803 (Otridge ed.) Characters 800/2 One or two small dogs called finders, whose scent is very keen, and always sure of hitting off a track.
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village IV. 83 Dash..is a capital finder, and in spite of his lameness will hunt a field or beat a cover with any spaniel in England.
1878 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 22 140 The pig-hunter has at least three dogs—two ‘finders’ and one ‘holder’.
1901 B. Waters Training Hunting Dog xiv. 198 While the dog may not be so good a finder if he retrieves, nor so good a retriever if he finds, a compromise may be established which will insure at least passable performance in both finding and retrieving.
1962 Listener (N.Z.) 19 Apr. 5 There's two types of finders. There's the wind finder and the track finder. The wind finder will take a pig first.
2000 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 9 Apr. c7 Later, ‘domesticated’ dogs joined humans in the hunt, serving as finders, retrievers, protectors.
3. A contrivance or instrument for finding.† a. An index. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > record > written record > arrangement and storage of written records > [noun] > indexing > index
tablea1464
finder1588
index1660
calendar1830
1588 H. Oldcastle & J. Mellis Briefe Instr. Accompts sig. Civv Vnto which Leager it shalbe necessary to ordein or make a calender, otherwise called a Repertory or a finder.
b. A small, low-magnification telescope with a wide field of view attached to a larger telescope for use as an aid in locating and aiming the telescope at an object of interest; = finderscope n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instrument for distant vision > [noun] > telescope > other telescopes
polemoscope1668
finder1738
night-glass1758
collimator1825
floating collimator1833
lookdown1865
guiding telescope1897
autocollimator1903
kinetheodolite1941
finderscope1946
satellite telescope1951
scotoscope1964
starlight scope1964
1738 R. Smith Compl. Syst. Opticks II. iii. xi. 366 (margin) The finder described. [i.e. A small refracting telescope whose axis is parallel to the axis of the reflecter.]
1785 W. Herschel in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 75 41 The finder of my reflector is limited..to a natural field of two degrees of a great circle in diameter.
1809 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. 6 ii. 374 I..marked particularly its position with regard to certain stars both in the field of the large telescope, and in the finder.
1871 tr. H. Schellen Spectrum Anal. liii. 244 Janssen left the spectroscope to look for a moment through the finder, or small telescope.
1925 Science 4 Dec. p. xiv/1 Professor Van Biesbroeck located the new heavenly object while looking through the finder of the large 40-inch Yerkes telescope.
1975 B. V. Barlow Astron. Telescope vi. 111 Identify it in the wide-field ‘finder’ (a small refracting telescope mounted upon and parallel to the main telescope) and then..align the big instrument manually with the selected object.
2003 Circa No. 103. 62/1 I also use the Celestron refractor 102mm/f5 (as finder and guidescope).
c. A device (esp. a slide marked with a lettered or numbered grid) for registering the position of an object on a mounted microscopic slide.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > magnification or magnifying instruments > [noun] > microscope > slides
talc1766
finder1829
slide1837
slip1895
1829 T. Gill in Gill's Technol. Repository 4 xxii. 130 Mr. T. Carpenter..carefully mounted it [sc. a spider's thread] between two slips of glass; at the same time also inserting by the side of it a human hair, to serve as a finder to the spider's thread.
1856 W. B. Carpenter Microscope iii. 121 This ‘finder’ consists of two graduated scales, one of them vertical, attached to the fixed stage-plate, and the other horizontal, attached to an arm carried by the intermediate plate.
1867 J. Hogg Microscope (ed. 6) i. iii. 187 A finder, as applied to the microscope, is the means of registering the position of any particular object in a slide.
1908 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 20 June 2065/1 In microscopic work,..some sort of ‘finder’ is a very necessary part of the equipment.
1961 Jrnl. Paleontol. 35 628/2 This Finder is a 3″ × 1″ glass slide on which is centered a grid 73 mm. × 24.5 mm. divided into approximately 1 mm. squares.
2012 T. Takizawa & J. M. Robinson in T. Müller-Reichert & P. Verkade Correlative Light Electron Microsc. iii. 42 The same exact structures examined by fluorescence microscopy were located, with the aid of the finder grid.
d. An attachment to, or part of, a camera through which the field of view of the lens can be observed, used in framing and focusing the picture; = viewfinder n. at view n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > photography > camera > parts and accessories of camera > [noun] > view-finder
rearsight1831
finder1862
viewfinder1883
sports finder1938
1862 Rec. Internat. Exhib. 571/2 The focussing and watching for the right position or expression is then effected by the aid of this finder, which is a lens of similar focus to that about to be employed in producing the picture.
1883 Science 15 June 549/2 In some of the latter experiments, arrangements were adopted by which a pair of stereoscopic lenses could be used, one lens serving as a finder, and the other producing the picture.
