▪ I. reversion1
(rɪˈvɜːʃən)
Forms: 5–7 reuersion (5 -syon, 6–7 Sc. -sioun), 5– reversion; 5–6 reu-, revercion (6 -cyon); 6 reu-, 6–7 revertion.
[a. OF. reversion, -cioun (mod.F. réversion), = Sp. reversion, It. re-, riversione:—L. reversiōn-em, n. of action f. revers-, revertĕre to revert.
In legal use the word is found in AF. before 1300.]
I. 1. a. Law. The return of an estate to the donor or grantor, or his heirs, after the expiry of the grant; an estate which thus returns to the donor or his heirs.
Chiefly in legal definitions of the term, the common application in actual use being as in b.
| 1442 Rolls of Parlt. V. 42/2 Title and Interesse of reversion of Fee simple that bene fallen..be cause of the seide forfaiture, aftre the seide taillez dispended. 1523 Fitzherb. Surveying 11 If the gyfte were in the tayle and no remaynder in fe euer nowe the reuercyon resteth styll in y⊇ donor. 1596 Bacon Max. & Use Com. Law (1635) 49 The Reversion is an estate left in the giver, after a particular estate made by him for yeares, life, or intaile. 1628 Coke On Litt. 142 b, In such case..it behoueth that the reuersion of the Lands and Tenements be in the Donor or Lessor. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v., A reversion is to himself, from whom the conveyance of the land, &c. proceeded, and is commonly perpetual as to his heirs also. 1766 Blackstone Comm. II. 112 Vesting in the donor the ultimate fee-simple of the land, expectant on the failure of issue; which expectant estate is what we now call a reversion. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 438/1 If a man seised in fee simple conveys lands to A for life, or in tail, he retains the reversion in fee simple. 1894 Times 6 Mar. 7/1 The Commissioners of Woods and Forests had failed to establish the right of the Crown to a reversion in the particular denominations mentioned. |
b. An estate of this kind as granted or transferable to another party,
esp. upon the death of the original grantee; hence, the right of succeeding to, or next occupying, an estate, etc.
| 1426 E.E. Wills (1882) 74, I will þat Richard, my brother, haue half þe Cok and þe garlond in Colmanstrete, þe terme of his life, and þe Reuersion to Richard Burdon,..the terme of his life. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. xx. (1885) 156 Ellis importune suters wil gape vpon suche reuersiouns, and oftentymes asken hem or they befall. 1486 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 13, I bequethe to Beatrice my wyf the reuersion of all those londes & tenementes. 1529 Wolsey in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 13, I wold gladly..grawnte onto hym the revercion of such thinges as the lorde Sands hath ther. 1587 Lady Stafford in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 209 A reversion of the best lease. 1650 R. Stapylton Strada's Low C. Wars ii. 30 By the Kings procurement, Bishops were entituled to the reversions of Monasteries, after the abbots deceases. 1699 Garth Dispens. v. 61, I give Reversions, and for Heirs provide. 1765 H. Walpole Otranto v. (ed. 2) 179 The principality of Otranto was a stronger temptation, than the contingent reversion of it with Matilda. 1837 Lockhart Scott IV. vii. 211 The sudden death of his wife's brother,..who had bequeathed the reversion of his fortune to his sister's family. 1873 Dixon Two Queens xv. iii. III. 148 Henry showed a sense of his great services by granting him the reversion of three manors in Essex. |
c. In
phr. in reversion, conditional upon the expiry of a grant or the death of a person.
| 1557 Order of Hospitalls C iv b, That there be no Leases let in revertion but one year before the ould Lease be expired. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Covin, As, if a tenant for life conspire with another..in prejudice to him in reversion. 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 318/1 An annuity is said to be in reversion, when the purchaser..does not immediately enter upon possession. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 430/1 A contract to pay 100l. at the death of a given individual is 100l. in reversion to the executors of that individual. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-Bk. Prop. Law ii. 72 The observation applies only to annuities, or interests for life, or interests in reversion. |
d. A sum which falls to be paid upon the death of a person,
esp. as a result of life-insurance.
| 1771 Encycl. Brit. I. 323/1 What is the reversion worth, reckoning interest at 4 per cent.? 1792 R. Price Observ. Reversion. Paym. (ed. 5) I. 281 Data for computing accurately the values of all life-annuities and reversions. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 430/1 The value of a reversion depends in a very easy manner upon the value of the corresponding annuity. 1858 Ld. St. Leonards Handy-Bk. Prop. Law ii. 72 The Act already passed must give great satisfaction to purchasers of reversions. |
2. a. transf. The right of succeeding to the possession
of something after another is done with it, or simply of obtaining it at some future time; a thing or possession which one expects to obtain.
