conversion
(kənˈvɜːʃən)
[a. F. conversion, ad. L. conversiōn-em turning round, n. of action from convertĕre to turn round: see convert.]
I. Turning in position, direction, destination.
† 1. a. The action of turning round or revolving; revolution, rotation. Obs.
| 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 68 Conuersions of sterres, mocions, and reuolucions of planettes. 1587 Golding De Mornay ix. 126 Were the World eternal, the Conuersions or turnings about therof should be eternal too. 1665–6 Phil. Trans. I. 143 The conversion of Jupiter about his own axis. 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Philos. (1839) 307 That strait line..which touches a spiral at the end of its first conversion. 1726 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 139 In the conversion of the Body of the Sun, this Virtue thereof..is also turned about. |
b. centre of conversion: see
centre n. 16.
† 2. a. The action of turning to a particular direction; turning.
Obs.| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. iii. i. xx. (ed. 7) This Greeke word Tropos, which is..a conversion or turning. 1638 Wilkins New World i. (1684) 50 Divers Conversions of those sides towards our Eyes. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. 111 The conversion of the needle to the North. 1660 Boyle Seraph. Love xvi. (1700) 98 A Conversion to that Magnetic Posture. |
† b. fig. The action of turning or directing (one's mind, attention, actions, etc.)
to some object.
Obs.| 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 513 b, With such an unremoveable conversion of mynde to Godward. 1646 Fuller Wounded Consc. (1841) 291 Daily sin..is an aversion from God and his daily repentance a conversion to God. 1712 Spect. No. 524 ¶5 An habitual inclination and conversion of his sight towards it. |
† 3. a. The action of turning back or returning;
spec. the turning back of the sun in its apparent course on reaching the tropic; the solstice.
Obs.| 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 41 The sommer conuersion of the sunne. 1618 Chapman Hesiod ii. 162 If at the sun's conversion thou shalt sow The sacred earth. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Tracts (1684) 3 The tropical conversion of the Sun. |
† b. In versions of the
O.T., rendering L.
conversio.
Obs.| 1388 Wyclif Jer. xxxiii. 7 And y schal conuerte the conuersioun of Juda [1382 Turne the turnyng of Juda]. 1609 Bible (Douay) Jer. xxxiii. 26, I wil bring backe their conversion, and wil have mercie on them. |
4. Transposition, inversion (of the terms of a statement;
cf. converse n.3 1);
spec. in
Logic, the transposition of the subject and predicate of a proposition according to certain rules to form a new proposition by immediate inference.
Conversion in which the quantity of the proposition is unchanged is called
simple conversion (
e.g. ‘No A is B’; ‘No B is A’); when there is a change of quantity,
c. per accidens (
e.g. ‘All A is B’; ‘Some B is A’).
Cf. contraposition 2.
| 1551 T. Wilson Logike (1567) 20 b, Conuersion is the chaunging or altring of wordes in a proposicion, when the former parte (whereof any thing is rehearsed) and the hinder parte (whiche is rehearsed of the former) are chaunged, thone into thothers place. 1570 Billingsley Euclid i. vi. 16 In Geometrie is oftentimes vsed conuersion of propositions. 1651 Hobbes Govt. & Soc. iv. §14. 69 As the law of nature is all of it Divine, so the Law of Christ by conversion..is all of it also..the doctrine of Nature. 1788 Reid Aristotle's Log. iv. §1. 68. 1887 Fowler Deduct. Logic 80 A Conversion may be defined as an immediate inference in which from one proposition we infer another having the same terms as the original proposition, but their order reversed. |
† 5. Rhet. Used by 16th and 17th c. writers as the equivalent of
antistrophe 3, and sometimes of
apostrophe1 1.
Obs.| 1552 Huloet, Conuersion, or speakynge one to another. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 107 b, Conversion is an ofte repeatyng of the last worde, and is contrarie to that whiche went before. [1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. xix. (Arb.) 209 The Greekes call this figure Antistrophe, the Latines, conuersio, I following the originall call him the counterturne.] 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Conversion..a Rhetorical Figure, the same as Apostrophe. 1751 Chambers Cycl. |
6. Math. The substitution of the difference of antecedent and consequent for the consequent in each of the ratios forming a proportion: see
quots. ?
