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reverse, adj. and adv.

DRAFT REVISION Mar. 2010

Brit. /rvs/, U.S. /rvrs/, /rivrs/  Forms: ME-15 reuers, ME-15 revers, ME-16 reuerse, 15- reverse, 16 reuersse. [< Anglo-Norman and Middle French, French revers twisted, askew (late 12th cent.), opposite or contrary to something else (end of the 13th cent. or earlier in Anglo-Norman) and its etymon classical Latin reversus, past participle of revertere REVERT v. Compare Old Occitan revers (14th cent.), Spanish reverso (16th cent.), Portuguese reverso (1446), Italian riverso (1312), (with alteration after rovesciare REVERSE v.¹) rovescio (14th cent.), and also (with simplification of the consonant cluster -rs-) Catalan revés stubborn, obstinate (c1450), Portuguese revesso (1597). Compare earlier REVERSE v.¹, and also REVERSE n., REVERSED adj.
  In sense A. 4b originally after Italian riverso (1728 (in the passage translated in quot. 1730) or earlier in this sense).
  The use as adverb is not paralleled in the Romance languages (which use prepositional phrases formed with the parallels of REVERSE n., as does English normally: see the etymology note at that entry), nor in most Germanic languages. However, compare Middle Low German (rare) revers (adverb) back, backwards.] 

    A. adj.

    1. Opposite or contrary to something else; moving in the opposite direction.

    a. In predicative use, with to.

a1393 GOWER Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) II. 2105 Thei ben the slyeste of alle..To feigne and schewe thing withoute Which is revers to that withinne. a1400 (c1303) R. MANNYNG Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 11112 ese are o yche twey verse at to holynes are reuers. 1680 Oliver Cromwell's Ghost at St. James's (single sheet), He hoped to see..an Upright set of Mrs appointed in their Room, who will behave in a manner Reverse to the Former. 1687 W. D. KNIGHT tr. B. Le B. de Fontenelle Disc. Plurality of Worlds 26, I see in general that in the Moon they have a month reverse to ours. 1747 T. STORY Life 127 This was reverse to a Report formerly invented against William Penn, that he himself was a Jesuit. 1762 J. WOOLMAN Wks. (1840) 225 Others choose that which..proves utterly reverse to true happiness. 1829 S. WINTER & E. VINCE Mystic Wreath 66 That which is reverse to old. 1895 Wales Jan. 11/2 They pass between rollers covered with sheep's skin,the motion of the wheels being reverse to that of the plates. 1919 Ann. Rep. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. Agric. Exper. Station 1917-1918 37 Late fall applications of dry salt are more advisable than earlier ones. This is reverse to the treatments with sodium arsenite and nitrate of soda. 1962 Plant Physiol. 37 527/1 Transport toward the lower incision occurred therefore in a direction reverse to the direction of flow under natural conditions. 1994 H. Y. H. ZHAO in E. Hung Paradoxes in Trad. Chinese Lit. iv. 109 This is reverse to the traditional concept that formal elements are an attractive decoration to make the moral logic more palatable.

    b. Without construction.

1481 J. TIPTOFT tr. B. da Montemagno's Declam. Honoure sig. e8, in tr. Cicero De Senectute (Caxton), Theyr childeren..ben of reuerse condicions ffor lyke wise as theyr faders dyde embelysshe alle this cyte, So they spotten and defowlen the same. 1532 (c1385) Usk's Test. Loue in Wks. G. Chaucer III. f. ccclviii^v, Which thinges ben more reuers than comen & gone. 1652 W. CHARLETON Darknes Atheism 227 Nor are we destitute of Instances, in holy Chronicles, to testify the Reverse part of our assertion. 1703 Athenian Oracle II. 400/1 He remembers a Series of Names as they follow one another, either in a direct or reverse Order. 1792 E. BURKE Let. 6 Nov. (1968) VII. 288, I hear that the Bellingham story is the contrary to Truth, and happened in the very reverse manner. 1836-41 W. T. BRANDE Man. Chem. (ed. 5) 321 Decomposition of the iodide at x occurred, but in a reverse order. 1884 tr. H. Lotze Logic 103 The mind..employs them to form an inference which is just like the one described above, only in the reverse direction. 1933 S. W. COLE Pract. Physiol. Chem. (ed. 9) ix. 205 It follows..that the velocity of reaction is retarded by the accumulation of the products of reaction and that they induce the reverse reaction. 1950 Public Opinion Q. 13 582 The newspaper's arguments were ineffective against, or had a reverse effect upon, public opinion. 1960 Guardian 23 July 6/7 If the NFU and the RSPCA do not think that ‘veal houses’ are cruel, there are 34 children..in my class who are so much of the reverse opinion that [etc.]. 1993 Collins Compl. DIY Man. viii. 389/2 You can attach a hose connector which incorporates a non-return valve to eliminate reverse flow.

    2. Of a storm: adverse. Obs. rare ¹.

a1393 GOWER Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) VI. 1418 He fond the See divers, With many a wyndi storm revers.

    3. Of a blow or stroke: backhanded. Obs.

1591 J. FLORIO Second Frutes 119 Hee will hit any man..with a right or reverse blowe,..even as liketh him. 1616 B. JONSON Cynthias Revels V. ii. 74 in Wks. I, Stooping ouer his shoulder, your hand on his brest,..you giue him the Reuerse stroke, with this Sanna. 1667 MILTON Paradise Lost VI. 326 With swift wheele reverse, [the sword] deep entring shar'd All his right side. 1736 ‘ZELIS’ Celenia II. VI. 565 A reverse Blow struck him just under the Chin.

    4. a. Math. = INVERSE adj. 3a.

