inventor
(ɪnˈvɛntə(r))
Also 6 -our, (-ure), Sc. -ar, 6–9 -er.
[a. L. inventor, agent-n. from invenīre to come upon, invent. Cf. F. inventeur (1454 in Hatz.-Darm.).]
One who invents.
† 1. One who finds out, a discoverer (whether by chance, or by investigation and effort). Obs.
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys 7 b (8 a), Esculapius which was fyrst Inuentour of Phesyke. 1541 R. Copland Galyen's Terapeut. 2 F iij b, To shewe that Hippocrates hath ben inuentour..of all other thynges that is for to be knowen to hym that ought to hele an vlcere well. 1546 Langley Pol. Verg. de Invent. i. xvii, The inuentours of Herbes medicinable. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. xv. 24 Thales Mileseus..was the first inuenter of this Proposition. 1684 Ray Corr. (1848) 139, I am not sure that Mr. Newton was the first inventor of that plant. 1726 Freind Hist. Med. II. 315 Dr. Willis, the first inventor of the nervous system. |
2. One who devises or contrives; a contriver, designer; now, usually, One who devises something fictitious or false, a fabricator. † Formerly, also, a founder, institutor (obs.).
| 1513 More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 807 Although king Richarde harde often of these..malicious saiyngs..he durst not wyth strong hande be on the first inventors revenged. 1552 Huloet, Inuentour of false accusations, and tales, sycophanta. 1557 N. T. (Genev.) Rom. i. 30 Inuenters of euyl thynges, disobedient to father and mother. 1570 Buchanan Admonit. Wks. (1892) 24 Counsalours of tratouris, inuentaris of tressoun. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 353 Some say that the Lydians were the first inventers of games. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 586 Heere also lived the first Heremites (the first..of which was Antony, an Egyptian, inventor of this order). 1685 Stillingfl. Orig. Brit. i. 8 These Inventers of History have still given out, that they met with some Elder Writers, out of whom they have pretended to derive their Reports. 1882 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxix. 23 When we suffer from a libel it is better to pray about it than..even to demand an apology from the inventor. |
3. One who devises or produces something new (as an instrument, an art, etc.) by original contrivance; the originator of a previously unknown method or means of doing something; ‘the first finder-out’. (The prevailing sense.)
| 1555 Eden Decades To Rdr. (Arb. 49), Of the mazes cauled Labyrinthi, or of horryble great Images cauled Colossi..and..other portentous inuentions, the which..brynge rather a fame to theyr inuentoures, then trewe glorye. 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 34 A certaine Instrument: which by the Inuenter and Artificer..was solde. 1623–4 Act 21 Jas. I, c. 3 §6 [Statute of Monopolies] Lettres Patente..to the true and first Inventor and Inventors of such Manufactures. 1738 Warburton Div. Legat. I. Ded. 6 Applauses due to the Inventers of the Arts of Life. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne ii. 26 Its author is no more thought of than the inventor of the compass. 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1847) 34 Xerxes promist a great reward to the inventer of a new pleasure. a 1859 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxiii. V. 37 He was the inventor of Exchequer Bills; and they were popularly called Montague's notes. |