evolutionn.

Brit.

/ˌiːvəˈl(j)uːʃn/,

/ˌɛvəˈl(j)uːʃn/, U.S.

/ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/

Forms: 1600s euolution, 1600s– evolution.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Perhaps also partly a borrowibng from French. Etymons: Latin ēvolūtiōn-, ēvolūtiō; French évolution.

Etymology: < classical Latin ēvolūtiōn-, ēvolūtiō action of unrolling a scroll (Cicero), in post-classical Latin also lapse of time (12th cent.; from 13th cent. in British sources), tactical manoeuvre to effect a change of formation (1534 in a Latin translation of Aelian; compare quot. 1616 at sense 1a), historical development (late 17th cent. or earlier with reference to the semantic history of a word), unfolding or opening out of a curve (1673 or earlier), extraction of a root (beginning of the 18th cent. or earlier), process by which, according to the theory of preformation, the embryo or germ is developed or expanded from a pre-existing form (1745 in A. von Haller Boerhaave's Prælectiones academicæ IV. ii. 250/2 in evolutionum theoria , literally ‘theory of evolutions’), emergence or release from an envelope or enclosing structure (1761 in J. C. Schaeffer Icones et descriptio fungorum, the source reviewed in quot. 1763 at sense 3b) < ēvolūt- , past participial stem of ēvolvere evolve v. + -iō -ion suffix¹; in sense 1 perhaps also partly via French évolution tactical manoeuvre to effect a change of formation (1536 in Middle French as †euolution , in a French translation of Aelian; for other senses see below). The word was also borrowed into many other European languages, the immediate source frequently being French and the earliest (but now uniformly marginal) sense being sense 1; compare e.g. Spanish evolución (late 18th cent.), Portuguese evolução (1789), Italian evoluzione (1640 as †evolutione ), Dutch evolutie (1752), German Evolution (c1700), Swedish evolution (1679). Compare revolution n., with which the word is frequently contrasted especially in sense 7a, and development n.Other senses of the word in French include: unfolding or opening out of a curve (1694 or earlier), unfolding of a series of events (1710 or earlier), wheeling, twisting, or turning movement (1733 or earlier), process by which living organisms or their parts develop from a rudimentary to a mature or complete state (1762 (in Charles Bonnet) or earlier), change, transformation, development in general (1776 in a translation from English), progression from simple to complex forms in human societies (1839 or earlier in A. Comte Cours de philosophie positive, e.g. frequently in vol. IV, ch. lxi of that work; compare quot. 1853 at sense 10), series of transformations leading to the genesis and diversification of species, phylogenesis (1844 or earlier). With sense 4b compare involution n. 6a. In sense 11 after evolve v. (which is attested slightly earlier in its spec. chemical use: compare evolve v. 5, and also evolved adj. 2). On the semantic history of the word with special reference to its use in biology, see further P. J. Bowler in Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 36 (1975) 95–114.

I. A movement or change of position.

a. Military and Navy. A manoeuvre executed by troops or ships to adopt a different tactical formation.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military operations > evolution > [noun]

evolution1616

1616 J. Bingham in tr. Ælian Tactiks xxviii. 132 The nature of this Euolution is clearely to leaue the File-leaders in front, and Bringers-vp in reare.

1622 F. Markham Five Decades Epist. of Warre iv. viii. 151 But if it be to performe any Evolution or alteration of figure..then he shall see that they obserue at least six foote distance..betweene one Horseman and another.

1690 (title) The exercise of the foot with the evolutions, according to the words of command, as they are explained.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) By Naval Evolutions, he [sc. Hoste] means the Motions made by a Fleet, Squadron, or Naval Armament, in order to put themselves into a proper Arrangement, or Situation, for attacking the Enemy, or defending themselves with the most Advantage.

1796 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry 118 This countermarch of each division is an evolution of great utility.

1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xv. 307 The Persian ships were turned by the wind and the waves, their evolutions were thwarted.