| c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 93 Ye be but lytell worth..whan ye are fayne to take the reuersion of these ladyes olde clothynge. 1579 Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 39 The very hyerlings of some of our Players, which stand at reuersion of vi.s. by the weeke. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 53 Where now remaines a sweet reuersion, We may boldly spend, vpon the hope Of what is to come in. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 16 They haue all the trickes possible to disfigure themselues, and to proue their Patrimony and Reuersions in Acheron. 1690 Crowne Eng. Frier iii, Here are now several [ladies] wayting in their coaches to have the reversion of him. 1717 Pope To Mem. of Unfort. Lady 9 Is there no bright reversion in the sky, For those who greatly think, or bravely die? 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 352 He that suffers voluntarily in a righteous cause..purchases the reversion of an immense estate. c 1830 De Quincey Dice Wks. 1862 X. 307 The Medical Institute was in the habit of purchasing from poor people..the reversion of their bodies. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos xiii. 171 It assures..of a reversion of glory—a fulness of bliss and joy. |
b. The right of succession to an office or place of emolument, after the death or retirement of the holder. Const.
of.
| 1623 Webster Duchess Malfi iii. i, You have not been..in prison, nor a suitor at the court, Nor begg'd the reversion of some great man's place. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 158 Each Basha in his own life-time easily procuring the Reversion for his Son by means of good Presents. 1703 Pope Thebais 181 Impotent Desire to reign alone, That scorns the dull reversion of a throne. 1807 Syd. Smith Lett. Catholics (1808) 171 If Ireland is gone, where are jobs? where are reversions? 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 291/1 He wrote many letters, requesting his friend's permission to apply for a grant of the reversion of it, and even offered to resign in his favour. |
| Comb. 1809 E. S. Barrett Setting Sun III. 3 Can one of these reversion mongers stand forward, and assert without blushing, that his services merit even the place he holds in possession! |
c. In
phr. in (also by) reversion. (
Cf. 1 c.)
| 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xii. 262 Simon Petre (to whom long afore he had surrendred the gouernaunce and chiefteinshippe of his Churche, as in reuercion aftre him). 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 87 The soule which is in mee, is the verie soule of Iulius Cæsar by reuersion. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 161 The Queen..made ouer the kingdome and crown in succession and reuersion to whom she thought good. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 408 A Cat, you know, is said to have nine Lives, that is eight in Reversion and one in Possession. 1709 Swift Vind. Bickerstaff Wks. 1751 IV. 222 Time..gives them a Lease in Reversion, to continue their works after their death. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 15 ¶1 The prospect of too good a fortune in reversion when I married her. 1801 Lusignan III. 44 Thinking she would be sooner reconciled to an event which had actually taken place..than to one in reversion. |
3. Sc. Law. A right of redemption operative in the case of a legal adjudication or a wadset.
| 1563–4 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 262 To ressave the sowmes of money and lettres of tak contenit in the lettres of reversioun maid thairupoun. 1599 Acts Sederunt 3 Nov., Ane act anent the registering of seasingis, reversiounis, and sindrie utheris wreittis. 1681 Stair Institut. i. x. 148 In Sale there may be Earnest interposed, or Reversion granted. 1708 J. Chamberlayne St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. v. (1710) 443 The Scottish Wadsets and Reversions answer to the English Mortgages and Defeasances. a 1768 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. ii. viii. §2 Reversions are either legal, which arise from the law itself,..or conventional, which are constituted by the agreement of the parties. 1838 W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. 828 The power of redemption is not lost by the currency of the forty years, provided the right of reversion has been recorded in the register of sasines. |
| fig. c 1590 Montgomerie Sonnets xxxv. 8 Suppose my silly saull with sin be seasde, Ȝit the reversiones rests that it redemes. |
II. † 4. a. The remains, that which is left over, of any dish, drink, or meal.
Obs.| c 1440 Alph. Tales 247 He bad a childe go feche þe reuersion of a pulett þat was sett in a kiste, & giff hir it. Ibid. 364 When he felid þat it was venom, he garte hur drynke of þe reuercion. 1526 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 171 The said gentleman-usher, sewer,..& yeomen-ushers,..to have the reversion of the said service. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark vi. 48 After the feast was done, the Apostles..gathered together the reuersion. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 1 Nor do I feare, But my poore fragments shall be made of there, For good reuersions by thy scrambling crew. 1650 Fuller Pisgah ii. vii. 159 The dogs eat her up to the reversion of her skull, palmes of her hands, and feet. |
| 1816 Scott Antiq. ix, Let Lovel and me have forthwith the relics of the chicken-pie, and the reversion of the port. 1824 ― St. Ronan's iv, Men who scorned that the reversion of one bottle of wine should furnish forth the feast of tomorrow. |
† b. The rest, residue, or remainder
of something; also, a remnant, small number.
