reverse
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹɪˈvɜːs/
ipa: /ɹɪˈvɝs/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)s
Forms: form: reverses
form: reversing
form: reversed
form: reversed
Etymology: From Middle English reversen, from Anglo-Norman reverser, Middle French reverser, and their source, Latin reversō, from re- + versō.
Senses: examples: text: to reverse the order of books on a shelf
text: to reverse a portion of video footage
glosses: To turn something around so that it faces the opposite direction or runs in the opposite sequence.
examples: text: A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if balanced by admirable skill.
ref: 1672, William Temple, Essay on the Original and Nature of Government:
glosses: To turn something inside out or upside down.
glosses: To transpose the positions of two things.
examples: text: All trends reverse eventually.
text: Reverse the doom of death.
ref: c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: They reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of Bray.
ref: 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:
glosses: To change totally; to alter to the opposite.
examples: text: Bene they all dead, and laide in dolefull herse? / Or doen they onely sleepe, and shall againe reuerse?
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: To return, come back.
examples: text: And that old dame said many an idle verse, / Out of her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 48:
glosses: To turn away; to cause to depart.
examples: text: And to his fresh remembrance did reverse / The ugly view of his deformd crimes.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 48:
glosses: To cause to return; to recall.
examples: text: to reverse a judgment, sentence, or decree
text: From March 30, LNER was running around 40% of its trains and had suspended its Aberdeen, Inverness and Hull services, although it reversed the latter decision after Hull Trains suspended operations.
ref: 2020 April 8, “Network News: Emergency timetables and the number of services cut”, in Rail, page 15:
topics: law
glosses: To revoke a law, or to change a decision into its opposite.
examples: text: Richardson dropped into the six-foot between the two engines, ran for a few yards, grabbed Mitchell's engine, and swung himself up. Mitchell had got to his feet by this time, but he made no move. Richardson shut off steam, reversed her, and brought her to a stand.
ref: 1950 January, David L. Smith, “A Runaway at Beattock”, in Railway Magazine, page 54:
topics: transport
glosses: To cause a mechanism to operate or move in the opposite direction to normal; to drive a vehicle in the direction the driver has the back.
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To change the direction of a reaction such that the products become the reactants and vice-versa.
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: To place (a set of points) in the reverse position.
topics: rail-transport
railways
transport
glosses: To move from the normal position to the reverse position.
raw_tags: of points
topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: To engage reverse thrust on (an engine).
examples: text: These can divide, and these reverse, the state.
ref: c. 1699 – 1703, Alexander Pope, “The First Book of Statius His Thebais”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:
text: Custom […] reverses even the distinctions of good and evil.
ref: a. 1729, John Rogers, Conformity to the World destructive of our Happiness:
glosses: To overthrow; to subvert.
examples: text: Reversing is also heavily used in connection with malicious software, on both ends of the fence: […]
ref: 2011, Eldad Eilam, Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering:
text: […] but in some instances where malware is proving to be difficult, reversing is needed.
ref: 2012, Christopher C. Elisan, Malware, Rootkits & Botnets: A Beginner's Guide, page 117:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Ellipsis of reverse-engineer.
Derived terms: bootlegger reverse
reversal
reverse configure
reverse course
reverse-engineer
reverse out
reverser
reverse the charge
reverse the charges
time-reverse
unreverse