Obs.| 1570 Billingsley Euclid v. Def. xvi. 134 Conuersion of proportion (which of the elders is commonly called euerse proportion). 1664 Power Exp. Philos. ii. 130 So that here is now four Proportionals, and by any three given, you may strike out the fourth, by Conversion, Transposition, and Division of them. 1695 W. Alingham Geom. Epit. 19 If A:B::C:D then by Conversion 'twill be as A:A—B::C: C—D. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict., Conversion, or Convertendo, is when there are four proportionals, and it is inferred, that the first is to its excess above the 2d, as the third is to its excess above the 4th. |
7. Law. The action of (illegally) converting or applying something to one's own use. Usually in
phr. trover and conversion.
| 1615 Coke in Bulstrode Rep. ii. (1657) 311–2 There may be a trover and no conversion, if he keep and lay up the goods, by him found, for the Owner. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxii. (1739) 121 Fraudulent conversion of Treasure-trove. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull (1727) 9 He talks of nothing but..writs of error, actions of trover and conversion. 1765 Blackstone Comm. III. 151–2 This action, of trover and conversion, was in it's original an action..against such person as had found another's goods, and refused to deliver them on demand, but converted them to his own use. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1267 A person is guilty of a conversion who takes the property of one person by assignment from another, who has not any authority to dispose of it. |
II. Change in character, nature, form, or function.
8. a. The bringing of any one over to a specified religious faith, profession, or party,
esp. to one regarded as true, from what is regarded as falsehood or error. (Without qualification, usually
= conversion to Christianity.)
| c 1340 Cursor M. 19477 heading (Fairf.), Of the Conuersioun of saint Paule. 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle iii. x. (1483) 56 Paynyms and heretikes that ben dede withouten conuersion. 1555 Eden Decades Pref. (Arb.) 50 marg., The conuersion of the gentyles. 1685 Stillingfl. Orig. Brit. i. i. 2 The Conversion of the British Nation, to the Christian Faith. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 427 At the conversion of the late count Ernest Metternich to the catholic religion. 1890 Bp. Stubbs Primary Charge (Oxford) 31 She is the Church of the National History, of the Conversion, the Constitution, the Reformation. |
b. The festival of the Conversion of
St. Paul, observed on Jan. 25.
| 1382–8 Wyclif N.T., Table of Lessons 691 (Propre Sanctorum) Jan., Seynt Vincent, martir, Conuersioun of Seynt Poul. 1501 Chron. Grey Friars (Rolls) II. 184 On Sent Powlles evyn the Conversioun. |
† c. spec. In the mediæval church: Change from the secular to the ‘religious’ life; entry into monastic life.
Obs. (See Du Cange,
conversio.)
| c 1340 Hampole Prose Tr. (1866) 5 When I had taken my syngulere purpos and lefte þe seculere habyte..it fell one a nyghte..in the begynnynge of my conuersyone, etc. 1482 Monk of Evesham (Arb.) 19 There was a certen yong man, turnyd..fro thys worldys vanyte to the lyfe of a Monke, the whiche abowte the begynnyng of his conuersion fyll yn to a grete and a greuys sekenes. |
d. transf. The action of converting or fact of being converted, to some opinion, belief, party, etc.
| Mod. Conversion to Free Trade principles, to Darwinism, etc. |
9. Theol. The turning of sinners to God; a spiritual change from sinfulness, ungodliness, or worldliness to love of God and pursuit of holiness.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 53 In conuersyon of synful men. c 1430 tr. Th. à Kempis Imit. i. xiii, Somme men haue most greuous temptacions in þe begynnyng of her conuersion, somme in þe ende. 1592 Greene Disput. 38 See how God wrought for my conuersion. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 724 And to them preachd Conversion and Repentance. 1740 Wesley Wks. (1872) I. 279 The very beginning of your conversion to God. 1758 S. Hayward Serm. Introd. 15 Labours in the conversion of souls. 1834 J. Angell James Anxious Inquirer vi, The first error..is to mistake knowledge, impression, and partial reformation, for genuine conversion. Mod. Few conversions occurred under his ministry. |
† 10. A change in the constitution of a state; a revolution.
