revolve

English

Etymology

From Middle English revolven (“to change direction”), from Old French revolver (“to reflect upon”), from Latin revolvere, present active infinitive of revolvō (“turn over, roll back, reflect upon”), from re- (“back”) + volvō (“roll”); see voluble, volve.

Verb

revolve (third-person singular simple present revolves, present participle revolving, simple past and past participle revolved)

1. (intransitive) To orbit a central point.

   The Earth revolves around the sun.

2. To turn on an axis.

   The Earth revolves once every twenty-four hours.

3. (intransitive) To recur in cycles.

   The program revolves through all the queues before returning to the start.

4. (transitive) To ponder on, to reflect repeatedly upon, to consider all aspects of.
   • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, book 2, ch. 6, Monk Samson

     He sits silent, revolving many thoughts, at the foot of St. Edmund’s Shrine.

Related terms

• revolution
• revolver
• the world doesn't revolve around you

Translations

to orbit a central point

Chinese: Mandarin: 圍繞 (zh), 围绕 (zh) (wéirào) Esperanto: rivolui (eo) Finnish: kiertää (fi) French: retourner (fr), tourner (fr) German: sich drehen (de) Hindi: घूमना (hi) (ghūmnā)

Kurdish: Sorani: خۆلاندن (ku) (xulandin) Pashto: څرخول (ps) (carkhawəl), تاوول (ps) (tāwawəl) Polish: kręcić się (wokół) Russian: вертеться (ru) (vertét’sja), крутиться (ru) (krutít’sja), вращаться (ru) (vraščát’sja)

to turn on an axis

Chinese: Mandarin: 旋轉 (zh), 旋转 (zh) (xuánzhuǎn), 運轉 (zh), 运转 (zh) (yùnzhuàn) Finnish: pyöriä (fi) French: retourner (fr), tourner (fr) German: sich drehen (de) Italian: ruotare (it)

Japanese: 回る (ja) (まわる, mawaru), 回転する (ja) (かいてんする, kaiten-suru) Kurdish: Sorani: خۆلاندن (ku) (xulandin) Pashto: تاوول (ps) (tāwawəl), اړول (ps) (arrawəl) Polish: wirować, kręcić się (wokół własnej osi) Russian: вращаться (ru) (vraščát’sja)

to recur in cycles

Italian: ricorrere (it)

to ponder on

Chinese: Mandarin: 考慮 (zh), 考虑 (zh) (kǎolǜ)

Finnish: pohtia (fi) Russian: обдумывать (ru) (obdúmyvat’)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Dutch: omwentelen

External links

• revolve in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• revolve in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• evolver

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Latin

Verb

revolve

1. second-person singular present active imperative of revolvō

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Portuguese

Verb

revolve

1. Third-person singular (ele, ela, also used with tu and você^?) present indicative of verb revolver.
2. Second-person singular (tu) affirmative imperative of verb revolver.