1853 J. H. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 99/2 That evolution is best which, with a given number of men, may be executed in the least space.

1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 42 Dummy run, a practice evolution in the Navy.

1958 Mariner's Mirror 44 92 She tacked ship easily and performed smartly all the evolutions of a square rigger.

2001 Navy News Sept. 38/3 He spent an evening watching the Cadets in action, performing evolutions which included boatwork, band, seamanship and junior training.

†b. figurative. A (tactical) change in behaviour or attitude. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > change > [noun] > from a state, opinion, etc.

variance1415

evolution1771

1771 E. Burke Corr. (1844) I. 296 That versatility, those sudden evolutions..have something derogated from the credit of all public professions.

1841 I. D'Israeli Amenities Lit. III. 129 Jonson's intense observation was microscopical when turned to the minute evolutions of society.

1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. vii. 101 Evolutions of patience and temper are performed at the fireside.

a. A wheeling, twisting, or turning movement; (in later use esp.) one performed in dancing or gymnastics. Also occasionally: a regulated movement of a machine part.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [noun]

swayc1374

turning1390

overwhelming?a1439

circumvolution1447

winding1530

conversion1541

rotationa1550

revolution1566

gyring?1578

revolve1598

circulation1605

gyration1615

evolution1654

sweep1679

gyrating1837

revolving1867

1654 H. Vaughan Flores Solitudinis i. 114 They creep from us like a mist or smoke, which in confused and silent Evolutions steales out at the top of the chimney, after it hath fouled it within.

a1691 R. Boyle Wks. (1772) I. 421 The spontaneous coagulation of the little saline bodies was preceded by almost innumerable evolutions.

1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle III. xci. 273 Our necromancer,..taking up his wand, waved it around his head in a very mysterious motion, with a view of intimidating these forward visitants, who, far from being awed by this sort of evolution, became more and more obstreperous.

1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives (1879) I. 79/1 They [sc. armed dancers] move in an agreeable manner, performing certain involutions and evolutions in a quick measure.

1786 T. Denman Ess. Preternatural Labours vii. 37 Though it was not in my power to turn the child,..by the mere effect of the action of the uterus, an evolution took place, and the child was expelled.

1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 41 Clouds..of a dark brown colour, floating in varied evolutions.

1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 73 The various evolutions and positions to which every revolution of the wheel subjects each paddle.

1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 214 The short evolution which the bar has to traverse, not being more than one fourth of a circle.

1837 New Monthly Mag. 51 471 A perfect artiste of the ballet..going through her admirable evolutions.

1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xii. 175 Haley..made him..perform various evolutions to show his muscles.

1874 H. E. Vandervell & T. M. Witham Syst. Figure-skating (ed. 2) iv. 68 Good ice-skaters are usually under the impression that they can at once perform their..evolutions on these roller-skates.

1940 H. F. Witherby et al. Handbk. Brit. Birds I. 8 Aerial evolutions..are a feature of courtship [of the raven].

1945 E. Denby Looking at Dance (1949) vi. 455 Both these sections have sharply cut rhythms, a powerful onward drive and a diamond-like sparkle in their evolutions.

2002 Evening Standard (Nexis) 8 Mar. 42 These evolutions are intercut by conventional dance solos.

†b. A twist; an intricate form. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > types of ornamentation > [noun] > intricate

evolution1773

twiddly bit1906

1773 J. Bryant New Syst. I. 270 Roots..and sprays are often so fantastic in their evolutions as to betray a remote resemblance [to the human fabric].

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1763 I. 228 [Johnson:] It is not in the shewy evolutions of buildings..that the wonderful immensity of London consists.

