‖ reversi
(rəvɛrsi, rɪˈvɜːsɪ)
Also reversé.
[a. F. reversi, earlier reversin (1601), ad. It. rovescino (Sp. revesino), f. rovescio reverse, wrong side.
Cotgrave defines reversi as ‘a kind of Trumpe (played backward, and full of sport) which the Duke of Savoy brought some ten yeares agoe into France’.]
1. An obsolete card-game in which the object was to avoid winning the tricks. (See also reversis and reverse n. 10 a.)
| 1815 Paris Chit-chat (1816) I. 189 Monsieur Descourtils..is always ready for a hand at boston, whist, or reversi. 1826 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 297 Trictrac superseded chess or backgammon, reversi took the place of whist. 1870 L'Estrange Life Miss Mitford I. 11 note, These suppers..were followed by tric-trac and reversé. 1898 M. Loyd tr. O. Uzanne's Fashion in Paris ii. 24 The fair Parisian..loved to sit up late,..and play her game of bouillotte or reversi. |
2. A game played upon a draught-board by two persons, with counters having one side different in colour from the other.
The object of the game is to enclose as many of the opponent's counters as possible between one's own, and by so doing to have the right to reverse them, so that they show the same colour and are ‘taken’ as one's own.
| 1888 Daily Tel. 23 Apr. 5/3 The issue was connected with the game called ‘reversi’, which was described as being analogous to draughts. 1898 Hoffmann Bk. of Card & Table Games 633 Reversi is played upon an ordinary draught-board. 1963 I. Gandy Staying with Aunts iii. 62 Another favourite game..was Reversi... Someone found the opportunity to change a whole row of counters to their own colour. 1976 Time 27 Dec. 2/3 The ‘new’ Japanese game Othello bears a remarkable resemblance to an English board game called Reversi. |