Obs. rare.
| 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §12. 416 In such Cases, especially where God intendeth a great conuersion of Empire. a 1618 ― Maxims St. (1651) 49 The ruin of many Tyrants, and conversion of their States. |
11. a. The action of turning, or process of being turned,
into or
to something else; change of form or properties, alteration.
| 1549 (Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer, Athan. Creed, Not by conuersion of the Godhead into flesh. 1555 Eden Decades 84 The conuersion or turnynge of ayer into water. 1626 Bacon Sylva §82 Artificiall Conuersion of Water into Ice, is the worke of a few Houres. 1731 Arbuthnot Aliments (J.), The conversion of the aliment into fat, is not properly nutrition. 1849 Murchison Siluria xiv. 354 The conversion of sedimentary Silurian Strata into crystalline rocks. |
b. Change of condition or function. (Const.
into.)
| 1660 Hickeringill Jamaica (1661) 36 If cut through from Sea to Sea..This Isthmus would lose it's name in an Island; And the conversion conduce much to its security. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 128 A conversion of a large tract of sea into land. 1870 H. Macmillan Bible Teach. Pref. 14 The conversion of the thorny wilderness into the fertile meadow. |
c. spec. Forestry. (See
quot. 1895.)
| 1895 Schlich Man. Forestry III. iv. 338 Change from one sylvicultural system into another, called a conversion. 1953 Edlin Forester's Handbk. xi. 171 Many coppices suitable for conversion are variable in density and constitution. |
d. Rugby Football. The action of scoring a goal by converting a try; also, a goal scored in this manner.
| 1927 Wakefield & Marshall Rugger viii. 294 In New Zealand a desire is expressed for raising the value of the try to four points and making a converted goal six, while any other goal should equal three points. By thus raising the value of a try the value of kicking is lessened, for conversion represents a half addition as against our two-thirds. 1959 Times 21 Sept. 3/4 Gavins, the Leicester full-back, played a big part..kicking four penalty goals and two conversions. |
e. Grammar. The use of one part of speech as another.
| 1928 [see conversion-noun in section IV below]. 1950 S. Potter Our Lang. v. 57 This kind of word-play, the use of noun as verb and verb as noun.., known technically as conversion. 1957 Zandvoort Handbk. Eng. Gram. viii. 265 The deliberate transfer of a word from one part of speech to another, technically known as conversion. |
12. Hence, many technical uses in
Manuf. a. Steel Manuf. The process of changing iron into steel.
Cf. convert v. 12 a,
converter 3 b.
| 1837 Whittock Bk. Trades (1842) 225 The steel employed for files requires to be very hard, and in consequence undergoes a longer process in the conversion. It is said to be doubly converted. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 899 The carbonisation or conversion is effected, as it were, in layers. |
b. Ship-building. (
a) Reduction of timber from the rough state into pieces of nearly the required shape and size. (
b) Change of a vessel from one class to another.
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 111 Conversion, the art of lining and moulding timber, plank, etc. with the least possible waste. 1859 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. xcii. 72 Expenditure in the construction and conversion of Her Majesty's ships. 1865 Dockyard Accts. (Blue Bk. 8. 465–1), The cost of rough timber is proportionately less than that of sided timber, and compensates for the greater loss to which it is subject in conversion. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Conversion, reducing a vessel by a deck, thereby converting a line-of-battle ship into a frigate, or a crank three-decker into a good two-decker. |
c. Fire-arms. The process of changing a muzzle-loader into a breech-loader, or the like.
