Part 311

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°, 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.

Re*verse", v. i. 1. To return; to revert. [Obs.] Spenser.

2. To become or be reversed.

Re*versed" (?), a. 1. Turned side for side, or end for end; changed to the contrary; specifically (Bot. & Zoöl.), sinistrorse or sinistral; as, a reversed, or sinistral, spiral or shell.

2. (Law) Annulled and the contrary substituted; as, a reversed judgment or decree.

Reversed positive or negative (Photog.), a picture corresponding with the original in light and shade, but reversed as to right and left. Abney.

Re*vers"ed*ly (?), adv. In a reversed way.

Re*verse"less, a. Irreversible. [R.] A. Seward.

Re*verse"ly, adv. In a reverse manner; on the other hand; on the opposite. Bp. Pearson.