▪ I. overturn, n.
(ˈəʊvətɜːn)
[over- 6, ? 4, 10.]
1. The act of overturning or fact of being overturned; an upsetting; a revolution.
| c 1592 Bacon Conf. Pleasure (1870) 25 Her intentiue witt in contriuing plotts and ouertournes. 1658 Cleveland Rustic Rampant Wks. (1687) 392 A Marius..fitter to remove things, to overturn overturns, than for Peace. 1789 F. Burney Diary 19 Nov., He was still rather lame, from a dreadful overturn in a carriage. 1823 Scott Fam. Lett. 11 Feb., How we have escaped overturn is to me wonderful. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. xxvii. 631 The death of young Ralegh drew after it the overturn of the expedition. |
2. Geol. = overfold.
| 1877 Le Conte Elem. Geol. i. (1879) 176 When in strong foldings the strata are pushed over beyond the perpendicular,..we have what is called an overturn dip. |
3. The burden or refrain of a song. Sc.
| 1825 Jamieson, Overturn of a sang, that part of it which is repeated, or sung in chorus. 1827 Motherwell Wee Wee Man viii, And aye the owreturn o' their tune Was—Our wee wee man has been lang awa! |
4. The act of turning over in the course of trade, circulation of books, etc.; turn-over.
| 1882 Alexander Ain Folk 99 (E.D.D.) Lyin i' the bank wi' nae owreturn. 1901 Academy 7 Dec. 532/2 The libraries, where fiction is always 70 to 80 per cent. of the total overturn, run up to a circulation of 400,000 volumes of fiction a month in American cities. |
5. A turn-over, as of voters or votes from one side to the other.
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 8 May 5/2 A reduction of the Liberal majority by over a thousand..It is certainly a tremendous overturn which has been effected. |
6. Limnology. The mixing or circulation of the water in a thermally stratified lake that usu. occurs once or twice each year as a result of the cooling or warming of the epilimnion.
| [1898 G. C. Whipple in Amer. Naturalist XXXII. 27 Soon the surface and bottom layers come to have substantially the same temperature, and vertical currents extend from top to bottom. This is the ‘period of spring circulation’, or the ‘spring overturning’.] 1911 Birge & Juday in Bull. Wisconsin Geol. & Nat. Hist. Survey xxii. p. xi, The stratum of circulating water becomes increasingly thinner until..the permanent summer conditions are established. Thenceforward, until the overturn, only the water of the epilimnion can have direct contact with the air. 1935 P. S. Welch Limnology iv. 38 During the spring and fall overturns.., when the water is of uniform density from top to bottom, return currents may extend even to the bottom of relatively deep inland lakes. 1972 Ann. Rep. Freshwater Biol. Assoc. XL. 42 Before the overturn, the epilimnetic population of both Grasmere and Blelham Tarn went through the whole [nitrate] reduction process. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia X. 607/1 Mixing due to cooling or warming processes that increase the density of surface waters sufficiently to cause them to sink results in what is termed circulation, or overturn, of lake water. |
▪ II. overturn, v.
(əʊvəˈtɜːn)
[over- 6, ? 4, 10.]
† 1. intr. Of a wheel, and fig. of time: To turn round, revolve. Obs.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 356 Heo beoð her hweolinde ase hweoles þet ouerturneð sone, and ne lesteð none hwule. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1192 Þay feȝt & þay fende of, & fylter togeder Til two ȝer ouer-torned. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 145 Suche a day þe ȝere ouertorned [anno revoluto] þey boþe deide. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3186 Hym thowht he satte..vpon A whele..The whele over-tornyd ther wyth Alle, And eueryche by A lymme hym caught. 1649 T. Ford Lusus Fort. 83 Neither Power nor Riches can scotch the over-turning wheel of fortune. |
2. a. trans. To turn (anything) over upon its side or face, esp. to throw over with violence; to upset, overset, overthrow; to cause to fall over or down.
| 13.. Life Jesu 857 Þe Muteres Moneye he schedde al, and þe bordes ouer turnde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 131 I shal ouertourne þis temple and adown throwe, And in thre dayes after edifye it newe, And make it as moche other more in alle manere poyntes, As euere it was. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 138 b, Man hath..subuerted or ouerturned his citees. 1555 Eden Decades 7 They ouer⁓turned their Canoa with a great violence. 1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies iii. xxvi. 198 Vpon the coast of Chille..there was so terrible an Earthquake, as it overturned whole mountains. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2240/4 A Hackney Coach..overturned in Fleetstreet. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 207 The whale sometimes overturns the boat with a blow of its tail. 1850 Prescott Peru II. 149 Men and horses were overturned in the fury of the assault. |
† b. To turn over (a lying stone, a leaf of a book, etc.) without throwing down. Obs.
