▪ I. detect, ppl. a.
(dɪˈtɛkt)
[ad. L. dētect-us, pa. pple. of dētegĕre to detect. After the formation of detect v., used for some time as its pa. pple.]
Detected; disclosed; discovered; open, exposed. † a. as pa. pple. Obs. b. as adj. arch.
| a. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 243 Thei were detecte by the olde moneye y-schewede. 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 134 He was that same day detect that a strumpet was in his chaumbir. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 273 b, [I] haue detecte & declared the errours. 1555 Abp. Parker Ps. cxix. 346 Detect I haue my wayes to thee. |
| b. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. Introd., Their gills are detect. 1854 S. Dobell Balder xix. 81 Detect, disowned, detested, and despised, There is no power to which ye can be true. |
▪ II. detect, v.
(dɪˈtɛkt)
[f. ppl. stem dētect- of L. dētegĕre to uncover, discover, detect, f. de- I. 6 + tegĕre to cover. The earlier ppl. adj. detect (see prec.) was retained as pa. pple. of the verb, till gradually displaced by detected.]
† 1. trans. To uncover, lay bare, expose, display (something covered up or hidden). Obs.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys (Roxb.) 7, I preye..that ye detecte It in no wyse wher that vylany It myht haue. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 34 b, Whiche illusyon..as soone as it was detected & brought to lyght..anone it auoyded. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 73/2 Secret Confession, wherein Men do detect their sins in the Priests ear. 1594 Ord. of Prayer in Liturg. Serv. Q. Eliz. (1847) 664 Detect and reveal still the foundations and buildings of all treasons and conspiracies. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. iii. 5 On one side the Fat besprinkled with its Vessels, and on the other side certain Muscles Detected. 1691 Case of Exeter Coll. Pref. A ij, The badness of his cause was sufficiently detected by the weakness of his defence. 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 41, I cannot Answer this Objection, without detecting a gross Ignorance in those that proposed it. |
† 2. a. To expose (a person) by divulging his secrets or making known his guilt or crime; to inform against, accuse. Obs.
| c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xvi. 88, I detecte here no man in special. 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 41/1 Whose last words..detected him of manifest ambition. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. (1676) 342 The Gentlewoman goeth forward, and detecteth herself of a crime. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 129, I neuer heard the absent Duke much detected for Women. 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph., Detect, bewray, disclose, accuse. 1645 E. Pagitt Heresiogr. (1646) 9 And he also cut a young wenches throat, lest she should detect him. |
† b. To divulge, reveal, give information of (a thing). Obs.
| c 1465 Hist. Doc. Roch. (E.E.T.S.) 7 But if it shall hap so to know any such [heresies], I shall detecte them to myn ordinarie. 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 314 One of the lieutenants discovered and detected this villanous contrivance. |
3. To find out, discover (a person) in the secret possession of some quality, or performance of some act; to find out the real character of.
| 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. i. (1586) 28 b, In processe of time she was detected to be one of a naughtie slanderous tongue. 1711 Medley No. 39 If he is detected of the grossest Calumnies, he goes on to repeat them again, as if nothing had happen'd. 1774 Goldsm. Grecian Hist. I. 99 Cleomenes..being detected of having suborned the priestess, slew himself. 1789 Bentham Princ. Legisl. xi. §24 You have detected a baker in selling short weight, you prosecute him for the cheat. 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 214 Like a schoolboy detected in robbing an orchard. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 209 Your dishonesty shall do you no good, for I shall detect you. |
4. To discover, find out, ascertain the presence, existence, or fact of (something apt to elude observation).
| 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 263 The former obstacles must be abolished as soon as detected. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. vi. 43 We detect all the shades of meaning. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 25 It is a capital good test for detecting arsenic in any liquid whatever. 1835 Browning Paracelsus ii, What use were punishment, unless some sin Be first detected? 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 373 Napoleon examined the bills of the creditors himself, detected overcharges and errors. 1849 Murchison Siluria iii. 45 Sandstone in which no other remains but fucoids have been detected. 1882 C. Pebody Eng. Journalism xvi. 120 He was a man..with an eye that detected a false note in an article. |
5. intr. To be engaged in work of detection; to act as a detective.
| 1926 D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness iv. 105 Parker..was paid to detect and to do nothing else. 1930 M. Kennedy in D. L. Sayers Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery & Horror (1931) 2nd Ser. 276 (title) Mr. Truefitt detects. 1957 A. Christie 4.50 from Paddington xviii. 178 ‘Good evening, Inspector Craddock.’ ‘Coming to detect in the kitchen?’ asked Bryan with interest. |
Hence deˈtected ppl. a., deˈtecting vbl. n.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 95 Well my Lord. If he steale ought the whil'st this Play is Playing, And scape detecting, I will pay the Theft. 1654 Codrington tr. Hist. Ivstine 518 To collect the detected Oar [= ore]. 1660 Milton Free Commw. (1851) 449 The detected Falshood and Ambition of som. 1694 tr. Milton's Lett. State Aug. 1656 The vilest and most openly detected Assassinates. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ii. (1852) 52 Who would not..frown it away as a detected cheat? |
Add: [5.] b. trans. To discover or investigate as a detective. (Chiefly in the writings of D. L. Sayers.)
| 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club xvi. 192 No wonder you detect things. I will not do your worming for you! 1935 ― Gaudy Night ii. 39 His hobbies of detecting crimes and collecting books. 1950 E. Welty in New Yorker 1 Dec. 53/2 They'll open your case and see what there is to detect. |