reverse

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /rɪˈvɜːs/, US /rɪˈvɝːs/^[1]

Etymology

The adjective is Middle English revers, borrowed from Old French revers (“reverse, opposite”) and directly borrowed from Latin reversus,^[2][3] the past participle of revertere (“to turn back”) (see revert), from re- and vertere (“to turn”).^[4][3] The verb is from Old French reverser, from Late Latin reversāre “to turn round”, a frequentative of revertere.^[3][2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Opposite or contrary in character or order: 1303 in the OED and Barnhart, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

The noun, the opposite of something, is from about 1350, in Chaucer.^[3][6] The verb first meant to change or alter (before 1333), then to turn the other way (before 1393), and to go backward in the early 15th century;^[3][2] to annul a judicial sentence is from the mid-15th century.^[2] A defeat or change of fortune for the worse is from the 1520s,^[2][4] and the back of a coin from the 1620s.^[2][6] The reverse gear of a vehicle is by 1875 as an adjective and by 1900 as a noun, and to put a vehicle in reverse by 1902.^[2] Reversal is from 1488, first of reversing a legal judgment, and reversible from 1648.^[3] Reverse discrimination is American, attested from 1962.^[2]

Timeline

• 1303 – opposite, contrary.^[6][3]
• before 1333 – the verb, to change.^[3]
• c. 1350 – the noun, the opposite.^[3]
• 1520s – a setback.^[2]
• 1620s – the back of a coin.^[2]
• 1875 – reverse gear.^[2]
• 1902 – to reverse a car.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To turn something the other way round, inside out or upside down.
2. To change to the opposite; to undo or annul a decision.
3. To move or drive backwards.

Noun

1. The opposite of something.
2. The back of something, especially the side of a coin without the main design.
3. A setback or change for the worse.
4. The gear that makes a vehicle go backwards.

Adjective

1. Opposite in direction, order or position.

Word family

• reversely
• reverser
• nonreverse
• reversible
• reversal
• reverse-engineer
• reverse commuter
• reverse curve

Related words

• revert
• reversion
• vertical
• versus
• converse

Usage notes

In Yorkshire, the Isle of Wight and Somerset dialect a reverse was the burden or refrain of a song.^[7]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)