Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • interjection Used to express triumph upon finding or discovering something.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Literally, I have found (it): the reputed exclamation of Archimedes when, after long study, he discovered a method of detecting the amount of alloy in King Hiero's crown (see crown problem, under crown); hence, an exclamation of triumph at a discovery or supposed discovery.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • The exclamation attributed to Archimedes, who is said to have cried out “Eureka! eureka!” (I have found it! I have found it!), upon suddenly discovering a method of finding out how much the gold of King Hiero's crown had been alloyed. Hence, an expression of triumph concerning a discovery.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection An exclamation indicating sudden discovery.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an alloy of copper and nickel with high electrical resistance and a low temperature coefficient; used as resistance wire
  • noun a town in northwest California on an arm of the Pacific Ocean

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek heurēka, I have found (it) (supposedly exclaimed by Archimedes upon discovering how to measure the volume of an irregular solid and thereby determine the purity of a gold object), first person sing. perfect tense of heuriskein, to find.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek εὕρηκα (heurēka, "I have found"), perfect active indicative 1st singular of εὑρίσκω (heuriskō, "I find").

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Examples

Comments

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  • Eureka (Greek "I have found it") is an exclamation used as an interjection to celebrate a discovery.

    It is most famously attributed to the ancient Greek scholar Archimedes; he reportedly said "eureka!" when he stepped into a bath and noticed the water level rise -- he suddenly understood that the volume of water displaced must be equal to the volume of the part of his body he had submerged. This meant that the volume of irregular objects could be calculated with precision, a previously intractable problem. He is said to have been so eager to share it that he leapt out of his bathtub and ran through the streets of Syracuse naked.

    _Wikipedia

    February 7, 2008

  • Edgar Allan Poe's title of one of his longer works; the title represents his explanation of the universe.

    June 10, 2010

  • Thanks and congratulations to erinmckean! It is good to start the new year with the Community page restored.

    December 30, 2014