1915 B. E. Jones Cinematogr. Bk. iii. 15 A finder is provided for focusing purposes, consisting of a long narrow tube..running right across the camera and having a cap..outside.
1956 Pop. Photogr. June 114/2 Appropriate optics move into position within the finder so that its field matches that of the lens in use.
2014 P. R. Miller On Sports Photogr. iii. 94 The finder..uses a prism to bend the image 90 degrees so that you look straight down through the finder.
Phrases
Proverb. finders keepers: whoever finds something is entitled to keep it. Cf. finding (is) keeping at finding n. Phrases.Quots. 1825 and 1828 show earlier forms of the proverb.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > acquisition > acquisition or loss [phrase] > find or keep
findings (are) keepings1807
finders keepers1831
1825 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words at Halfers No halfers—findee keepee, lossee seekee.
1828 D. M. Moir Life Mansie Wauch xi. 98 According to the auld Scotch proverb of ‘He that finds keeps, And he that loses seeks’.]
1831 London Weekly Times 30 Oct. He had picked it up from the floor of the shop, and contended that he had as good a right to it as anybody else, by the old rule ‘finders keepers’.
1852 Dublin Univ. Mag. Apr. 443/2 The game of ‘Finders keepers, and losers seekers’, is played by more than children.
1895 V. F. Bernard Français Idiomatique 70 Qui va à la chasse, perd sa place. Finders, keepers; loosers, weepers.
1961 B. E. Wallace Death packs Suitcase vi. 60 In this game it's going to be finders keepers.
1992 I. Rankin Strip Jack (1993) vii. 139 It was, you know, like with treasure. Finders keepers.
2015 Santa Fe New Mexican (Nexis) 21 June Foul balls are free. Home run balls are valued possessions that cost nothing. Finders keepers, losers weepers.
Compounds
C1. With adverbs, forming compound agent nouns corresponding to adverbial combinations of find, as finder-out, †finder-up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > [noun] > creator or inventor
craftsmana1382
feigner1382
finderc1384
finder-upc1425
engineer?a1513
finder-out1534
inventor1555
conceiver1581
conceiter1603
conceitist1628
commenter1645
ideas man1845
think-man1967
the world > action or operation > endeavour > searching or seeking > finding or discovery > [noun] > one who finds or discovers
finderc1384
discoverer1576
founder1577
finder-outa1616
repertor1650
ferreter1863
c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 6043 (MED) Olde Calchas..fynder-vp of tresoun and of gyle.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) i. l. 1257 He [sc. Nimrod]..was first ground off ydolatrie And fyndere up off fals relegioun.
a1439 J. Lydgate Fall of Princes (Bodl. 263) i. l. 3888 Attreus.., off tresoun sours & well, And fyndere out off tresoun & falsnesse.
1534 N. Udall Floures for Latine Spekynge gathered oute of Terence f. 106v The deuyser and fynder oute..of al my plesures.
a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. sig. N8v I curse the fidling finders out of Musicke.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) v. ii. 120 Had I beene the finder-out of this Secret. View more context for this quotation
1639 J. Woodall Surgeons Mate (rev. ed.) Pref. sig. A5 The..first finders out of the Science.
1727 N. Bailey Universal Etymol. Eng. Dict. II Theorematist,..a Finder out or Producer of Theorems.
1754 G. Jeffreys tr. J. Vanière Country Farm i, in G. Jeffreys Misc. in Verse & Prose 181 I caught a Spark of this assuming mould; A finder out of Water and of Gold.
1832 W. B. Adams Rights of Morality 115 There must have been an original inventor or finder-out of the principle fire; but that did not make it his exclusive property.
1912 L. O. Howard et al. Mosquitoes N. & Central Amer. & W. Indies I. 427 They [sc. children] are quick witted, wonderfully quick sighted, and as finders-out of breeding-places they usually can not be approached.
2007 W. Landay Strangler (2012) xiv. 81 Her every day was about finding things out. She was a born finder-out.
C2.
finder's fee n. a reward given to someone who finds something searched for; (now chiefly) a commission, fee, etc., paid by a business to an intermediary or agent who facilitates various kinds of business transactions.
ΚΠ
1875 Chinese Recorder Nov. 406 The owner..finds the cattle in some one's keeping, who of course has found them, and demands the usual finder's fee.
1969 D. R. Cressey Theft of Nation v. 80 He testified that he paid the $40,000 as a ‘finder's fee’ because he was afraid his construction business would be ruined by strong-arm Cosa Nostra tactics if he did not.
2005 New Republic 24 Jan. 37/2 Knoedler..was primarily an agent looking for commissions and finder's fees rather than buying, holding, and selling for its own account.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.c1384