discovery

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or an instance of discovering.
2. n. Something discovered.
3. n. Law The compulsory disclosure of pertinent facts or documents to the opposing party in a civil action, usually before a trial begins.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. The act of disclosing to view.
2. The act of revealing; a making known; a declaration; disclosure: as, a bankrupt is bound to make a full discovery of his estate and effects.
3. The act of gaining sight of; the act of espying: as, the discovery of land after a voyage.
4. The act of finding out or of bringing to knowledge what was unknown; first knowledge of anything.
5. That which is discovered, found out, or revealed; that which is first brought to light, seen, or known: as, the properties of the magnet were an important discovery.
6. In the drama, the unraveling of a plot, or the manner of unfolding the plot or story of a comedy or tragedy.
7. In law, disclosure by a party to an action, at the instance of the other party, as of facts within his memory or of a document within his control. It was formerly a distinguishing feature of the proceedings of a court of chancery or equity that it could compel the defendant to make discovery of all material facts and documents within his power, while in courts of common law compelling discovery has been introduced only by modern statutes.
8. Exploration.
9. Synonyms Discovery, Invention. See invention.

Wiktionary

1. n. Something discovered.
2. n. uncountable The discovering of new things.
3. n. law, uncountable A pre-trial phase in which evidence is gathered.
4. n. law, uncountable Materials revealed to the opposing party during the pre-trial phase in which evidence is gathered.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The action of discovering; exposure to view; laying open; showing.
2. n. A making known; revelation; disclosure.
3. n. Finding out or ascertaining something previously unknown or unrecognized.
4. n. That which is discovered; a thing found out, or for the first time ascertained or recognized.
5. n. obsolete Exploration; examination.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a productive insight
2. n. something that is discovered
3. n. the act of discovering something
4. n. (law) compulsory pretrial disclosure of documents relevant to a case; enables one side in a litigation to elicit information from the other side concerning the facts in the case