locate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin locātus, past participle of loco (“to place”), from locus (“place”).

verb

1. (transitive) To place; to set in a particular spot or position.
   The captives and emigrants whom he brought with him were located in the trans-Tiberine quarter. 1881, Brooke Foss Westcott, The New Testament in the Original Greek
   The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them, which is then licensed to related businesses in high-tax countries, is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. 2013-06-22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68
2. (transitive) To find out where something is located.
   In the past two years, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has located nearly 3,000 exoplanet candidates ranging from sub-Earth-sized minions to gas giants that dwarf our own Jupiter. Their densities range from that of styrofoam to iron. 2013 May-June, Kevin Heng, “Why Does Nature Form Exoplanets Easily?”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 184
3. (transitive) To designate the site or place of; to define the limits of (Note: the designation may be purely descriptive: it need not be prescriptive.)
   The council must locate the new hospital
   to locate a mining claim
   to locate (the land granted by) a land warrant
   1862-1892, Herbert Spencer, System of Synthetic Philosophy That part of the body in which the sense of touch is located.
4. (intransitive, colloquial) To place oneself; to take up one's residence; to settle.