1594 T. BLUNDEVILLE Exercises I. xix. f. 20^v, Proportion Reuerse differeth not from the rule of 3. called Regula [r]euersa. 1766 Compl. Farmer at Surveying 7 G 1/2 In the same manner you may, by the rule of three reverse, obtain your desire. 1858 C. V. WALKER tr. A. de la Rive Treat. Electr. III. 760 The quantities of liquid transported are nearly in reverse ratio to the quantity of salt dissolved. 1881 Science 1 Oct. 463/2 A force..which is in reverse ratio to their density. 1914 Biol. Bull. 27 195 The intensities of the reactions are in reverse proportion to Weber's ratios. 2003 Milbank Q. 81 317 The problems were in a reverse ratio to both the size of the community and the degree of centralization.

    b. Archit. and Joinery. Of an ogee or cyma: inverted. Cf. cyma reversa at CYMA n. 1.

1730 A. GORDON tr. F. S. Maffei Compl. Hist. Anc. Amphitheatres 234 Nor does it cause the reverse Gulæ to appear exceedingly narrow [It. nè fa strettissima la gola riversa]. 1839 Rep. Proc. Geol. & Polytechnic Soc. West Riding Yorksh. Dec. 371 In Perpendicular mouldings the most prominent and distinguishing marks are bold hollows..; double reverse ogees are also very common. 1986 J. C. HARLE Art & Archit. of Indian Subcontinent (1994) xxi. 295/2 The huge reverse cyma with petalled border. 1995 Amer. Woodworker Aug. 45 A favored arrangement was to place a molded lip, often a reverse ogee, over a large cove and astragal.

    5. a. On or designating the reverse of a coin, medal, or similar object; facing away from or not intended to be seen by the observer.

1675 J. SMITH Christian Relig. Appeal II. ix. 112 The Sanctuary-shekel..with this Inscription..on the Reverse side. 1688 R. HOLME Acad. Armory III. ii. 25/2 On the reverse side there was no Picture. 1712 J. MORTON Nat. Hist. Northants. iii. 240 Almost in the Middle of the Reverse Side, there's one or two small peaked Protuberances. 1798 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 88 171 These divisions..were transferred, by a dividing knife, to the reverse side of my brass scale made by Mr. Troughton. 1851 H. MOGFORD Handbk. Preserv. Pict. (ed. 3) II. 47 What would become of a fine Rembrandt..if subjected to violent blows on the reverse side from a weighty mass of iron? 1887 Proclam. in Standard 18 May 3/2 Every Sixpence should have the same obverse and reverse impression. 1932 Extension Mag. Feb. 24/1 This is, no doubt, a noble sentiment..but the reverse side of the shield is not quite so bright. 1981 Antiquaries Jrnl. 61 52 The earliest silver coinage to be struck in Rome..had as its reverse design first the wolf and twins, and then Victoria. 1995 Ashmolean Winter 9/1 Typically the reverse face is backed with lengths of scrap cane.

    b. Mil. Connected with, commanding, or facing towards, the rear.

1702 Mil. Dict. at Reverse, Signifies on the back, or behind. So we say, a Reverse View, a Reverse commanding Ground, a Reverse Battery. 1732 tr. R. Duguay-Trouin Mem. 215 The reverse battery of the chevalier de Bauve, and de Bloye, began to play upon the batteries, and retrenchments of the Benedictines. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 449/1 The ravelin has..8 casemated guns in its reverse battery of the salient. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educator II. 130/1 Reverse or counterscarp galleries..are placed under the glacis, their front wall being the counterscarp of the ditch. 1911 H. W. ELSON Photographic Hist. Civil War III. IV. 280 General John B. Gordon, who had successfully led the reverse attack at Cedar Creek. 2000 R. ASPREY Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte ix. 88 A jubilant Napoleon was setting up reverse batteries in the two positions when he learned that General Lapoype's attack had captured the Mt. Faron defenses.

    c. Entomol. Viewed from the posterior; facing away from the observer. Contrasted with OBVERSE adj. 1b. Obs. rare.

1826 W. KIRBY & W. SPENCE Introd. Entomol. IV. 299 Reverse (Reversa), when an object is viewed with its anus towards you.

    d. Of a view, etc.: of or from the rear.

1836 New Monthly Belle Assemblée Dec. 277/2 The sitting figure gives a reverse view of the dress. 1897 S. V. TÖRNQVIST On Diplograptidæ & Heteroprionidæ of Scanian Rastrites Beds 23 Specimen showing the distal half in relief (obverse aspect), and the proximal portion in the form of an impression (reverse aspect). 1910 N. Carolina Booklet July 9 With that unconquerable desire to see he has supplied us with reverse views of many of the figures like modern fashion plates. 1956 Burlington Mag. Nov. 306 (caption) Black-glazed bowl with gilded floral decoration; reverse view. 2003 Stud. in Conservation 48 41 A small fragment..of Egyptian cartonnage..shown in front and reverse view in Figures 1 and 2.

    6. a. Operating, behaving, or acting in a way contrary or opposite to that which is usual or customary.

1828 J. ROSS Treat. Navigation by Steam 164 The price of a boat ten horse power engine, single or with only one cylinder, is £400..including reverse valve action. a1860 A. SMITH London Med. Student (1861) 117 Having been squirted at through the keyhole five distinct times, with a reverse stomach-pump full of beer. 1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin. 285 Reverse Keys, keys..made and used not with the object of holding machine parts together, but for the purpose of driving them asunder. 1921 E. DE LISSA in E. H. D. Sewell Rugby Football up to Date xv. 264 We are going to practise all the summer together to see if we can't bring off some of that ‘reverse’ passing, during next season. 1937 E. K. O'BRIEN in Bridge World Aug. 27 (heading) The reverse signal. 1961 Times 16 Jan. 3/5 Dodds was only inches wide with a reverse-stick shot. 1993 P. MAYLE Hotel Pastis (1994) 270 There was a kind of reverse snobbery..about what they wore; they looked like labourers down on their luck until you saw their women and their complicated watches and their cars.

    b. Chiefly Printing. Characterized by, relating to, or producing an inversion of the usual arrangements of colour or tone, esp. in the form of white characters, lines, etc., against a black or dark-coloured background. Cf. REVERSAL n. 3.

