/di vel"euh peuhr/ , n.
1. a person or thing that develops.
2. Photog. a reducing agent or solution for developing a film or the like.
3. a person who invests in and develops the urban or suburban potentialities of real estate, esp. by subdividing the land into home sites and then building houses and selling them.
4. Shipbuilding. a person who lays out at full size the lines of a vessel and prepares templates from them.
[ 1825-35; DEVELOP + -ER 1 ]