Reverse

Reverse, rē-vėrs′, v.t. to place in the contrary order or position: to change wholly: to overthrow: to change by an opposite decision: to annul: to revoke, as a decree: to recall.—n. that which is reversed: the opposite: the back, esp. of a coin or medal: change: misfortune: a calamity: in fencing, a back-handed stroke: (her.) the exact contrary of what has been described just before, as an escutcheon.—adj. turned backward: having an opposite direction: upset.—n. Rever′sal, act of reversing.—adj. Reversed′, turned or changed to the contrary: inside out: (bot.) resupinate.—adv. Rever′sedly.—adj. Reverse′less, unalterable.—adv. Reverse′ly, in a reverse order: on the other hand: on the opposite.—ns. Rever′ser (Scots law), a mortgager of land; Rever′si, a game played by two persons with sixty-four counters; Reversibil′ity, the capability of being reversed, as of heat into work and work into heat.—adj. Rever′sible, that may be reversed, as in a fabric having both sides well finished.—ns. Rever′sing-cyl′inder, the cylinder of a small auxiliary steam-engine; Rever′sing-gear, those parts of a steam-engine by which the direction of the motion is changed; Rever′sing-lē′ver, a lever in a steam-engine which operates the slide-valve; Rever′sing-machine′, a moulding-machine in founding, in which the flask can be reversed; Rever′sing-mō′tion, any mechanism for changing the direction of motion of an engine; Rever′sing-shaft, a shaft which permits a reversal of the order of steam passage through the ports; Rever′sing-valve, the valve of a reversing-cylinder; Rever′sion, the act of reverting or returning: that which reverts or returns: the return or future possession of any property after some particular event: the right to future possession: (biol.) return to some type of ancestral character: return to the wild state after domestication.—adj. Rever′sionary, relating to a reversion: to be enjoyed in succession: atavic.—ns. Rever′sioner; Rever′sis, an old French game of cards in which the aim was to take the fewest tricks.—adj. Rever′sive.—n. Rever′so (print.), any one of the left-hand pages of a book.—Reverse a battery, to turn the current of electricity by means of a commutator; Reverse shell, a univalve shell which has its volutions the reversed way of the common screw; Reversionary annuity, a deferred annuity. [L. reversus, pa.p. of revertĕre, to turn back—re-, back, vertĕre, to turn.]