▪ I. revoke, n.
(rɪˈvəʊk)
[f. the vb.]
1. Cards, esp. Whist. An act of revoking; a failure to follow suit when a proper card can be played.
| 1709 Brit. Apollo No. 36. 2/1 If one side make a Revoke. 1742 Hoyle Games 8 No Revoke to be claimed 'till the Trick is turned. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist, She never made a revoke, nor ever passed it over in her adversary without exacting the utmost forfeiture. 1862 ‘Cavendish’ Whist (1879) 2 The penalty for a revoke takes precedence of all other scores. 1874 H. Gibbs Ombre iv. 36 The other players have to show their hands, so that he may see that there has been no Revoke. |
| attrib. 1810 Splendid Follies III. 8 Spank flew another revoke card from the hand of Samuelina. 1862 ‘Cavendish’ Whist (1863) 13 If they mix their tricks, the revoke penalty can be scored against them. |
2. Revocation, recall.
| a 1882 Rossetti Soothsay xi, How callous seems beyond revoke The clock with its last listless stroke! |
▪ II. revoke, v.
(rɪˈvəʊk)
Forms: 4–7 reuoke (5 rewoke), 4– revoke (4 revokyn); 5 reuoque, 6 reuolk, Sc. rewolk, revoik, rewoik; 6–7 revock.
[ad. OF. revoquer (mod.F. révoquer, = Sp. and Pg. revocar, It. re-, rivocare), or L. revocāre, f. re- re- + vocāre to call.]
I. trans.
† 1. To recall, bring back, to a (right) belief, way of life, etc. Also without const. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Rom. Prol., Thes reuokith the apostle to the verrey and the gospels bileue. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. 2509 To reuoke to þe riȝte weye Swiche as wrongly fro trouþe do forveye. 1532 More Confut. Barnes viii. Wks. 811/1 Reuoking them that erred, setting vp agayne those that were ouerthrowen. 1577 F. de Lisle's Legendarie H iij, By this meanes may such be quailed and reuoked to their dueties. 1687 Assurance of Abbey Lands 134 They had Conference, how the Kingdom of England might be revoked to the Unity of the Church. |
† b. To recall, draw back or away, from some belief, practice, etc. (esp. a wrong or wicked one).
| c 1400 Three Kings Cologne (1886) 122 In so mochel þat Preester Iohn and Patriark Thomas myȝt noȝt revoke þe pepil from her heresyes. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. vii. 73 Þat he [the devil] mowe..reuoke þe fro praier & holy redyng. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 177 b, The woordes of Demaratus meaned to reuoke hym from ire and wrathe, to takyng better wayes. 1590 Greene Neuer too Late Wks. (Grosart) VIII. 95 Hee was in loue..so deepely, that no perswasion might reuoke him from that alluring curtizan. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. ii. 24 The Prophet euen here..reuoketh the Iewes from worshipping the heauenly bodies. a 1619 M. Fotherby Atheom. i. xii. §3 (1622) 128 Visions, which God..sendeth him, to reuoke and deterre him from that his vngodlinesse. |
| absol. c 1440 Alph. Tales 464 When we synd, þou nowder reuokid with nowder gude wurde nor exsample. |
† c. To induce (one) to desist or refrain from some purpose or action; to restrain or prevent from something. Also refl. Obs.
| 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. xxxvi. 33/1 All thyse thynges putt he in his mynde for to haue reuokyd hym from his good purpoos. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 546 By whose polycies, not without great dyffycultee, they were reuokyd frome theyr euyll purpose. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 36 You did..reuoke your selfe from continuing to the end, not unaduisedly. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 92 From foloing oure ships thee fluds hye reuockt hym. 1600 Holland Livy x. xlii. 384 He could not be revoked from battaile, albeit there was some question..about the auspice. 1608 Willet Hexapla Exod. 732 He..commanded them hard things, to reuoke them from their intention. |
† d. Without const. To check, restrain. rare.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. ii. 28 Yet she with pitthy words, and counsell sad, Still strove their stubborne rages to revoke. 1637 R. Humfrey tr. S. Ambrose i. 46 Abigael by her..deprecation pacified and revoked David and his army. |
2. † a. To bring back into or unto life; to restore to consciousness. Obs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 1118 Him to revoken sche dide al hir peyne; And, at the last, he gan his breeth to drawe. 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 40 Doynge all that ever he canne To revoke masse vnto lyfe agayne. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xxi. (1614) 221 Messias Ben Dauid with Elias shall reuoke into life that Messias Ben Ioseph. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 6 By virtue of the Sun..they [sc. flies] will be revoked into life and perform its functions again. |
b. To call back to memory. Also const. to, into. Now rare.
