detection
(dɪˈtɛkʃən)
[ad. L. dētectiōn-em (Tertullian), n. of action from dētegĕre to detect.]
The action of detecting.
† 1. Exposure, revelation of what is concealed; criminal information, accusation. Obs.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. Rec. xi. in Ashm. (1652) 189 That Oylysh substance..Raymond Lully dyd call Hys Basylyske, of whyche he made never so playne deteccyon. 1529 More Dyaloge iii. iv. Wks. 211/1 Wherfore it were not reason in a detection of heresy, to suffer,..the crime wel proued, any new witnesses to be receyued. 1541 Paynel Catiline xxxvi. 54 b, The Senate decreed Tarquinius detection to be false. 1547 A. Gilby (title), An answer to the devillish detection of Stephane Gardiner, Bishoppe of Wynchester. 1564 Brief Exam. A ij b, The detection and detestation..of the whole Antichrist of Rome. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 209, I will not sticke to bestow a few wordes for the detection thereof. 1691 Case of Exeter Coll. 30 But this fallacy..must not escape without a detection. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 76 ¶4 When by a publick Detection they fall under the Infamy they feared. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. 710 In all detections Richard first confessed. |
2. a. Discovery (of what is unknown or hidden); finding out. Obs. exc. as in b.
| 1623 Cockeram, Detection, a discouerie. 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. i. i. 3 Americus Vesputius, a Florentine, who in the year 1497, made a further Detection of the more Southern Regions in this Continent. |
b. spec. The finding out of what tends to elude notice, whether on account of the particular form or condition in which it is naturally present, or because it is artfully concealed; as crime, tricks, errors, slight symptoms of disease, traces of a substance, hidden causes, etc.
| 1619 Naunton in Fortesc. Papers 105 Whether..safe for him to attend him selfe in person, without danger of detection. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 183 ¶7 It is easy for the author of a lie, however malignant, to escape detection. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest viii, She wondered to what part of the abbey these chambers belonged, and that they had so long escaped detection. 1798 Ferriar Illustr. Sterne vi. 175 One of the most curious detections of his imitations. 1856 Dove Logic Chr. Faith v. i. §2. 278 The utmost stars of our present faint detection. 1874 Morley Compromise (1886) 29 The detection of corresponding customs, opinions, laws, beliefs, among different communities. 1884 Gustafson Found. Death i. (ed. 3) 2 Adulteration, now perfected almost beyond the possibility of detection. |
3. Electr. The process of obtaining a required electrical signal from a carrier wave or current that contains it; demodulation.
| 1906 J. A. Fleming Princ. Electr. Wave Telegr. vi. 353 (heading) Detection and measurement of electric waves. 1922 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 1040/2 All the above methods of detection are appropriate for the reception of damped wave signals but not for continuous wave signals. 1953 F. Langford-Smith Radio Designer's Hand-bk. (ed. 4) xxxvi. 1292 There are three main methods of performing the functions of F-M detection and A-M rejection in commercial F-M receivers. 1959 K. Henney Radio Engin. Handbk. (ed. 5) xii. 18 Detection is the process of removing desired information from a composite signal which conveys it through a communication or a processing system. 1962 Simpson & Richards Junction Transistors xviii. 460 The removal of the modulation from a carrier or i.f. signal is called demodulation or detection. |