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reverse

   Also found in: Legal, Financial, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
re·verse  (r-vûrs)
adj.
1.
a. Turned backward in position, direction, or order.
b. Having the back showing or in view of the observer.
2. Moving, acting, or organized in a manner contrary to the usual.
3. Causing backward movement: a reverse gear.
4. Printing Printed in such a way that the normally colored part appears white against a colored or black background.
n.
1. The opposite or contrary: All along we thought Sue was older than Bill, but just the reverse was true.
2.
a. The back or rear part.
b. The side of a coin or medal that does not carry the principal design; the verso.
3. A change to an opposite position, condition, or direction.
4. A change in fortune from better to worse; a setback: suffered financial reverses.
5.
a. A mechanism, such as a gear in a motor vehicle, that is used to reverse movement.
b. The position or operating condition of such a mechanism.
c. Movement in an opposite direction.
6. Football An offensive play in which a back running in one direction executes a handoff to a back running in the opposite direction.
v. re·versed, re·vers·ing, re·vers·es
v.tr.
1. To turn around to the opposite direction.
2. To turn inside out or upside down.
3. To exchange the positions of; transpose.
4. Law To revoke or annul (a decision or decree, for example).
5.
a. To cause to adopt a contrary viewpoint.
b. To change to the opposite: reversed their planned course of action.
6. To cause (an engine or a mechanism) to function in reverse.
v.intr.
1. To turn or move in the opposite direction.
2. To reverse the action of an engine.
Idiom:
reverse (one's) field
To turn and proceed in the opposite direction.

[Middle English revers, from Old French, from Latin reversus, past participle of revertere, to turn back; see revert.]

re·versely adv.
re·verser n.
Synonyms: reverse, invert, transpose
These verbs mean to change to the opposite position, direction, or course. Reverse implies a complete turning about to a contrary position: reversed the placement of the sofa and chairs.
To invert is basically to turn something upside down or inside out, but the term may imply placing something in a reverse order: inverted the glass; invert subject and verb to form an interrogative.
Transpose applies to altering position in a sequence by reversing or changing the order: often misspells receive by transposing the e and the i.

reverse [rɪˈvɜːs]
vb (mainly tr)
1. to turn or set in an opposite direction, order, or position
2. to change into something different or contrary; alter completely reverse one's policy
3. (also intr) to move or cause to move backwards or in an opposite direction to reverse a car
4. (Engineering / Mechanical Engineering) to run (machinery, etc.) in the opposite direction to normal
5. to turn inside out
6. (Law) Law to revoke or set aside (a judgment, decree, etc.); annul
7. (Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) (often foll by out) to print from plates so made that white lettering or design of (a page, text, display, etc.) appears on a black or coloured background
(Military)
reverse arms Military to turn one's arms upside down, esp as a token of mourning
(Electronics & Computer Science / Telecommunications)
reverse the charge(s) to make a telephone call at the recipient's expense
n
1. the opposite or contrary of something
2. the back or rear side of something
3. a change to an opposite position, state, or direction
4. a change for the worse; setback or defeat
5. (Engineering / Mechanical Engineering)
a.  the mechanism or gears by which machinery, a vehicle, etc., can be made to reverse its direction
b.  (as modifier) reverse gear
6. the side of a coin bearing a secondary design Compare obverse [5]
7. (Communication Arts / Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding)
a.  printed matter in which normally black or coloured areas, esp lettering, appear white, and vice versa
b.  (as modifier) reverse plates
in reverse in an opposite or backward direction
the reverse of emphatically not; not at all he was the reverse of polite when I called
adj
1. opposite or contrary in direction, position, order, nature, etc.; turned backwards
2. back to front; inverted
3. operating or moving in a manner contrary to that which is usual
4. denoting or relating to a mirror image
[from Old French, from Latin reversus, from revertere to turn back]
reversely  adv
reverser  n

reverse


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A HEAVY Operator overtaken by a Reverse of Fortune was bewailing his sudden fall from affluence to indigence.
As for this last, change in the reverse direction would seem to be most truly its contrary; thus motion upwards is the contrary of motion downwards and vice versa.
These circumstances were surely the very reverse of favourable; and yet in spite of it all, and as if in demonstration of my belief that everything decisive comes to life in spite of every obstacle, it was precisely during this winter and in the midst of these unfavourable circumstances that my
 
 
 
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