| 1565 Hawkins Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 42 Reuoking to minde the former talke betweene the captaine and him. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 42 The man I know is not cleane out of your conceit, and therefore I will cease in further speeches at this present to revoke him. a 1618 Sylvester Mottoes 45 When Them I to my Minde revoke [etc.]. a 1716 South (Cent.), By revoking and recollecting..certain passages. 1838 Sir W. Hamilton Logic xxx. (1866) II. 121 If the faculty by which they [sc. cognitions] are revoked into consciousness be inert. |
† c. To bring back into use; to revive. Obs.
| 1574 tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 47 Wicked Jezabel, which reuoked, stablished, and increaced the abhominable seruing of Baal. 1627 Herrick Hesper., Dial. Horace & Lydia v, Say our first loves we sho'd revoke, And sever'd joyne in brazen yoke. 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 131 We are not to tread in their steps so far, as to revoke the whole Art of their obsolete Rhetorique. |
3. To recall; to call or summon back: a. a person, esp. from exile or from some office abroad. Now rare. (Common c 1540–1640.)
| 1521 State Papers, Hen. VIII, I. 10 Hys owne affayris doith not succede wyth thEmperour.., and that therfore he intendith schortly to revoke the M{supr}. of the Rollys. 1535 in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. II. 361, I..trussed his male, and was cariying it to his horse, and he revoked me and seied [etc.]. a 1562 G. Cavendish Wolsey (1893) 48 Mistress Anne Bolleyn was revoked unto the court, where she florisshed after in great estimacion. 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 8 Shortly after..Sir John Perrot being reuoked, Sir William Fitz-williams was sent Lord Deputy into Ireland. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 306 Had he not been suddenly revoked into England, he would have perfected the project. 1709 Strype Ann. Ref. Introd. I. 21 Now the English forces were revoked from the marches of Scotland. Ibid. xxxviii. 398 Sir Thomas Chaloner, being dangerously sick, without hope of recovery but by returning, was revoked. 1828–43 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) III. 330 Sussex..having assumed to himself some credit for revoking the army. 1887 Pall Mall G. 16 Feb. 2/1 The Directory would nominate and revoke the Ministers. |
b. an animal or thing. Chiefly fig.
| 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs (1880) 8 These Hounds..being acquainted with their masters watchwordes, eyther in reuoking or imboldening them to serue the game. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. iii. 28 The faint sprite he did revoke againe To her fraile mansion of mortality. 1599 Davies Immort. Soul Introd. xxxiv, Seas as troubled, when they do revoke Their flowing Waves into themselves again. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Hock-cart, Ye must revoke The patient Oxe unto the Yoke. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 25 How readily we wish time spent revok'd, That we might try the ground again. |
† c. To refer (one) to some authority. Obs. rare.
| 1599 Broughton's Let. ix. 30 Thither you reuoke vs. 1601 [Bp. W. Barlow] Defence 181 Againe, he reuoketh us to Church and Councels. |
† d. To reduce to, bring into, something. Obs.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xv. 78 What power or virtue soeuer is in the nature of medicines and of sicknesses,..the same is to bee reuoked to those three beginnings. 1652 J. Wright tr. Camus' Nat. Paradox x. 246 Which clause was offensive to her Ears, as revoking into doubt her constancy. |