1875 Photogr. News 12 Mar. 125/1 The advantage of this process..is, that..one never gets reverse images, as is the case in other methods, when the undecomposed chromium has not been eliminated. 1896 Typographical Jrnl. 15 Feb. 122/1 Zinc-etched plates are an excellent medium for reverse work... Somehow, the beauty of a face of type is greatly enhanced by bringing it into white relief on a dark ground. 1947 I. H. SAYRE Photogr. & Platemaking for Photo-lithogr. 27 In the..reverse method, there is no underlayer of the coating in the image areas. 1992 L. LIPMAN Real Estate Advertising that Works! (ed. 2) iv. 89 You should also check the newspaper's reverse printing quality before deciding to use reverse type in your ad. 2009 G. GRUMAN InDesign CS4 Bible xviii. 470 Reverse type doesn't have to be white on black; it can be any lighter color on a darker color.

    7. Relating to or allowing the operation of engines or the movement of vehicles in a direction opposite to the usual or predominant direction. Cf. REVERSE n. 11.

1839 J. D. CUSTER U.S. Patent 1,179 3/2 This lever N, I call the reverse lever. 1881 Eng. Mechanic & World of Sci. 11 Mar. 24/1 The wheel driving and the reverse pinion driving. 1900 G. D. HISCOX Horseless Vehicles xii. 242 Three speeds forward and a reverse slow speed. 1931 F. L. ALLEN Only Yesterday i. 7 He must remember to brake with the reverse pedal, or the low-speed pedal. 2005 D. MCWILLIAMS Pope's Children x. 130 A garden beast of a Honda with..Hydro-gear IZT wheel motor/pumps, 6.5 mph forward, 3.5 mph reverse speeds [etc.].

    B. adv.    In a reverse manner; conversely. Also: upside down. Now rare.

a1393 GOWER Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) V. 7658 In such wise as Avarice..Stant in contraire to Largesse, Riht so stant Prodegalite Revers. ?a1425 tr. Guy de Chauliac Grande Chirurgie (N.Y. Acad. Med.) f. 150, an e pacient sette reuerse [?c1425 Paris turnede vp-so-down; L. reuerso] vpon a dish or vpon e kneez of som strong mynistre be e iez bowed, [etc.]. 1434 R. MISYN tr. R. Rolle Mending of Life 120 Sum-tyme a at semys in e hyar ar in e lawar, & reuers. 1649 MILTON Observations in Articles of Peace with Irish Rebels 64 The edge of thir own proverb falls reverse upon themselves. 1728 R. MORRIS Ess. Anc. Archit. 22 Some..act reverse to their own Ideas and Sentiments. 1819 C. GROTZ Art making Fireworks 14 Take a phial, which hold reverse the space of a minute over a bottle of dissolution of iron. 1917 T. SOLLMANN Man. Pharmacol. 403 It is interesting that they run reverse to the seasonal variations of acetonitrile and diphtheria toxin.

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    SPECIAL USES

    S1. With participial adjectives, forming adjectives.

    reverse acting adj.

1858 U.S. Patent 20,740 1/1 Arranging a skeleton semisphere on the upper side of the upper dasher of *reverse acting or forward and backward acting churns. 2004 P. SKOUSEN Valve Handbk. (ed 2) v. 199 Diaphragm actuators have both direct-acting and reverse-acting designs.

    reverse-coupled adj.

1923 Brit. Patent 198.769 2/1 The master controller reverse barrel may have two separate forward and two separate backward positions, i.e. forward coupled, forward uncoupled, *reverse coupled, and reverse uncoupled. 1961 U.S. Patent 2,967,499 6 Shafts 24 and 26..are reverse-coupled by spring 68..to prevent over-running of the sewing machine. 2002 J. C. WHITAKER & K. B. BENSON Standard Handbk. Audio & Radio Engin. (ed. 2) XI. 136 Reverse-coupled 1/4-wave hybrid combiner.

    reverse polarized adj.

1913 Electr. Interlocking Handbk. (General Railway Signal Co., U.S.) XIV. 335 Normal polarized contact... *Reverse polarized contact. 2004 D. STEWART Chem. Essent. Oils made Simple xii 476 Measurements of the blood of people living under geopathic stress find reverse polarized proteins.

    reverse-tapered adj.

1905 U.S. Patent 797,027 2/2 The *reverse-tapered ajutage commonly termed a ‘Venturi tube’. 2002 M. J. MADOU Fund. Microfabrication (ed. 2) vii. 410/1 Laser tools..can readily engineer custom-designed, reverse-tapered, 2D and 3D structures.

    S2. reverse anorexia n. (more fully reverse anorexia nervosa) = muscle dysmorphia n. at MUSCLE n. Compounds 2; also in extended use; also called bigorexia.

1986 New Republic 15 Sept. 26 Dr. Albert Stunkard, professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, described this *reverse-anorexia at a recent conference of the National Institute of Mental Health as a ‘fascinating area of future research’. 2000 H. POPE et al. Adonis Complex iv. 87 We found 16 men with prominent symptoms of reverse anorexia nervosa in one survey of 160 men from gyms in the Boston and Los Angeles areas. 2001 Straits Times (Singapore) 8 Apr. P7 The most likely victims of muscle dysmorphia or reverse anorexia are men fuelled by the desire to be bulky. 2007 Metro (Toronto) 23 July 16/4 That becomes dangerous when one is afflicted with bigorexia, a condition described as reverse anorexia or muscle dysmorphia.

    reverse arch n. an inverted arch.