| c 1330 Assump. Virg. 765 (B.M. MS.) Thei ouerturned þat ilke stone, Bodi þei founde þer none. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 67 [He] overtorneth many a bok, And thurgh the craft of Artemage Of wex he forgeth an ymage. |
c. intr. To turn over, capsize, upset; to fall.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 209 For couetyse of þat croys clerkes of holy churche Schullen ouerturne as templers duden. 1659 J. Leak Waterwks. 20 The Water..shall fill the said Vessel and make it to overturn. Ibid., Every minute of an hour the said Vessel may overturn. 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Over-setting,..the movement of a ship when she over-turns. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. x. 98 The sledge is portable, and adapted..to overturn with impunity. |
3. a. trans. To overthrow, subvert, destroy, overwhelm, bring to ruin (a person, institution, principle, etc.).
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. ii. pr. ii. 23 (Camb. MS.) The dedes of fortune þat with a vnwarstroke ouertorneth realmes of grete noblye. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas viii. xviii. (1558) 12 b, His power short was ouerturned bliue. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VII 43 b, Assone as Kyng Henry had subdued and ouerturned his adversaries. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 82 If we..can make a Head To push against the Kingdome; with his helpe, We shall o're-turne it topsie-turuy downe. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 463 But pain is perfet miserie..and excessive, overturnes All patience. 1757 Burke Subl. & B. (ed. 2) Pref., This can never overturn the theory itself. 1802 M. Edgeworth Moral T. (1816) I. xiv. 112 Without overturning all existing institutions. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1678, I schemed and wrought Until I overturn'd him. |
b. To reverse (a judicial decision).
| 1969 Morning Star 8 Aug. 1/3 Last month, the US circuit court of appeals in Boston overturned the verdict. 1973 Observer 22 July 10/1 The House of Lords unanimously overturned this decision. |
† 4. To ‘upset’, disorder (stomach, brain, etc.).
| 1390 Gower Conf. III. 5 So drunke I am, that my wit faileth And al mi brain is overtorned. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xxviii. 355 It will not ouertturne nor torment the stomacke. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 232 It bringeth headach, and ouerturneth the stomacke. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 174 Yet there is a wine of Myrtles..which wil neuer ouerturn the brain or make one drunk. 1704 Swift T. Tub ix, A person whose intellectuals were overturned. |
† 5. To turn in the opposite direction. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 83 In som hulles of Ynde beeþ men þat haueþ soles of hir feet ouertorned [Higd. adversas plantas habentes]. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xviii. c. (1495) 846 Some bulles..hauynge theyr heere ouertornyd: and growyth towardes theyr eyen. |
† 6. To turn over from one thing or side to another; to turn away; to pervert.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. iv. 1 Ouerturne thou not thin eȝen fro the pore [1388 turne not ouere; Vulg. transvertas]. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 384 [Love] which many an herte hath overtake, And ovyrturnyd as the blynde Fro reson in to lawe of kynde. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. i. (Arb.) 75, I know..many worthie Ientlemen of England, whom all the Siren songes of Italie..nor no inchantment of vanitie [could] ouerturne them, from the feare of God, and loue of honestie. 1587 Golding De Mornay xvi. (1617) 283 Seeing that man is so ouerturned, whereof can he brag. |
Hence overˈturned ppl. a., spec. in Geol. applied to a fold or the limb of a fold that is tilted beyond the vertical (cf. overfold n.); overˈturning vbl. n. and ppl. a.; also overˈturnable a., capable of being overturned.
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. ix. (Skeat) I. 83 Sothlie none age, none ouertournyng tyme, but hitherto had no tyme ne power, to chaunge the weddyng, ne that knotte to vnbinde. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xix. 164 Þe ouerturnyng of þe temple bytokned þe resureccion. 1645 Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 356 The overturning of all human society. 1649 [see sense 1]. 1757 T. Birch Hist. Royal Soc. IV. 323 A commodious land-carriage..far more secure than any coach, not being overturnable by any hight, on which the wheels can possibly move. a 1758 Edwards Hist. Redempt. i. vi. (1774) 141 There were three great general overturnings of the world before Christ came. 1809 N. Pinkney France 38, I fell in with an overturned Chaise. 1861 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. LXXXI. 218 Sometimes it may overlie the overturned Utica formation. 1896 [see overfold v. 2]. 1907, 1970 [see foreland 5]. |