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Converting, The cost of conversion is about 15s. for each rifle. |
d. Watchmaking. (See
convert v. 12 d.)
| 1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 67 The operation of converting [a watch] is spoken of as making a conversion. |
e. Building. The structural adaptation of a building for a new purpose.
| 1921 Building News 1 Apr. 169/2 (heading) The conversion of buildings to meet modern requirements. Ibid., Assuming..a block of, say, three or four houses..what are their possibilities with a view to conversion into flats? 1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust ii. 62 The conversion of stables and garages was an important part of Mrs. Beaver's business. 1960 News Chron. 29 Apr. 8/5 A house conversion which left no room for a dining-room. 1960 Guardian 5 May 10/6 A pleasant minor mansion of the kind described by estate agents as being ‘suitable for conversion’. |
f. Nuclear Technology. The process in a nuclear reactor by which fertile material is transformed into fissile material (see
quot. 1963).
| 1955 S. Visner in Reactor Handbk. Engin. (U.S.A.E.C.) iv. 511 The highest enrichment available is desired for conversion of thorium-232 to uranium-233. 1958 Weinberg & Wigner Physical Theory Neutron Chain Reactors i. 11 The principal purpose of conversion is..the production of pure fissionable material. 1963 B. Fozard Instrumentation Nucl. Reactors xiii. 162 This depletion of the fuel by burn-up of fissionable atoms is offset to some extent by the production in the fuel elements by neutron absorption and other processes of atoms of new materials which are themselves fissionable; the best known example of this is the production of plutonium 239 from uranium 238. This process is known as conversion. |
† 13. Mil. An evolution by which files were converted into ranks, or smaller ranks into larger; a change of front to a flank.
Obs.| 1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discipl. xxxi. (1661) 38 Inversion doth alwayes produce file or files; and Conversion, rank or ranks. 1650 R. Elton Mil. Art (1668) 32 My subject in this Chapter shall be of Ranks filing, and Files filing, and Ranks ranking, and Files ranking, which are by some called Inversion and Conversion. 1678 A. Lovell tr. Fontaine's Mil. Duties Cavalry 9 Wheeling by conversion is performed by the front of the squadron, so that it is the rank and not the file which makes the motion. 1751 Chambers Cycl., Conversion, in war, is when the soldiers are ordered to present their arms to the enemy who attack them in flank, whereas they were before supposed to be in front: the evolution necessary thereto is called conversion, or quarter-wheeling. 1863 Kinglake Crimea (1877) I. xiv. 279 By a movement in the nature of that which tacticians describe as ‘conversion,’ a column of men facing eastward..was suddenly formed into an order of battle fronting southward. |
III. Change by substitution of an equivalent in purport or value.
† 14. Translation into another language (or into a different literary form); usually
concr., a translation, version.
Obs.| 1586 W. Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 55 Abraham Flemming in his conuersion of the Eglogues, promised to translate and publishe [the Georgics]. c 1611 Chapman Iliad To Rdr. 117 And see that my conversion much abates The license they take. 1653 Walton Angler i. 7 This Epigram..I have taken a little pleasant pains to make such a conversion of it as, etc. |
15. Math. Change of a number or quantity into another denomination; reduction.
† conversion of equations: reduction of fractional equations to integral by multiplication (
obs.).
| 1557 Recorde Whetst. Z j, Any of them maie be diuided by conuersion into a fraction. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Conversion of Equations (in Algebra). Mod. The conversion of vulgar fractions into decimals, and vice versâ. |
16. a. Substitution of or exchange for something else;
esp. of one kind of property for another.
spec. The change of an issue of public securities, of bonds, debentures, stocks, shares, etc., into another of different character, or with an altered (generally reduced) rate of interest. Also
attrib., as in
conversion scheme,
conversion operation, etc.
| 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. 35 Neyther theyr infranchisements, nor the conversion of works into rents doe so farre free them, but that they still owe services. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. xi. iii. 192 The price at which payment in kind was exchanged for a certain sum of money, is in Scotland called the conversion price. 1826 T. Tooke State of Currency 69 The conversion of the four per cents into three and a half per cents was facilitated. 1887 Pall Mall G. 1 Nov. 12/1 A Five per Cent. Portuguese Conversion Loan for over a million sterling. |
b. spec. in
Law. The operation of changing the nature of property:
(
a) from real to personal or
vice versâ.
