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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Revolution \Rev`o*lu"tion\, n. [F. r['e]volution, L. revolutio.
See {Revolve}.]
1. The act of revolving, or turning round on an axis or a
center; the motion of a body round a fixed point or line;
rotation; as, the revolution of a wheel, of a top, of the
earth on its axis, etc.
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2. Return to a point before occupied, or to a point
relatively the same; a rolling back; return; as,
revolution in an ellipse or spiral.
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That fear
Comes thundering back, with dreadful revolution,
On my defenseless head. --Milton.
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3. The space measured by the regular return of a revolving
body; the period made by the regular recurrence of a
measure of time, or by a succession of similar events.
"The short revolution of a day." --Dryden.
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4. (Astron.) The motion of any body, as a planet or
satellite, in a curved line or orbit, until it returns to
the same point again, or to a point relatively the same;
-- designated as the annual, anomalistic, nodical,
sidereal, or tropical revolution, according as the point
of return or completion has a fixed relation to the year,
the anomaly, the nodes, the stars, or the tropics; as, the
revolution of the earth about the sun; the revolution of
the moon about the earth.
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Note: The term is sometimes applied in astronomy to the
motion of a single body, as a planet, about its own
axis, but this motion is usually called rotation.
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5. (Geom.) The motion of a point, line, or surface about a
point or line as its center or axis, in such a manner that
a moving point generates a curve, a moving line a surface
(called a surface of revolution), and a moving surface a
solid (called a solid of revolution); as, the revolution
of a right-angled triangle about one of its sides
generates a cone; the revolution of a semicircle about the
diameter generates a sphere.
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6. A total or radical change; as, a revolution in one's
circumstances or way of living.
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The ability . . . of the great philosopher speedily
produced a complete revolution throughout the
department. --Macaulay.
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7. (Politics) A fundamental change in political organization,
or in a government or constitution; the overthrow or
renunciation of one government, and the substitution of
another, by the governed.
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The violence of revolutions is generally
proportioned to the degree of the maladministration
which has produced them. --Macaulay.
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Note: When used without qualifying terms, the word is often
applied specifically, by way of eminence, to: (a) The
English Revolution in 1689, when William of Orange and
Mary became the reigning sovereigns, in place of James
II. (b) The American Revolution, beginning in 1775, by
which the English colonies, since known as the United
States, secured their independence. (c) The revolution
in France in 1789, commonly called the French
Revolution, the subsequent revolutions in that country
being designated by their dates, as the Revolution of
1830, of 1848, etc.
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