- Invented
- Invent In*vent", v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Invented}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Inventing}.] [L. inventus, p. p. of invenire to come
upon, to find, invent; pref. in- in + venire to come, akin to
E. come: cf. F. inventer. See {Come}.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To come or light upon; to meet; to find. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
And vowed never to return again, Till him alive or dead she did invent. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
2. To discover, as by study or inquiry; to find out; to devise; to contrive or produce for the first time; -- applied commonly to the discovery of some serviceable mode, instrument, or machine. [1913 Webster]
Thus first Necessity invented stools. --Cowper. [1913 Webster]
3. To frame by the imagination; to fabricate mentally; to forge; -- in a good or a bad sense; as, to invent the machinery of a poem; to invent a falsehood. [1913 Webster]
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
He had invented some circumstances, and put the worst possible construction on others. --Sir W. Scott.
Syn: To discover; contrive; devise; frame; design; fabricate; concoct; elaborate. See {Discover}. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.