devolve, v.
(dɪˈvɒlv)
[ad. L. dēvolv-ĕre to roll down, f. de- I. 1 + volvĕre to roll.]
I. trans.
1. To roll down; to cause to descend with rolling motion; also to unroll (something rolled up), to unfurl (a sail). arch.
| c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. xi. 497 Thenne hem to the presses they devolve. 1623 Cockeram, Deuolue, to role downe. 1641 Mervin in Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 217 These like Straws and Chips play'd in the Streams, until they are devolved in the Ocean of their deserved Ruine. 1700 Prior Carmen Seculare 283 His Thames, With gentle course devolving fruitful Streams. 1758 Murphy Orphan of China ii. ii. 18 Where the Tanais Devolves his icy tribute to the sea. 1765 Beattie Judgm. of Paris lix, Who..All to the storm the unfetter'd sail devolve. 1846 De Quincey Syst. Heavens Wks. III. 171 Where little England..now devolves so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral rivulets. |
| fig. 1610 P. Barrough Meth. Physick Pref. (1639) 2 Whose names are devolved and brought unto us by the succession of ages. 1830 Tennyson Character, He spake of virtue..And with..a lack-lustre dead-blue eye, Devolved his rounded periods. |
† b. To roll over so as to cause to fall; to overturn, overthrow. Obs.
| c 1470 Harding Chron. xcviii. iv, All his nacyon Deuolued were, and from theyr ryght expelled. 1608 Heywood Rape of Lucrece v. iv, They behind him will devolve the bridge. a 1658 Cleveland Wks. (1687) 215 That pious Arch whereon the building stood, Which broke, the whole's devolv'd into a Flood. |
† c. To roll away (from a person). Obs.
| 1654 Gataker Disc. Apol. 10 He was solicitous to devolv and depel from himself..the note of avarice. |
† d. To roll (to and fro). Obs. rare.
| 1725 Pope Odyss. xx. 35 Ulysses so, from side to side devolv'd, In self-debate the Suitors doom resolv'd. |
2. fig. To cause to pass down by the revolution of time (into some state or condition).
| 1533 Bellenden Livy ii. (1822) 145 All the soumes, quhilkis war afore devolvit in dett, war commandit to be restorit to thair creditouris. 1545 Joye Exp. Dan. xi. (R.) Thus was the worlde 47 yeris before Crystis birthe deuolued into the fourth monarchie called the Romane and last empyre. 1644 Hunton Vind. Treat. Monarchy viii. 57 That State was then devolved into a Monarchy by Conquest. |
3. fig. To cause to pass to or fall upon (a person). a. To cause to pass down by inheritance or legal succession (to another).
| 1538 Leland Itin. VI. 31 The Dykes Landes by Heyres generalles is devolvid now to Mr. Goring and to Mr. Deringe. 1590 Swinburne Testaments 291 The legacie is not devolved to his executors. 1631 Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 569 The inheritance diuolued by marriage vnto the Maynards. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 20 They grew to be devolved under the House of Burgundy. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 121 ¶5 Students..can seldom add more than some small particle of knowledge, to the hereditary stock devolved to them from ancient times. |
† b. To cause to pass (to or into the hands of another); especially through the failure or forfeiture of the previous holders. Obs.
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. i. (1599) 6 They were diuolued to the sea Apostolike by the disposing of the lawes. 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandectes 32 The State being now..deuolued to the dregges of the people. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1239 Pronouncing their lives, their goods..to be confiscate and devolved unto the Emperour his cofers. 1622 Donne Serm. clv. VI. 212 By their connivence that power was devolved into a foreign prelate's hand. 1690 Locke Govt. ii. viii. (Rtldg.) 108 War..naturally devolves the command into the king's..authority. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 74 The Appeal operates the Effect of a Devolution; because it devolves the cause to a Superiour Judge. |
† c. To cause to fall or alight (on or upon an object). Obs.
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 460 The denomination of these criminall Iudges..being thus deuolued vpon them, there continued. 1649 Milton Eikon. 30 The King envying to see the peoples love devolv'd on another object. 1667 ― P.L. x. 135 Least on my head both sin and punishment..be all Devolv'd. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts 172 The last excuse devolveth the errour..upon Crœsus. 1703 De Foe Shortest Way w. Dissenters Misc. 429 When our Government shall be devolv'd upon Foreigners. |
d. To cause (a charge, duty, or responsibility) to fall upon (any one); esp. to throw upon or delegate to deputies duties for which the responsibility belongs to the principal. (Now a chief sense.)