1795 S. TOTTON Humble Representation to Ld. Mayor of London 19 Nor has he mentioned any one hospital that he says has been built within 50 years, where any Sewer has been turned or formed on a *reverse Arch at bottom. 1889 tr. W. Frankel & R. Heyn Iconographic Encycl. Art & Sci. V. 315 The bottom is sometimes constructed of masonry, and in situations where an upward pressure is to be feared it is built with reverse archesthat is, arches having their concave faces directed upwards. 2000 Archit. Hist. 43 177 The object of the reverse arches was to divert the thrust downwards and thus to stabilize each pier on its own account.

    reverse applied adj. Electronics (of a voltage) applied in the opposite direction to that which is usual, as in a semiconductor junction to prevent significant current from flowing.

1902 W. C. D. WHETMAN Treat. Theory Solution xi. 290 The effect of the anion is considerable as long as the *reverse applied electromotive force is less than the natural potential difference. 1962 J. H. SIMPSON & R. S. RICHARDS Physical Princ. Junction Transistors iv. 54 This condition applies to an even greater extent for reverse-applied voltages when the current flowing through the device is very small. 2004 J. SEGURA & C. F. HAWKINS CMOS Electronics ii. 51 Plots the capacitance..with respect to the reverse applied voltage.

    reverse auction n. any of various types of auction in which the normal bidding process is modified, spec. one in which the purchaser of a product or service invites bids from multiple vendors and typically selects the lowest offer.

1915 Archit. & Building Dec. 424 Competitive bidding nowadays is a *reverse auction. 1926 Chicago Daily Tribune 4 July III. 2/4 ‘Reverse auction’... The firm will put the residence on sale July 4 at $33,500, and will then reduce the price $100 per day until the property is sold. 1958 Managem. Sci. 5 19 The experimenter offered to any one of three teenagers a baby-sitting job, the baby-sitter being selected at a reverse auction (lowest bidder wins). 2002 P. KOTLER et al. Marketing Moves i.15 Business buyers can run a reverse auction, in which sellers compete using a given time period to underprice one another in order to capture the buyer's business.

    reverse-biased adj. Electronics subjected to a voltage which prevents or significantly reduces the flow of current; spec. (of a diode) having a higher voltage at the cathode than at the anode, allowing only a negligible current to flow from the latter to the former.

1953 Rep. Progress Physics 16 197 The electron component would have to traverse the *reverse-biased barrier at the contact. 1975 D. G. FINK Electronics Engineers' Handbk. VII. 32 When a pn junction is reverse-biased, the free electrons in the n-type material are attracted..away from the junction. 2004 A. H. ROBBINS & W. C. MILLER Circuit Anal. (ed. 3) i. 75 Due to the high resistance of a reverse-biased diode, it is often approximated as an open circuit.

    reverse bid n. Bridge a rebid in a suit of a higher rank than that of one's previous bid; = REVERSE n. 14; (in Auction Bridge) a bid announcing a number of tricks a player undertakes to lose.

1915 M. C. WORK Auction under Laws of 1915 77 ‘Tiger’ Clubs and *Reverse bids were doomed by the infinitesimal vote they received, but..it is not likely that the Committee.would have seriously considered measures which would materially complicate it. 1939 N. DE V. HART Bridge Players' Bedside Bk. 132 A reverse bid logically shows considerable strength when it is made in such a way that the partner cannot put the bidder back to his first-bid suit without raising the bidding to a higher level than that at which the bidder could himself have returned to the suit. 1963 Listener 10 Jan. 102/3 He lacks the general strength for a ‘reverse’ bid of Two Hearts. 1998 Times (Nexis) 11 Mar. (Sport section), After the Two Club response, my reverse bid of Two Spades was forcing to game.

    reverse curve n. an S-shaped curve.

1821 L. GOMPERTZ Specif. Patent in Repertory of Arts 39 25 When the carriage goes in a contrary direction, the reverse pin works against a whole side of the *reverse curve. 1915 Amer. City Sept. 181/3 There are many danger points in Portland on account of..irregular streets with reverse curves, bad turns and unsafe corners. 1929 D. N. ARMS Churches of France 29 The northern nave is the original one and has the more beautiful line, that subtle reverse curve. 1977 Mod. Railways Dec. 463/1 In my experience speeds are limited not so much by reverse curves..but rather more by antique signalling. 2003 G. DILIBERTO I am Madame X 153 Three-inch ‘Louis’ heels shaped in a graceful reverse curve.

    reverse dictionary n. (a) a bilingual dictionary giving the equivalents of English words in a foreign language (obs.); (b) a dictionary in which terms or synonyms are given for concepts or definitions; (c) a dictionary in which the words are arranged so that they are in alphabetical order when each is read backwards rather than forwards.

1838 Calcutta Christian Observer May 292 For a *reverse dictionary, Mendies's..is the best, because the fullest yet the most select, hitherto published. 1951 Portsmouth (Ohio) Times 13 Oct. 21/5 Dr. Jacob E. Schmidt..compiled a reverse dictionary singlehandedlywhile carrying on his practice of medicine! 1954 Newsweek 26 Apr. 57 To help Scrabble fans, cross-word puzzle addicts, and other persons troubled for a word ending in ‘X’, ‘Y’ or ‘Z’, a ‘reverse’ dictionary has been compiled at the University of Massachusetts. 1989 Dillons Bks. Aug. 4/1 The Reverse Dictionary can help you locate the word you are trying to find. 2003 I. PLAG Word-formation in Eng. iv. 104 We then explored different ways to obtain large amounts of data, introducing reverse dictionaries, the OED, and electronic text corpora.

    reverse discrimination n. orig. U.S. discrimination against a majority or (formerly) dominant group; discrimination by or in favour of a minority or (formerly) oppressed group; cf. positive discrimination n. at POSITIVE adj. and n. Special uses.

