finding, vbl. n.
(ˈfaɪndɪŋ)
[f. find v. + -ing1.]
1. a. The action of the vb. find in its ordinary senses; an instance of the same. Also with out.
| c 1340 Cursor M. 5365 (Trin.) Joseph..I haue founden here. Of his fyndynge þonke I god so. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xiii. 70 Into whos fynding and grounding doom of mannys resoun may suffice. 1611 Bible Eccl. xiii. 26 The finding out of parables is a wearisome labour of the minde. 1870 Mrs. J. H. Riddell Austin Friars ii, ‘You speak as though my misfortunes had been of my own seeking’..‘They have been of your own finding’. |
b. That which is found or discovered; also, a find, a discovery.
| 1598 Florio Trouadelli, findlings, children found, findings. 1644 Milton Areop. 36 When a man hath bin labouring..in the deep mines of knowledge, hath furnisht out his findings. 1805 W. Taylor in Monthly Mag. XX. 339 The findings at Pompeii, preserved in the Museum of Portici. 1876 Tait Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc. xiii. (ed. 2) 322 To Joule we owe the first precise findings on the subject. |
2. The action of inventing or devising; a device, invention. Now only with out; formerly also with up.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 27661 (Cott.) O nith cums..finding of il. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1557 Þai styrd God tyll wreth, In þair new fyndynges of vanité. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 77 Here owene fyndynge vp, þat crist & apostlis spoken not of. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4296, I will tell here a tale..Of þe fyndyng of false goddes. 1578 Timme Caluine on Gen. 151 The finding out of Harps and such like Musical Instruments. 1642 Rogers Naaman 182 Beseech the Lord not to leaue thee to thine owne findings. |
3. The action of providing or supplying.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. 358 He ȝaf a certein of possessioun for fynding of liȝtis. 1580 Baret Alv. F 556 A finding..of things that one lacketh. |
4. a. The action of maintaining or supporting (a person or an institution). † at a person's finding(s: at his own cost or expense. Cf. find v. 19.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 3223 A sergaunt..þat had ben ay at his finding, Euer siþen þat he was child ȝeing. 1494 Fabyan Chron. v. cxiii. 86 He gaue possessions for the fyndyng of hir. 1535 Gardiner Let. to Cromwell in Strype Eccl. Mem. I. xxx. 213 The finding of young children to school. 1642 Rogers Naaman 369 We will be at our owne findings. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. I. xxvi. 309 An annuity..for the finding of a school in Guilford. 1840 Thackeray Catherine vii, She will be very glad to..pay for the finding of him. |
† b. Keep, maintenance, provision, support. Obs.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 293 [To] haue my fode and my fyndynge of false menne wynnynges. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iii. v. 305 He myȝte haue askid his lijflode and fynding of hem to whom he prechid. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. i, That he hadde al maner of fyndynge as though he were a lordes sone. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Annona, finding in meate, drinke or apparell. |
c. in pl. (a) (See quots.) Also attrib. in finding-store (U.S.).
| 1846 Worcester (citing Chute), Findings pl., the tools and materials used by shoemakers. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Findings, the wax, thread and tools which a journeyman shoemaker has to supply himself with for his work. Ibid., Finding-stores, an American name for what are termed in England grindery-warehouses; shops where shoemakers' tools, etc. are vended. |
(b) (See quot. 1939.) U.S.
| 1896 Godey's Mag. Feb. 222/2 The cost of findings for a waist. 1939 M. B. Picken Lang. Fashion 57/2 Findings, threads, tapes, buttons, bindings, hooks and eyes, slide fasteners, Featherbone, belting, braids, and other sewing essentials used in garment making; carried in notion departments. 1971 Lebende Sprachen XVI. 11/1 US findings-BE/US sewing things. |
5. The result of a judicial examination or inquiry; the verdict of a jury, the decision of a judge or arbitrator.
| 1859 Lang Wand. India 364 The court-martial still adheres to its finding of murder. 1865 Pall Mall G. 17 May 11 Fitly says Sir Joseph Arnould, in his eloquent finding. 1884 G. Hastings in Law Times Rep. 5 Apr. 175/1 The findings of an official referee have always been considered as equivalent to the findings of a jury. |
6. Proverbial phr. findings (are) keepings. Also in sing. form. Cf. finder 1 d.
| 1863 J. H. Speke Discov. Sources of Nile v. 121 The scoundrels said, ‘Findings are keepings, by the laws of our country; and as we found your cows, so we will keep them.’ 1904 Daily Chron. 27 Sept. 1/7 Harsh sentences of imprisonment for ‘findings-keepings’ offences. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. viii. 134 Articles may be acquired..by ‘finding-keeping’. |
7. Comb., finding-list (see quot. 1961).
| 1889 in Cent. Dict. 1930 Library XI. iii. 260, I had prepared a skeleton finding-list only. 1961 T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship (ed. 2) 142/2 Finding list, a list of books, often of a special kind or by a particular writer, represented in a library or in the libraries within a given area. |