uncover

Verb

uncover (third-person singular simple present uncovers, present participle uncovering, simple past and past participle uncovered)

1. To remove a cover from.
   • The model railway was uncovered.
2. To reveal the identity of.
   • The murderer has finally been uncovered.
3. To show openly; to disclose; to reveal.
   • To uncover his perjury to the oath of his coronation.1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC
   • But Levinson said in an interview that the stalemate uncovers a flaw in the US system.2019 May 8, Zachary B. Wolf, “How to know when it’s a constitutional crisis”, in CNN, archived from the original on 28 Sep 2024

   Synonyms:

   expose

4. (intransitive, reflexive) To remove one's hat or cap as a mark of respect.
   • Alfred, surprised to meet his father, whom he thought absent from home, […] stood, holding his firelock in one hand, and his hat in the other, having uncovered himself as soon as he perceived his father.1824, Town and Country Tales, page 115
   • The English soldiers were directed in general orders to salute and uncover before the Host as it passed, and here in the wilderness the old religion held firm sway.1891, N. H. Chamberlain, “In the Footprints of Burgoyne's Army”, in New England Magazine, volume 4, Boston, MA: New England Magazine Corporation

   Synonyms:

   doff

5. (intransitive, reflexive) To expose the genitalia.
   • The phallus had power to subdue the attacks of demons and the Evil Eye; and the female organs were potent over elemental disturbances, thus a woman uncovering herself could quell a storm.1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 159
6. (transitive) To expose (lines of formation of troops) successively by the wheeling to right or left of the lines in front.