1945 in R. D. Wilson Jim Crow joins Up (rev. ed.) xi. 132 It was also possible now to have Negro strikers for all vacant petty officer ratings without any ‘*reverse discrimination’ such as there would have been if white seamen had been denied the right to strike for a higher rating just because it was desired to qualify Negroes. 1969 Guardian 11 Oct. 8/6 The Hunt report on Northern Ireland..sets its face firmly against the allocation of reserved places for Roman Catholics within the police‘reverse discrimination’ it calls it. 1983 B. EMECHETA Rape of Shavi (1985) x. 87 This is reverse discrimination. Here they think we whites are good for only menial jobs. 2000 B. F. RESKIN in M. S. Kimmel & A. Aronson Gendered Society Reader 264 Claims that sex inequality has disappeared (or that men now experience ‘reverse discrimination’).

    reverse fault n. Geol. a fault in which the relative downward movement occurred in the strata situated on the lower side of the fault plane; contrasted with normal fault (see NORMAL adj. 8).

1865 Mem. Geol. Surv. India 3 195 It very commonly happens that the upthrow takes place on the side of the underlie, producing..what are commonly called *reverse faults. 1889 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 38 259 The explanation of the reverse faults seems obvious enough. They occur..mostly in strongly folded regions. 1962 H. H. READ & J. WATSON Introd. Geol. I. viii. 482 There is much more justification for referring to reverse faults, which involved a shortening of the crust, as compressional faults. 1989 Sci. Amer. June 34/1 The majority of structures imaged by these techniques are ‘reverse’ faults, steep faults along which the younger strata are pushed over the older beds below, like a carpet pushed up a tilted floor.

    reverse fire n. Mil. gunfire on the rear of an enemy or fortification, spec. such that the angle between the line of the parapet or troops and the line of fire is greater than 30 degrees.

1758 C. VALLANCEY tr. L. A. de la M. Clairac Field Engineer vii. 86 Flanks..would protect the intermediate Front by a *reverse fire. 1828 J. M. SPEARMAN Brit. Gunner 209 The lunettes before the bastions should..be as little advanced as possible,..that they may..be themselves subject to a reverse fire from the flanks of those works. 1834 J. S. MACAULAY Treat. Field Fortification 285 Two faces will be seen by slant and two by reverse fire. 1999 T. COOK No Place to Run 208 The Canadian artillery were able..to bombard the German position in a combination of frontal, enfilade, and reverse fire.

    reverse flank n. Mil. the outer flank of a wheeling body of troops, being furthest from the pivot (PIVOT n. 4).

1792 Rules & Regulations for Formations His Majesty's Forces lvi. 80 The sub-division or section, on the *reverse flank, is the one behind which the other sub-division, or sections double. 1796 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry 118 The whole divisions then file from their reverse flanks. 1885 Times 28 Sept. 8/4 The troops first passed the saluting point in column of double companies, then repassed from the reverse flank in lines of column at quarter distance. 1961 S. N. SEN Anglo-Maratha Relations iii. 42 One of these guards was posted in the rear, and the other on the reverse flank of the army.

    reverse gear n. a gear which allows a mechanism to move or work in the reverse direction from usual; esp. one which allows a vehicle to travel in reverse without reversing the rotation of its engine; in later use freq. fig.

1835 Mechanics' Mag. July 7/1 The other improvements affect the force-pump, eccentrics, and *reverse gear. 1907 R. B. WHITMAN Motor-car Princ. viii. 121 When the reverse gear is introduced..the square shaft is revolved in the same direction as the counter-shaft, reversing the rotation of the driving wheels. 1940 Constr. Methods Apr. 110/2 Wrecking is, in reality, construction in reverse gear. 1973 W. MCCARTHY Detail iii. 204 David..tried to accustom himself to the British car. He found the reverse gear and slowly backed out 1979 Guardian 7 July 9/4 In the present era, everything has gone into reverse gear. New building is postponed, new hospitals..cannot open. 2003 HomeDIY Dec. 12/2 The key features are a reverse gear (so that the drill can be used for taking out screws as well as..putting them in) and variable torque.

    reverse genetics n. an approach used in genetic analysis in which a known sequence of DNA is mutated with a view to examining the effects of such a mutation on gene function and resulting phenotype; freq. contrasted with classical genetics; cf. positional cloning n. at POSITIONAL adj. Special uses.

1981 D. SHORTLE et al. in Ann. Rev. Genetics 15 266 It is now possible to construct mutations at predetermined sites in a cloned DNA molecule, precisely define the chemical nature of the mutational change, and then test the functional effect of the mutation in vitro and/or in vivo. This approach to mutational analysis has been termed ‘*reverse genetics’. 1995 D. J. WEATHERALL Sci. & Quiet Art (1996) viii. 256 This unlikely activity, which was originally called reverse genetics but which has since been rechristened positional cloning, represents one of the most important developments in molecular medicine. 2004 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 29 Jan. A1 Reverse genetics allows researchers to assemble designer flu viruses, using biotechnology tools to remove viral traits that make a particular strain lethal.

    reverse lever n. a lever for engaging a reverse gear or for putting a vehicle in reverse.

1839 *Reverse lever [see sense A. 7] 1907 W. F. M. GOSS Locomotive Performance v. 105 Operate a locomotive with the reverse-lever in its extreme forward position at high speed. 2005 Miami Herald (Nexis) 20 June (Wheels & Waves section) 1 A useful reverse lever for maneuvering around docks.

    reverse micelle n. Chem. a micelle (MICELLE n. 1) formed in a non-polar solvent, comprising a spherical array of certain amphipathic molecules (e.g. soaps) clustered around a water droplet, with the hydrophobic part of each molecule pointing outwards (the reverse of the situation in a normal micelle).

