Reverse \Re*verse"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reversed;p. pr. & vb.
n. Reversing.]
[See Reverse, a., and cf. Revert.]
1. To turn back; to cause to face in a contrary direction; to
cause to depart.
And that old dame said many an idle verse, Out of
her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse.
--Spenser.
2. To cause to return; to recall. [Obs.]
And to his fresh remembrance did reverse The ugly
view of his deformed crimes. --Spenser.
3. To change totally; to alter to the opposite.
Reverse the doom of death. --Shak.
She reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of
Bray. --Sir W.
Scott.
4. To turn upside down; to invert.
A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if
balanced by admirable skill. --Sir W.
Temple.
5. Hence, to overthrow; to subvert.
These can divide, and these reverse, the state.
--Pope.
Custom . . . reverses even the distinctions of good
and evil. --Rogers.
6. (Law) To overthrow by a contrary decision; to make void;
to under or annual for error; as, to reverse a judgment,
sentence, or decree.
Reverse arms (Mil.), a position of a soldier in which the
piece passes between the right elbow and the body at an
angle of 45[deg], and is held as in the illustration.
To reverse an engine or a machine, to cause it to perform
its revolutions or action in the opposite direction.
Syn: To overturn; overset; invert; overthrow; subvert;
repeal; annul; revoke; undo.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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