develop
/dɪˈvɛl.əp/ verb
Forms develops developing developed developt develope
- verb (transitive or impersonal, now rare) To discover, find out; to uncover.
- verb (intransitive) To change with a specific direction, progress. “Let's see how things develop and then make our decision.”
- verb (ambitransitive) To progress through a sequence of stages. “Isabel developed from a tropical depression to a tropical storm to a hurricane. An embryo develops into a fetus and then into an infant.”
- verb (transitive) To advance; to further; to promote the growth of.
- verb (transitive) To create. “I need to develop a plan for the next three weeks.”
- verb (transitive) To bring out images latent in photographic film. “Please develop this roll of film.”
- verb (transitive) To acquire something usually over a period of time. “I have been in England enough to develop a British accent.”
- verb (chess, transitive) To place one's pieces actively. “I need to develop my white-square bishop.”
Synonyms
shift convert draw evolve metamorphize metamorphose reconvert transfigurate transfigure transform transmogrify transmute transume contrive generate bring forth cause create ferment forge germinate acquire grow produce get originate arise rise uprise spring up
Etymology
Borrowed from French développer, from Middle French desveloper, from Old French desveloper, from des- + voloper, veloper, vloper (“to wrap, wrap up”) (compare Italian sviluppare, Old Italian alternative form goluppare (“to wrap”)) from Vulgar Latin *vloppō, *wloppō (“to wrap”) ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrappaną, *wlappaną (“to wrap, roll up, turn, wind”), from Proto-Indo-European *werb- (“to turn, bend”) http://www.wordnik.com/words/envelop.
Akin to Middle English wlappen (“to wrap, fold”) (Modern English lap (“to wrap, involve, fold”)), Middle English wrappen (“to wrap”), Middle Dutch lappen (“to wrap up, embrace”), dialectal Danish vravle (“to wind, twist”), Middle Low German wrempen (“to wrinkle, scrunch, distort”), Old English wearp (“warp”). The word acquired its modern meaning from the 17th-century belief that an egg contains the animal in miniature and matures by growing larger and shedding its envelopes.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To free from that which infolds or envelops; to unfold; to lay open by degrees or in detail; to make visible or known; to disclose; to produce or give forth; as, to develop theories; a motor that develops 100 horse power.
- verb To unfold gradually, as a flower from a bud; hence, to bring through a succession of states or stages, each of which is preparatory to the next; to form or expand by a process of growth; to cause to change gradually from an embryo, or a lower state, to a higher state or form of being; as, sunshine and rain develop the bud into a flower; to develop the mind.
- verb To go through a process of natural evolution or growth, by successive changes from a less perfect to a more perfect or more highly organized state; to advance from a simpler form of existence to one more complex either in structure or function; as, a blossom develops from a bud; the seed develops into a plant; the embryo develops into a well-formed animal; the mind develops year by year.
- verb To become apparent gradually; as, a picture on sensitive paper develops on the application of heat; the plans of the conspirators develop.
Etymology [F. déveloper; dé- (L. dis-) + OF. voluper, voleper, to envelop, perh. from L. volup agreeably, delightfully, and hence orig., to make agreeable or comfortable by enveloping, to keep snug (cf. Voluptuous); or. perh. fr. a derivative of volvere, volutum, to roll (cf. Devolve). Cf. Envelop.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “develop”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details