1970 E. J. FENDLER & J. H. FENDLER in V. Gold Adv. in Physical Org. Chem. VIII. 290 In non-polar liquids the structure of micelles is generally the reverse of that in water... The formation of such ‘*reverse micelles’ in non-polar solvents must..result in a lower free energy than that of the monomeric surfactant solution. 2005 Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102 11539/2 The presence of both hydrophobic and hydrophilic groups..helps them to self-assemble as both normal micelles and reverse micelles under appropriate conditions.

    reverse mortgage n. N. Amer. Finance a financial agreement whereby a homeowner relinquishes equity in his or her home in exchange for regular payments, esp. to supplement retirement income (cf. equity release n. at EQUITY n. Additions).

1969 J. M. GUTTENTAG in I. Friend Study of Savings & Loan Industry IV. 1542 There are at present no institutional arrangements..whereby an elderly person can use up the equity in his house while reserving the right to live there until his death. The *reverse mortgage is one possible solution. 1990 A. ZAREMBKA Urban Housing Crisis i. 21 A relatively recent addition that is aimed at elderly homeowners, is the reverse mortgage. 2006 National Post's Financial Post & FP Investing (Canada) (Nexis) 23 Aug. FP9 Smith has a dim view of reverse mortgages, which he says should be used only as a last resort.

    reverse mutation n. Genetics mutation that restores a mutant phenotype or genotype to the original or normal form (the wild type); an instance of this; also called back mutation; cf. forward mutation n. at FORWARD adj., adv., and n. Additions.

1915 T. H. MORGAN et al. Mechanism Mendelian Heredity vii. 169 Since we know that mutations and even *‘reverse’ mutations actually occur, it would be indeed strange if only one kind of change were possible in a given locus. 1938 R. B. GOLDSCHMIDT Physiol. Genetics IV. i. 290 In ordinary mutation..reverse mutations occur, spontaneously or induced, less frequently. 1989 R. DAWKINS Selfish Gene (ed. 2) xiii. 263 Cells in bottle-wrack will be more genetically uniform within plants than cells in splurge-weed (give or take an occasional reverse-mutation). 2004 A. D. MITCHELL in C. Winder & N. H. Stacey Occup. Toxicol. (ed. 2) x. 248 The most extensive testing for gene mutations is in bacteria, particularly using reverse mutation assays in Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli.

    reverse osmosis n. Physical Chem. the process by which water or other liquid tends to flow across a membrane from a region of high solute concentration to one of lower concentration (the opposite direction to natural osmosis) when subjected to a hydrostatic pressure greater than the osmotic pressure.
  In quot. 1921, referring to a reversal of the direction of osmosis by the addition of salts.

1921 T. J. MOON Biol. Beginners ix. 66 Summary [of ch. ix]... Root pressure. Meaning of term. *Reverse osmosis. 1955 Ann. Rep. Saline Water Comm. 1954 (U.S. Dept. Interior) I. 10 Development of membranes and procedures for demineralization of saline water by reverse-osmosis methods are provided for in several contracts. 1970 New Scientist 14 May 337/3 Laboratory experiments have shown that cheddar cheese whey can be concentrated five-fold by reverse osmosis, or separated into a high-protein product. 1990 Healthy Eating Feb.-Mar. 55/1 Most household reverse osmosis systems also incorporate use of extra fine prefiltration which removes larger particles of dirt and sediment. 2006 Place in Sun May 26/3 It is a fairly slow process, but reverse osmosis is an economic way of creating drinkable water from salty (or otherwise contaminated) water.

    reverse pass n. Sport a pass made to a player moving in the opposite (or a different) direction, thereby changing the direction of attack; (also) a backward pass.

1907 Strand Mag. Nov. 572/2 The *reverse pass from wing to centre is not so much practised as it should be, while the reverse pass from centre to centre is very rarely utilized. 1926 Chester (Pa.) Times 13 Oct. 15/1, I doubt if I ever got quite the kick out of any situation as I did from the two reverse passes we pulled against California. 1951 Sport 7-13 Jan. 8/4 Ormondroyd..took a reverse-pass in fine style and went through the opposition like a bullet. 2005 C. MITCHELL-TAVERNER Field Hockey ii. 27 Player C receives the ball and then tracks left with the ball to make a reverse pass to player A.

    reverse phase adj. Chem. = reversed phase adj. at REVERSED adj. Special uses.

1951 Analyt. Chem. 23 238/2 Long-chain fatty acids..may be separated by using *reverse phase partition chromatography. 1983 Science 26 Aug. 860/3 An abnormal peak was detected in a reverse-phase separation of globin chains. 2006 M. M. HOUCK & J. A. SIEGEL Fund. Forensic Sci. vi. 133 Gas chromatography, where the mobile phase is a non-polar gas. In reverse phase chromatography, the opposite is true.

    reverse plate n. Printing a plate on which the elements in relief are the opposite of what is usual or expected; a piece of printed matter produced from such a plate, typically having white text or figures against a dark printed background (cf. sense A. 6b).

1862 Repertory Patent Inventions 40 141 A *reverse plate is produced for casting. 1896 Typographical Jrnl. 15 Feb. 122/1 Three-colored work is easily done in two impressions by etching a little larger than the type face, and printing in direct from the original type, the extra vacuum showing white between the solid background of the reverse plate and the type face. 1921 S. R. HALL Advertising Handbk. xv. 399 The engraver may be instructed to ‘make up a reverse plate of this’, and he will furnish a plate which, if printed in blue ink, will yield a blue background with white lines, the white being merely the paper that is left unprinted. 1971 F. K. BASKETTE Art of Editing (1977) v. 54 A reverse plate headline is one that reverses the color values so that the letters are in white on a black background. 1998 H. COHEN in A. Cohen et al. John S. Fass & Hammer Creek Press 30 Reverse plate printed in reddish brown within triple rule border.

    reverse Polish n. and adj. Computing (a) n. short for reverse Polish notation n.; (b) adj. involving or employing reverse Polish notation.