| 1633 Bp. Hall Hard Texts 316 All affaires..of the King's household..shall be devolved upon his fidelity. 1641 Smectymnuus Vind. Answ. x. (1653) 42 He gives this charge not to his Chancellor or Commissary, or any other man upon whom hee had devolved his power. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. I. xiv. 352 He was obliged to devolve on others the weight of government. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1783) I. 183 The Spanish court..was extremely willing to devolve the burden of discovery upon its subjects. 1818 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. v. ii. 354 The master..becomes too weak to resume the power which he has imprudently devolved. 1847 Addison Law of Contracts i. i. §2 (1883) 114 A mere honorary churchwarden who..devolves all the duties of this office upon a paid colleague. 1880 C. H. Pearson in Victorian Rev. 2 Feb. 540 Those who, because they are too busy or too ignorant to discharge the higher duties of self-government, have been glad to devolve them upon their representatives. |
† 4. To throw (a person) upon (some resource).
| 1636 M. Wilson Direction to be observed by N.N. ii. 17 If the true Church may erre..we are still deuolued either vpon the private Spirit..or else vpon naturall wit and judgement. a 1672 Wren in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 252, I am now devolved upon that unparalleled villainy. 1675 R. Burthogge Causa Dei 166 He..then intirely devolves himself on Jesus Christ for it. |
II. intr.
5. To roll or flow down from (a source). arch.
| 1630 Lord Banians 18 (L.) Streams that had in rolling currents, from the tops of the mountains, devolved into the rivers below. 1725 Pope Odyss. iv. 34 Two youths whose semblant features prove Their blood devolving from the source of Jove. 1771 Smollett Ode to Leven-Water 17 Devolving from thy parent lake, A charming maze thy waters make. 1783 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 320 The quantities of snow which devolve from the superior parts of the mountain have sometimes proved fatal to travellers. 1847 R. Chambers Traditions Edin. 188 It was a goodly sight to see the long procession devolve from the close. |
6. fig. To roll or flow on to or into (some condition).
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. v. (1618) 197 That the matters..would with speed diuolue to their perfection. Ibid. (1618) 299 The affaires of the Pisans..did daily diuolue into greater straits. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. 1875 IV. 300 To raise, betwixt the King and his people, a rational jealousy of Popery and French government, till he should insensibly devolve into them. a 1859 De Quincey Theban Sphinx Wks. X. 238 Four separate movements through which this impassioned tale devolves. |
7. To pass to the next in natural or conventional order. a. To pass or fall to another, esp. through the failure or forfeiture of the earlier holder.
| c 1555 Harpsfield Divorce Hen. VIII (1878) 184 That it should not devolve from himself and his colleague to the court of Rome. 1683 Brit. Spec. 66 Yet does not the Supremacy devolve to the multitude, who never yet had right to Rule, or choose their Rulers. 1754 Hume Hist. Eng. III. lxi. 322 To him the benefit of all forfeiture devolved. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 22 Being then entirely abandoned by the clergy..the study and practice of it [civil law] devolved..into the hands of laymen. 1786 Burke Warren Hastings Wks. (1842) II. 145 By the death of Colonel Monson, the whole power of the government of Fort William devolved to the governour and one member of the council. |
b. To pass down, descend, or fall in course of succession to (on, upon) anyone.
| 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. vi. xliv. 150 The Empire thus deuolued to Dioclesian. 1655–60 Stanley Hist. Philos. (1701) 38/2 He had a Brother, who dying without Issue, his Estate devolved to Pittacus. 1689 in Somers Tracts II. 341 If a King dies, he hath a Successor, and the Right devolves upon him. a 1713 T. Ellwood Autobiog. (1765) 3 This Friendship devolving from the Parents to the Children. 1752 Johnson Rambler No. 198 ¶13 He died without a will, and the estate devolved to the legal heir. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. III. 25 A considerable estate in the Cape of Good Hope, which had devolved to us through a relation of my wife's mother. 1885 Law Times LXXIX. 175/1 A service of plate bequeathed by a baronet to devolve with his baronetcy. |
c. To fall as a duty or responsibility on or upon anyone.
| 1769 Robertson Chas. V, V. iv. 418 After Bourbon's death, the command..devolved on Philibert de Chalons. 1791 Cowper Odyss. ii. 440 To us should double toil ensue, on whom the charge To parcel out his wealth would then devolve. 1819 J. Marshall Const. Opin. (1839) 208 By the revolution, the duties..of government devolved upon the people of New Hampshire. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xvi. 107, I knew that upon him would devolve the chief labour. 1884 Manch. Exam. 9 May 5/2 They recognise the obligation which devolves upon them. |
8. Of persons: a. To have recourse to (for support); come upon as a charge. b. To fall or sink gradually, to degenerate. ? Obs.
| 1748 Johnson L.P., Savage Wks. III. 348 His conduct had..wearied some..but he might..still have devolved to others whom he might have entertained with equal success. 1751 ― Rambler No. 149 ¶9 Multitudes are suffered by relations equally near to devolve upon the parish. 1830 J. Bee Ess. on Foote Foote's Wks. p. ii, A gentleman and scholar devolving into the buffoon..is an unseemly sight. |
Hence deˈvolving vbl. n.
| 1675 Traherne Chr. Ethics xxvii. 427 Tidings of his father's death, and the devolving of his crown and throne on himself. |