disclosure
(dɪsˈkləʊʒ(j)ʊə(r))
[f. disclose v. + -ure, after closure.]
1. The action of disclosing or opening up to view; revelation; discovery, exposure; an instance of this.
| a 1598 in Hakluyt Voy. I. 271 (R.) Whereas by the voyage of our subjects..towards the discouerie and disclosure of vnknown places. a 1626 Bacon (J.), She was, upon a sudden mutability and disclosure of the king's mind, severely handled. 1665 Boyle Occas. Refl §3 (R.) An unseasonable disclosure of flashes of wit. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. xxvii. (1819) 479 We may well leave to Revelation the disclosure of many particulars which our researches cannot reach. 1844 Thirlwall Greece VIII. lxiii. 215 A public disclosure of his motives. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §i. 448 The disclosure of the stores of Greek literature had wrought the revolution of the Renascence. |
b. The hatching of young from the egg; the liberation of an insect from the pupa state.
| 1640 Bp. Hall Chr. Moder. (Ward) 9/1 I have observed that the small and scarce sensible seed which it [the silkworm] casts comes not to life and disclosure until the mulberry..yields her leaf. 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxii. 345 Immediately after the disclosure of the insect from the pupa. |
† 2. The opening of a river into sea or lake; the embouchure or mouth. Obs. rare.
| 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 328 The disclosure of this River frames a square harbour. |
3. That which is disclosed; a revelation.
| 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan III. 246 Preparing him for the disclosure. 1855 Prescott Philip II, I. iii. iii. 354 Put to the rack..to draw from him disclosures to the prejudice of Egmont. 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 6 Earth's most exquisite disclosure heaven's own God in evidence. |