In Microsoft Ajax, what exactly does $find do?

Question

I'm so confused as to what $find from Microsoft Ajax actually is. Does it just return a control in a similar manner that the $ operator from jquery or javascript's own getElementById do?

If I do

$find('someControlId')

Will I get the same object back from jquery's

$('#someControlId')

or Javascript

getElementById('someControlId')

The reason I ask is because when I use $find on the ClientId of some Telerik controls, the object returned seems to have a type.

So is this just another instance of the wheel being reinvented or does it actually do something else?