Obs.| c 1440 Alph. Tales 475 Sodanly þer come a grete wynd & blew all down, and efter þat þer come ane erde-quake & shuke down þe reuersyon. 1596 Lodge Wits Mis. & Worlds Madn. (Hunterian Cl.) 33 In his bosom he beares his handkerchiefe made of the reuersion of his old table⁓cloth. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 595 That the reversions of their bodies should after death turn into Serpents. 1650 Fuller Pisgah 409 The..whole company of this Remnant, or rather, Reversion of the Jews. |
5. † a. The action or fact of returning to or from a place.
Obs.| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 219/2 After his reuersion home, [he] was spoyled also of al y{supt} he brought with him. 1696 Brookhouse Temple Open. 14 This..was the Sign of Dispersion, and it will..be the Sign of their Reversion. 1707 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 17 The Bp...homeward made Reversion. 1741 tr. Cicero's De Nat. Deorum ii. 144 The Sun..every Year makes two contrary Reversions from the extreme Part. |
b. The action or fact of returning to a certain condition, practice, or belief; an instance of this.
| 1582 Bentley Mon. Matrones 42 Christ rejoiced in the conversion of sinners, and I was not greeued to see their reuersion to sinne. 1661 H. W. Charact. Conceited Coxcombs, Polititian, That army, whose idle lives hate the mention of a revertion to their wonted druggery. |
| 1860 Pusey Min. Proph. 24 It is not conversion only, but reversion too, a turning back from the unbelief and sins. 1865 Sat. Rev. 24 June 750 The intelligence..of two rather remarkable ‘reversions’ marks a critical point in the history of the Church of Rome. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. xv. 256 There is a sudden reversion, a reaction in the posture of his mind. |
c. Biol. The fact, or action, of reverting or returning to a primitive or ancestral type or condition; an instance of this.
| 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1860) 162 We could not have told, whether these characters in our domestic breeds were reversions or only analogous variations. 1868 Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 10) II. iii. xliii. 478 The power of re-growth of the supernumerary digits in man may be an instance of reversion to an enormously remote and multidigitate progenitor. 1890 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 973. |
† 6. The return
of a courtesy.
Obs. rare—1.
| 1642–4 Vicars God in Mount (1844) 133 The Cavaliers were more wise and craftie, than to stay and wait upon their so eager enemies reversion of courtesie. |
7. a. The act of turning something or fact of being turned the reverse way. Also
attrib.| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 230 A pretty stiff string..may turn the hand upon change of weather in the punctum of reversion. 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 412 Which goes from the North to the South-East all the Year about; except where there are Reversions of Breezes, and In-Letts near the Land. 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Abatement, Reversion is either turning the whole escutcheon upside-down; or the adding another escutcheon, inverted, in the former. 1802 Wollaston in Phil. Trans. XCII. 373 With heavy spar, the instances of reversion are very numerous. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xli. (1859) II. 416 By a total reversion of the whole analogy of his psychology. 1872 W. S. Symonds Rec. Rocks viii. 262 There is a fault along the course of the river and a reversion of dip takes place. 1885 Roscoe Spectrum Anal. (ed. 4) 160 Zöllner has examined these lines with his reversion-spectroscope. |
b. Math. (See
quots.)
| 1698 Phil. Trans. XX. 191 This Theorem may be applied to what is called the Reversion of Series, such as finding the Number from its Logarithm given; the Sine from the Arc. 1737 Gentl. Mag. VII. 135/1 When v is found by the Reversion of Series, and substituted in the first Equation. Ibid., He himself has given us the Value of v above by Reversion. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 297/2 Reversion of Series is the method of finding the value of the quantity whose several powers are involved in a series, in terms of the quantity which is equal to the given series. 1802 Phil. Trans. XCII. 102 What does reversion of series mean? Merely this; a certain method or operation, according to which, one quantity being expressed in terms of another, the second may be expressed in terms of the first. 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 437/1 If y be a given series of powers of x, the determination of x in a series of functions of y is not called inversion, but reversion. |
III. 8. attrib., as
reversion clause,
reversion duty.
| 1933 P. Godfrey Back-Stage vi. 74 He should have a reversion clause in his contract, so that if in any year his play is not performed a certain number of times the rights will revert to him. |
| 1909 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 8/1 Clause 7 deals with reversion duty. 1959 Jowitt Dict. Eng. Law II. 1554/1 Reversion duty, a duty formerly payable under the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910, in certain cases on the determination of leases more than twenty-one years. |
▪ II. reˈversion2 rare (
riː-)
[re- 5 a.] a. Translation back into the original language.
| 1814 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. LXXIV. 311 The task of version and reversion is not to be recommended merely to the linguist, but also to the poet. |
b. A drawing based upon an earlier sketch.
| 1848 D. G. Rossetti Let. Sept. (1965) I. 44 His last design is a re-version from Retzsch's outline of the same subject. |