‘
Actual conversion is the act of converting land or other property into money by selling it, or of converting money into land by buying land with it..
Constructive conversion is a fictitious conversion, which is assumed in certain cases to have taken place in order to carry out the intention of the parties’ (Sweet
Law Dict. 1882).
| 1788 J. Powell Devises (1827) II. 60 Money considered as land, and vice versâ. What amounts to such a conversion. 1849 G. Spence Equit. Jurisd. Crt. Chanc. II. 235 The conversion will operate only so far as the will disposes of the land into which it is to be converted. 1890 Partnership Act §22 (marg. note) Conversion into personal estate of land held as partnership property. Mod. The will contains usual trusts for sale and conversion. |
(
b) as between partners, from partnership to separate property or
vice versâ.
Cf. convert 15.
| 1819 Sir T. Plumer in Swanston Rep. II. 584 Where there is a conversion of joint property by a valid act, it is a fallacy to consider it still joint. 1888 Sir N. Lindley Partnership (ed. 5) 335 A conversion of joint into separate property, or vice versâ, most frequently takes place when a firm and one of its partners carry on distinct trades. |
c. Psychiatry. The symbolic manifestation in physical symptoms of a psychic conflict. (See also branch IV below.)
| 1909 A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Sel. Papers on Hysteria ii. 23 Miss Lucy R. merged into that moment of hysterical conversion, which must have been under the determinations of that trauma. Ibid. iii. 72 This neuralgia became the mark of a definite psychic excitement through the usual road of conversion. 1913 E. Jones Papers Psycho-Analysis 18 The energy finds an outlet in some somatic manifestation, a process Freud terms ‘conversion’. 1948 C. Berg Clinical Psychol. iii. 142 The following case..introduces us to the method of production of conversion. |
IV. attrib. and
Comb. as, (in senses 8, 9)
conversion-scripture,
conversion-shop; (sense 12 f)
conversion efficiency (also sense 11),
conversion ratio,
conversion reactor; (sense 16 c)
conversion hysteria,
conversion hysteric,
conversion symptom;
conversion factor, (
a) an arithmetical multiplier for converting a quantity expressed in one set of units into an equivalent quantity expressed in another; (
b)
Econ., that part of the commercial value of a product attributable to the manufacturing processes involved and not to the raw material used;
conversion gain (see
quot. 1940);
conversion-noun, a noun formed from an adjective.
| 1937 M. G. Crosby in Proc. Inst. Radio Engin. XXV. 476 A convenient term for this reduction factor of the filter is ‘conversion efficiency’. 1956 S. Glasstone Princ. Nucl. Reactor Engin. i. 42 If such a reactor were to regenerate the same amount of plutonium-239 as it loses by fission, i.e. if the conversion efficiency were 100 per cent. |
| 1918 W. E. Dommett Dict. Aircraft 16 Wing loading W/A = Cl. p/g V2. The value of p/g V2 (English Units) is known as the Conversion Factor. 1947 Times Survey Brit. Scient. Instr. Industry Oct. 2/3 The minimum of raw material is involved in the production of a scientific instrument... In short, scientific instruments have one of the highest conversion factors. 1952 Economist 6 Sept. 575 In value the annual output of the industry is perhaps..{pstlg}35 million a year; since the cost of materials is probably not more than 30–35 per cent of this, its ‘conversion factor’ is high. 1962 B.S.I. News June 28/2, B.S. 350 listed conversion factors in no fewer than four different metric systems. |
| 1935 F. E. Terman Measurements in Radio Engin. ix. 218 The conversion gain is..the ratio of the two test voltages required, provided the degree of modulation is kept constant. Similarly the detector efficiency with plate detection is the ratio of the actual conversion gain to the gain..obtained by considering the detector tube to be an intermediate frequency amplifier tube. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 196/2 Conversion gain (Radio), the effective amplification of a conversion detector, measured as the ratio of the output voltage of intermediate frequency to the input voltage of signal frequency. 1960 Electronic Engin. XXXII. 413 A unit to express resistor current noise which is called conversion gain. |
