late 14c., revolven, "to change; change direction, bend around," from Old French revolver and directly from Latin revolvere "roll back, unroll, unwind; happen again, return; go over, repeat," from re- "back, again" (see re-) + volvere "to roll" (from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve").
From early 15c. as "to turn over (in the mind or heart), meditate." Also formerly "to pass through periodic changes," hence "to come around in process of time" (1590s).
The transitive sense of "cause (something) to move in an orbit around a central point" is from 1660s. Intransitive sense of "perform a circular motion" about or round a fixed point, as the planets about the sun, is by 1713; that of "rotate, turn or roll about upon an axis or center" is by 1738. Related: Revolved; revolving; revolvement; revolvency.
"making revolutions, rotating," 1690s, present-participle adjective from revolve (v.). Revolving door is attested from 1856 in industrial processes, 1896 in buildings.
"revolving firearm," originally and especially a type of pistol able to fire multiple shots without reloading, 1835, agent noun from revolve (v.). So called by U.S. inventor Samuel Colt (1814-1862) for its revolving bored barrel (later models used a revolving chamber cylinder).
1540s, "cast off allegiance, rise against rulers, break away from established authority," from French revolter (15c.), which is from or cognate with Italian rivoltare "to overthrow, overturn," from Vulgar Latin *revolvitare "to overturn, overthrow," frequentative of Latin revolvere (past participle revolutus) "turn, roll back" (see revolve). Related: Revolted; revolting.
late 14c., revolucioun, originally of celestial bodies, "one (apparent) rotation about the earth," also the time required for this, also "act or fact of moving in a circular course," from Old French revolucion "course, revolution" of celestial bodies (13c.) or directly from Late Latin revolutionem (nominative revolutio) "a revolving," noun of action from past-participle stem of Latin revolvere "turn, roll back" (see revolve).
From early 15c. as "a cyclical reoccurrence, a round or recurrent changes or events;" also "the revolving of a wheel." By 1660s as "action on the part of an object or person of turning round or moving round a point."
The sense of "an instance of great change in affairs" is recorded from mid-15c. The political meaning "overthrow of an established political or social system" is recorded by c. 1600, derived from French, and was especially applied in England to the expulsion of the Stuart dynasty under James II in 1688 and transfer of sovereignty to William and Mary under a purer constitutional government. Green revolution in global food production is attested from 1970.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to turn, revolve," with derivatives referring to curved, enclosing objects.
It forms all or part of: archivolt; circumvolve; convoluted; convolution; devolve; elytra; evolution; evolve; Helicon; helicopter; helix; helminth; lorimer; ileus; involve; revolt; revolution; revolve; valve; vault (v.1) "jump or leap over;" vault (n.1) "arched roof or ceiling;" volte-face; voluble; volume; voluminous; volute; volvox; volvulus; vulva; wale; walk; wallet; wallow; waltz; well (v.) "to spring, rise, gush;" welter; whelk; willow.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit valate "turns round," ulvam "womb, vulva;" Lithuanian valtis "twine, net," vilnis "wave," apvalus "round;" Old Church Slavonic valiti "roll, welter," vlŭna "wave;" Greek eluein "to roll round, wind, enwrap," eilein "twist, turn, squeeze; revolve, rotate," helix "spiral object;" Latin volvere "to turn, twist;" Gothic walwjan "to roll;" Old English wealwian "roll," weoloc "whelk, spiral-shelled mollusk;" Old High German walzan "to roll, waltz;" Old Irish fulumain "rolling;" Welsh olwyn "wheel."
"revolve or move round a center or axis," 1794, intransitive, back-formation from rotation. The transitive sense of "cause to revolve upon an axis or support" is by 1823. Related: Rotated; rotating.
"revolve round in an orb," 1946, from orbit (n.). Related: Orbited; orbiting.
"to roll or twist," early 14c., from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German welteren "to roll," from Proto-Germanic *waltijan (source also of Old English wieltan, Old Norse velta, Old High German walzan "to turn, revolve," German wälzen "to roll," Gothic waltjan "to roll"), from PIE root *wel- (3) "to turn, revolve." Related: Weltered; weltering.