4. To annul, repeal, rescind, cancel.
| c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 363 Þe pope may graunte to day, and to morowe perseyve his folye, and revoke þe formere errour. c 1400 Brut clxxxvii, Þe Kyng..bihight to þe peple of Engeland, þat þe exiling of þe forsaide Piers shulde bene reuokede. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. vi. 175 The gouernaunce of Laban..was not reuokid, as was the gouernaunce and lawe of the Iewis. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. xii. 264 The prynces and lordes shuld not suffre to reuoque nor calle ayen theire sentences. 1578 T. N. tr. Conq. W. India 99 If by chaunce his Majestie had alreadie given the sayde office of Gouvernement to any other person, that it might please him to revoke it. 1590 Swinburne Testaments 268 Yet is not the testament presumed to be reuoked by the course of so long time. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 143 Antipater the Idumoean procureth him to revoke his resignation. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 126, I else must change Thir nature, and revoke the high Decree Unchangeable, Eternal. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. xvii. 109, I doubted not but the letter was to revoke or suspend your resolution. 1786 Burke Art. agst. W. Hastings Wks. II. 162 Knowing, that the said Sullivan's appointment had been condemned and revoked by the court of directors. 1837 Lockhart Scott II. v. 187 Her only son, who stood by, implored her to revoke the malediction; but in vain. 1873 Smiles Huguenots France i. i. (1881) 10 Louis XIV lived for thirty years after the Edict of Nantes had been revoked. |
| transf. 1534 Whitinton Tullyes Offices i. (1540) 5 Where as profyte semeth to plucke and catch to hymselfe, honestie on the contrary parte semeth to revoke and reverse such thynges. 1655 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 99/2 Cicero..saith, when Euripides made his Play Orestes, Socrates revoked the three first Verses. |
† b. To break up, dismiss. Obs. rare—1.
| 1675 Hobbes Odyss. (1677) 14 By Jove I you adjure and Themis, who Convokes assemblies, and revokes again. |
† 5. To retract, withdraw, recant. Obs.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 340 b/2 Whanne he seie this, He reuoked hit in his retractions. 1529 More Dyalogue ii. Wks. 184/1 Therefore he bounde his preachers to stande thereby and not to reuoke his word for no pain. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 7 The Cardinall..at the fyrste metynge commaunded him to revoke his workes. 1581 G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. iii. (1586) 141 Then revoke your first sentence, and conclude that the fault is in the father. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. ¶13 The same S. Augustine was not ashamed to retractate, we might say reuoke, many things that had passed him. 1656 Cowley Pindar. Odes, To Dr. Scarborough v, The first fam'd Aphorism thy great Master spoke, Did he live now he would revoke. 1671 Milton P.R. iii. 356 Prediction still In all things..supposes means, Without means us'd, what it predicts [it] revokes. |
† b. To yield or give up. Obs. rare—1.
| 1599 Sir Clyom. in Peele's Wks. (Rtldg.) 517/1 Take with thee that mortal blow or stroke The which shall cause thy wretched corpse this life for to revoke. |
† 6. To take back to oneself. Obs.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 27 Suche sedes that we haue layde out of our spirituall barnes for his loue, let vs neuer reuoke or call agayne. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 144 Wherby is lost my libertie: Which by no meanes I may reuoke. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 425 Wherefore the Byshop..revoketh the suite to him selfe. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 94 Beseeching him to reuoke the cause vnto himselfe, and to be the onely iudge thereof. |
† b. To draw back, withdraw. Obs. rare.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. viii. 39 Yet with his troncheon he so rudely stroke Cymochles twise, that twise him forst his foot revoke. 1644 Bulwer Chiron. 41 Who..doe also revoke and bow back their whole body. |
II. intr.
7. To make revocation.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems ix. 70, I rewoik in thir quhair I miswent. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 411 It is..an other thing to revoke in season, assoone as a man doth know his error. 1641 Milton Reform. ii. 81 To compasse sinister ends, and then revoke when they see their time. 1817 Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 828 On the ground of an intention to revoke, to be presumed. 1819 Crabbe T. of Hall xii. 356, I make a promise, and will not revoke. |
8. Cards, esp. Whist. To fail or neglect to follow suit when a proper card can be played.
| 1592 Defence Conny Catch. (1859) 6 As thus I stood looking on them playing at cros-ruffe, one was taken revoking. 1680 Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 102 You must not revoke, if you do you pay all on the Table. 1742 Hoyle Games 8 A revokes; Query, what is the Penalty. 1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 261 A noisy rubber, in which Esau accused Jacob of having revoked. 1874 H. Gibbs Ombre 84 If either of the Adversaries revoke.., he who revoked pays his penalty. |
| fig. 1791 Burke App. Whigs Wks. I. 535 And shall we Englishmen revoke to such a suit? |
Hence reˈvoked ppl. a. Also reˈvokeless a.
| 1461 Rolls of Parlt. V. 491/1 The pretended and revoked Parlement last holden at youre Toune of Coventre. 1628 Layton Sion's Plea agst. Prelacy (ed. 2) 20 According to that formerly revoked Statute of Henry 4. 1773 Poetry in Ann. Reg. 239 Why call us to revokeless doom? |