| 1912 A. A. Brill tr. Freud's Sel. Papers on Hysteria (ed. 2) xii. 210 The analytical technique has to be subjected to certain modifications..with the therapy of conversion-hysteria. 1926 J. Suttie tr. Ferenczi's Further Contrib. Psycho-Analysis vi. 89 Freud's psycho-analytical researches showed the symptoms of conversion hysteria to be representations of unconscious phantasies in bodily terms. 1932 Brit. Jrnl. Psychol. Oct. 152 He [sc. the Doctor]..scoured the conversion hysteric's uterus. 1935 Ibid. Oct. 214 Conversion hysteria, in which ‘the symptoms are a solution, however maladaptive, of the conflict’. 1935 Ibid. The conversion hysteric is often said to be of lower intelligence than the neurasthenic. 1956 R. M. Dorcus Hypnosis vii. 2 One large area in which hypnosis may serve a useful purpose is in detecting cases of conversion hysteria. 1965 N. Hobhouse in Kaufman & Heiman Evol. Psychosomatic Concepts 242 Those conversion hysterias which we see rather little of now, but which we saw much of in the War, were quite often monosymptomatic. |
| 1928 Bergener Conversion of Adjs. into Nouns 2 It seems to me more logical to say that the adjective is converted and to call the result a conversion-noun than to use the term converted noun in the latter sense. |
| 1955 S. Visner in Reactor Handbk. Engin. (U.S.A.E.C.) iv. 514 The conversion ratio and breeding gain. |
| 1956 S. Glasstone Princ. Nucl. Reactor Engin. i. 43 Nuclei of fissionable material..are consumed in a conversion reactor. |
| 1678 Yng. Man's Call. 109 He takes up his bible, and often reads the father's conversion-scripture, praying the Lord that it may prove his also. |
| 1827 Edin. Rev. XLVI. 389 [They] convert their halls into conventicles and conversion-shops. |
| 1926 J. Suttie tr. Ferenczi's Further Contrib. Psycho-Analysis vi. 102 The original theory of conversion considered the hysterical conversion symptom to be due to the abreaction of strangulated affects. 1964 Gould & Kolb Dict. Social Sci. 593/2 The repressed emotions could find conscious, but disturbing, outlets through..converting psychic energy into physical ‘conversion’ symptoms. |
Hence
conˈversional,
conˈversionary adjs., of or relating to conversion (senses 8, 9);
† conˈversioner, a writer on conversion;
conˈversionist, one who advocates or devotes himself to the religious conversion of others; so
conˈversionism. (All more or less
nonce-wds.)
| 1847 Bushnell Chr. Nurt. ii. vii. (1861) 382 This rough sea of conversional tossings. 1827 Bp. Jebb Life & Lett. lxxxvi. 672 Wholly unconnected with societies, or with conversionary movements. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. i. §7 The Conversioner mainly stickleth for the Apostle Peter to have first preached the Gospel here. 1885 W. Raleigh Let. 15 Dec. (1926) I. 48 The worst Christianity is to be found outside professed Christian countries—blatant conversionism and crass ignorance united. 1887 H. Adler in Papers Anglo-Jewish Hist. Exhibit. 278 The aged R. Aaron Hart, with whom Mr. Goldney, the zealous conversionist, held several disputations. 1889 Pall Mall G. 6 June 3 The class from whom the professional conversionist draws his candidates for salvation. |
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conversion van n. N. Amer. a customized van in which the area behind the driver has been converted into a living space or for some other specialized use; a camper van.
| 1971 Lethbridge (Alberta) Herald 25 Nov. 13 (advt.) Mini-motorhome & *conversion van on display in our showroom. 1998 Chicago Tribune 10 May iv. 3/2 The first Arlington Heights bookmobile was a $5,000 conversion van. 2005 T. K. Beal Roadside Relig. 16 Tonie..rented out several older-model motor homes and conversion vans. |