1960 S. J. M. DENISON in Ann. Rev. Computer Programming 1 129, b + c × a, can be denoted, in *reverse Polish, by bca × +. 1975 Physics Bull. May 227/1 The reverse Polish logic used on the more familiar Sinclair Scientific [calculator]. 1980 FEBS Lett. 120 294 Hewlett-Packard have standardised on reverse Polish, while Texas Instruments use an algebraic operating system. 2006 A. ROBBINS UNIX in Nutshell (ed. 4) ii. 54 A Reverse Polish calculator..operators and commands follow the numbers they affect.

    reverse Polish notation n. Computing a variation of Polish notation in which operators follow rather than precede their operands, used in some early calculators and certain programming languages.
  Reverse Polish notation is more commonly used than conventional Polish notation.

1957 C. L. HAMBLIN in Austral. Jrnl. Sci. 20 136 It is perfectly feasible..to use a ‘*reverse Polish’ notation in which the operators follow the operands. 1985 Graphic Arts Monthly (Nexis) Sept. 90 They both use a FORTH-like postfix notation language, i.e., a reverse Polish notation in which the operands precede their associated operators. 2004 Pop. Sci. Oct. 96/1 The HP 12C is my all-time favorite calculator. I love its simplicity and size, I love the touch of its keys, I love reverse Polish notation.

    reverse premium n. Finance (a) the amount by which the price of a commodity exceeds its issue price or the value of the assets it represents; (b) a payment of a sum of money intended as an incentive to a person renting a property, where the rent of the property is higher than the market rate.

1864 L. BLODGET Commerc. & Financial Strength U. S. 18 Up to this time, the premium on gold and exchange had not been equal, in its aggregate effect, to the *reverse premium, and the depression of exchange which continued through the greater part of the year 1861. 1976 Times 18 Oct. 8/6 Letting after letting has been achieved at ‘reverse premiums’ or at figures well below asking prices. 1994 Daily Tel. 12 Apr. 26 W H Smith is considering stating how much income it derives from landlords' financial inducements to take up retail sites..payments known as reverse premia. 1996 Which? Guide to starting your own Business (rev. ed.) v. 93 ‘Reverse premiums’ and short-term leases are much more easily available in this buyer's market, so take your time and explore all the options open to you before you make your choice.

    reverse psychology n. the principle or practice of encouraging a behaviour by counter-intuitive means, such as advocating its opposite.

1943 San Antonio (Texas) Light 14 Mar. III. 6/3 [His] use of ‘*reverse psychology’,..the theory that the nastier and more disagreeable he waxes, the more people will want to know what he will sound off about next. 1958 Amer. Econ. Rev. 48 55 He decided to try a little ‘reverse psychology’. The next meeting notice that went out was the shortest ever issued by the Local: ‘Dont Attend! No Need to Bother!.. All We're Going to Do is Take a Strike Vote and Raise Dues!’ Resultthe biggest membership meeting in the Local's history! 2005 J. BAGGINI What's it all About? ix. 146 A kind of reverse psychology..something like the idea that if you want to keep the attention of the one you love, you ought to neglect them.

    reverse racism n. orig. U.S. prejudice or antagonism directed towards a majority or (formerly) dominant ethnic group; perceived discrimination by or in favour of a minority or (formerly) oppressed ethnic group; cf. reverse discrimination n.
  In earlier use prob. not a fixed collocation.

1950 Washington Post 5 Feb. 5B/5 A preposterously *reverse racism... She recently told a small Charleston audience of both races that the Southern white people were sick, confused, savage, decadent, morally weak and low. 1961 Jet 4 May 22 ‘Centuries of white racism have produced the inevitable black racism.’.. Dr. C. Eric Lincoln terms this reverse racism ‘the Muslim mood’. 1996 N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 21 July 10/2 He never adopted the reverse racism of..holding back from criticism of individual Jews he disliked or of unsympathetic aspects of Jewish life or behavior. 2007 M. BRUS in M. J. Sandal Justice ix. 262/1 Affirmative action:..Liberals tend to support it, while conservatives tend to regard it as reverse racism.

    reverse shot n. Film and Television = reverse-angle shot n. (b) at REVERSE ANGLE n. Compounds 2.

1934 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang., *Reverse shot, reverse-angle shot. 1935 Washington Post 11 Sept. 9/5 Director Bacon has just discovered that he needs a reverse shotthat is he must shoot the same scene from the opposite angle. 1991 Sight & Sound Oct. 26/1 Next come the close-ups of LeTour's haggling with Manuel, and some reverse shots.

    reverse split n. Stock Market (orig. U.S.) a reduction in the number of a corporation's traded shares, resulting in a higher price per share, and often carried out to make stock appear more valuable to investors.

1931 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant 26/8 This company..split its stock 4 to 1 in January last year, so that a *reverse split now would leave its capital the same as outstanding at the end of 1929. 1976 D. W. MOFFAT Econ. Dict. 257/2 The reverse split, or split-down in which a corporation reduces the number of shares into which its ownership is divided. The single word split usually refers to a split-up. 1996 Guardian (Nexis) 3 Sept. 19 After the reverse split, the number of the group's shares will have decreased by 21 per cent to 85.1 million, but their value will be higher.

    reverse split v. Stock Market (orig. U.S.) trans. to carry out a reverse split of (a corporation's traded shares).

