▪ I. rotate, a. Bot.
(ˈrəʊtət)
[f. L. rota wheel + -ate2.]
Wheel-shaped; esp. of a monopetalous corolla with a short tube and spreading limb.
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xii. 129 This genus is easily known by the monopetalous, rotate or wheel-shaped corol. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 206 Corolla superior, monopetalous or polypetalous, rotate or tubular. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 211 A perennial herb, with..scorpioid cymes of rotate bright-blue flowers. |
▪ II. † rotate, pa. pple. Obs.
[ad. L. rotāt-us, pa. pple. of rotāre: see next.]
Revolved.
| 1471 Ripley Comp. Alch. ii. viii. in Ashm. (1652) 137 Thyngs into thyngs must therfore be rotate, Untyll dyversyte be brought to parfyt unyte. |
▪ III. rotate, v.
(rəʊˈteɪt)
[f. L. rotāt-, ppl. stem of rotāre to turn or swing round, whirl about, roll round, revolve, f. rota wheel.]
1. intr. To move round a centre or axis; to perform one or more revolutions.
| 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 899 Permitting the corresponding part of the bone to rotate upon it. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exped. xxxvii. (1856) 339 Our brig had..rotated considerably to the northward. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §104 The Sun, like the Earth or a top when spinning, turns round, or rotates, on an axis. |
2. trans. To cause (a thing) to turn round or revolve on a centre or axis.
| 1831 Knox Cloquet's Anat. 366 It brings the thigh toward that of the opposite side, bends it a little, and carries it outward by rotating it. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. i. 38 The warper..rotates the vertical wheel or frame..by means of the wheel..and the rope. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 193 Sometimes the masses of lava are rotated in their flight. |
3. To change, or take, in rotation.
| 1861 Trans Illinois Agric. Soc. IV. 318 We must rotate crops. 1879 J. Hawthorne S. Strome I. iii. 36 She could mow a field, drain it, plough it, and rotate its crops. 1894 L. B. Sperry Talks w. Young Men 159 It is wise to alternate, or rotate the various forms of life's duties so as to secure daily, restful change, both physical and mental. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Jan. 4/1 By rotating the calves through the paddocks ahead of the cows at intervals of 3 or 4 days. 1980 W. Safire in N.Y. Times Mag. 20 Jan. 10/3 She explained, ‘We're going to rotate the house and we even rotate the cars. We've been separated for four months, and it's a growing experience.’ |
4. To put out in turn.
| 1881 Harper's Mag. LXIII. 265 Both, after a brief service, were rotated out of office. |
5. U.S. Mil. (See quot. 19732: chiefly pass.) Also intr. for pass.
| 1944 Yank 4 Feb. 6 The policy on leaves and furloughs includes provision that individuals who have had two years Alaskan service and who do not desire to be rotated may volunteer for an additional Alaskan tour. 1951 Sun (Baltimore) 3 Nov. (B ed.) 6/2 The assurances to G.I.'s in Korea that they would be rotated home were regarded with unmodulated disbelief. 1954 Britannica Bk. of Year 1953 354/2 Each side might rotate up to 35,000 men a month on a man-for-man basis. 1973 Washington Post 13 Jan. a3/3 You look at an NLF..soldier, who can't..get R and R to Hong Kong, time off in Vungtau, and then rotate in a year back to the States. 1973 J. Quick Dict. Weapons 377/2 Rotate, to remove a person, crew, unit, or the like from service in an overseas area, from combat service, or from service in a hardship environment and to return such person, crew, or unit to service in the zone of the interior or other less exacting environment. 1976 ‘B. Shelby’ Great Pebble Affair 12 Donnely and I rotated back to the States together. |
Hence roˈtated ppl. a.
| 1824 A. Dods (title), Pathological Observations on the rotated or contorted Spine,..called Lateral Curvature. |