1961 Los Angeles Times 24 Feb. IV. 10/4 A proposal to *reverse split the authorized six million shares of $.01 par value common stock on a one-for-ten basis was authorized by shareholders. 1972 Virginia Law Rev. 58 1482 It will be necessary to either reverse split the shares retained by the owners of the shell prior to the merger or to issue a very large quantity of share to the owners of the private company. 2007 S. M. RICE Series 7 Exam for Dummies II. vi. 65 A company may reverse split its stock if the market price gets too low and potential investors may think there's a problem with the company.

    reverse stock split n. U.S. Stock Market = reverse split n.; opposed to stock split n. at STOCK n.¹ and adj. Compounds 3b.

1948 Los Angeles Times 20 Aug. 22/4 (heading) *Reverse stock split. 1956 Accounting Rev. 31 163/2 Customarily a reverse stock split doesn't affect the amounts in the capital accounts so the debt to capital ratio would be unchanged. 2003 D. L. SCOTT Wall St. Words 316 A reverse stock split has no effect on a firm's financial and operational performance and is often designed only to boost the market price of the stock so it won't be delisted from trading on an exchange that imposes a minimum share price requirement.

    reverse swing n. Cricket deviation of the ball in a direction opposite to the one normally expected, often attributed to the use of a ball with a worn surface; cf. SWING n.² 8g.

1990 Sunday Times 26 Aug. II. 5/3 The Reader ball in use here has shown a propensity for ‘*reverse swing’ according to the bowlers. 1994 I. BOTHAM My Autobiogr. xvii. 325 Eventually after some 40 overs the effect was to produce reverse swing to such a degree that deliveries were moving about all over the place. 2001 J. WILLIAMS Cricket & Race vi. 138 There were English suspicions that the Pakistan fast bowlers Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were achieving reverse swing by illicit tampering with the ball.

    reverse takeover n. Business (orig. Brit.) a takeover in which a smaller or private company assumes control over a larger or public one.

1962 Guardian 7 Apr. 8/4 They would be in a position to facilitate a ‘*reverse take-over’. 1973 Times 2 Oct. 21/3 This is a reverse takeover with GB capitalized at £12.9m against BSG's £8.8m. 1995 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 5 Aug. F1 Rainmaker Digital Pictures Inc. of Vancouver obtained an inexpensive Montreal Exchange listing by carrying out a reverse takeover. 2000 S. GARFIELD Mauve 191 In November 1999 Yorkshire had engineered a reverse takeover of the dyestuffs division of the American company C.K. Witco.

    reverse thrust n. thrust which acts in a direction opposite to the usual or prevailing one; esp. thrust which acts in the direction of motion of an aircraft, rocket, etc., causing it to slow down; the condition of providing such thrust; cf. retro-thrust n. at RETRO- prefix 3.

1876 U.S. Patent 185,209 1/1 The lateral thrust of one gang [of disks or wheels]..shall be compensated for..by the *reverse thrust of the following gang. 1923 Rep. Internat. Air Congr. 594 (caption) The effect of reverse thrust on the gliding angle of the airplane. 1976 B. JACKSON Flameout (1977) i. 20 The catastrophe resulting from one of the engines being in reverse thrust at takeoff. 2005 Toronto Star (Nexis) 2 Oct. A9 Most of the braking action is done by the wheels, with spoilers and reverse thrust only helping to slow the aircraft.

    reverse transcribe v. Molecular Biol. trans. to use (RNA) as a template for reverse transcription; (also) to synthesize (DNA) by reverse transcription; cf. TRANSCRIBE v. 1c.

1971 Nature 26 Nov. 178/1 This enzyme..will *reverse transcribe..not only AMV RNA and synthetic homopolymer duplexes but also natural RNAs. 1987 Biochem. Pharmacol. 36 765/1 Sequence analysis of cDNA reverse-transcribed from an mRNA preparation. 2007 T. A. BROWN Genomes 3 vii. 216 (caption) The mRNA is reverse transcribed into a cDNA copy.

    reverse transcriptase n. Molecular Biol. an enzyme that can synthesize DNA using RNA as a template, found esp. in retroviruses (such as HIV); an RNA-dependent DNA polymerase.

1970 Nature 5 Dec. 907/1 The detection of *reverse transcriptases in human leukaemic cells. 1980 S. J. GOULD Panda's Thumb (1982) vii. 80 An enzyme called ‘reverse transcriptase’ can mediate the reading of information from cellular RNA ‘back’ into nuclear DNA. 2005 N. GERSHENFELD FAB 248 Reverse transcriptase..converts HIV's RNA into DNA.

    reverse transcription n. Molecular Biol. the synthesis of DNA from an RNA template, typically occurring in retroviruses; cf. TRANSCRIPTION n. 6.

1970 J. P. BADER & A. V. BADER in Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 67 849 The results presented here..are best explained by a process of *reverse transcription, i.e., synthesis of a new viral DNA using viral RNA as a template. 1989 B. ALBERTS et al. Molecular Biol. Cell (ed. 2) xiii. 754 After a retrovirus infects a cell, its RNA is copied into DNA by reverse transcription and the DNA is then inserted into the host genome. 2004 J. PLAYFAIR Living with Germs (2007) ii. 43 Viruses that carry out this ‘reverse transcription’ are called retroviruses and include the dreaded HIV.

    reverse video n. Computing a display technique in which the colours of some text characters and their background are reversed (on older monitors usually giving black characters on a white background), typically used to highlight text.

1970 Program July 178 The *reverse video facility permits display of black-on-white as an alternative to the normal white-on-black [text], thus allowing additional emphasis where desired. 1990 ICL Techn. Jrnl. 7 369 Colour is a consistently more effective means of highlighting information on a display than boxing, blinking or reverse video. 2004 C. N. PRAGUE et al. Access 2003 Bible xii. 429 You can convert text..to reverse video by changing the Back Color to black and the Fore Color to white.

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