II. The process of unrolling, opening out, or revealing.

a. The action or process of opening out, unfolding, or unrolling; esp. the unfolding or progression of a series of events in orderly succession. Now rare.In quot. 1762 concrete: an opened bud.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > extension in space > [noun] > unfurling or unfolding

unfolding1483

evolution1624

unrolling1648

unfurling1780

unlapping1809

unrollment1823

unfoldure1837

outrolling1860

outroll1891

1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xxii. 69 The best chaine to be vsed in the euolution of facts is composed of the linckes of time, in order as they were done.

1667 H. More Divine Dialogues i. §15 The whole evolution of..ages, from everlasting to everlasting, is..represented to God at once.

1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 878 The Periods of Divine Providence, here in this World, are commonly Longer, and the Evolutions thereof Slower.

1681 S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Med.-philos. Disc. Fermentation viii. 26 The growth and ascent of the thing, to its height or acme is only an evolution, or unrowling of that radical matter, and protension or stretching it self forth into a greater dimension.

1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fourth 30 Beyond long Ages, yet roll'd up in Shades,..What Evolutions of surprising Fate?

1762 E. Young Resignation ii. 36 Flow'rs..When Ev'ning Damps, and Shades descend, Their Evolutions close.

1801 E. Darwin Zoonomia II. 247 The world..might have been gradually produced from very small beginnings..rather than by a sudden evolution of the whole by the Almighty fiat.

1844 G. S. Faber Sacred Cal. Prophecy (ed. 2) I. Advt. p. xv The evolution of time has served only to confirm me in..the honest persuasion, that etc.

1861 Universalist Q. July 296 The high-spirited young officer..waited the tardy evolution of events.

1880 R. Owen Sanctorale Catholicum 271 From the horrible manner of his death by the evolution of his intestines, Italians regard him [sc. St Elmo] as their advocate against spasmodic pains.

1907 Expositor Sept. 270 ‘Hour’ in this Gospel means..a psychological moment in the evolution of the Messianic consciousness full of significance for the Saviour's purpose.

†b. Chiefly Biology. Emergence or release from an envelope or enclosing structure; (also) protrusion, evagination. Obsolete.With the use in quot. 1763 cf. sense 5a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > projection or protuberance > [noun] > act of protruding or emerging

evolution1763

1763 Philos. Trans. 1762 (Royal Soc.) 52 500 Our author [sc. J. C. Schaeffer] asserts, That every Fungus is contained in an entire and perfect state..in the egg, or as it is called, the seed, and wants nothing but evolution, in order to imbibe the necessary juices.

1817 T. Say Hessian Fly in Entom. Wks. (1859) II. 7 The specious circumstance of its evolution from the pupa itself of the destroying larva.

1887 Gray's Anat. (ed. 11) 85 The first appearance of the eye consists in the protrusion or evolution from the medullary wall of the..interbrain of a vesicle.

4. Mathematics.

a. Geometry. Originally: the unfolding or opening out of a curve; spec. †(a) the straightening out of a curve, through all intermediate degrees of curvature, until it becomes a straight line (obsolete); (b) the generation of an involute of a curve, as by tracing the end of a taut thread unwound from the outside of the curve. Now more generally: the successive transformation of a curve by the alteration of the conditions which define it.The later use is influenced by senses in branch III., the notion of ‘unfolding, opening out’ being largely lost.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > geometry > curve > [noun] > change in

evolution1673

variation of curvaturea1727

1673 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 8 6069 He thought himself obliged to enter upon a new consideration of Curve Lines, viz. of those, which by their Evolution generate other Curves.

1700 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 22 445 By the Equable Evolution of a Circle, I mean such a gradual approach of its Periferie to Rectitude, as that all its parts do together and equally evolve or unbend.

1716 Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 335 The Length AT (by the nature of Evolution of Curves,) is every where equal to the Tangent of its correspondent Circular Arc DM.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Evolution, in Geometry, the unfolding, or opening, of a Curve, and making it describe an Evolute.

1828 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) III. 352 To determine the nature of the curve by whose evolution the common parabola AB is described.

1938 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 60 878 Formerly the starting point was those periodic orbits, which were known to exist near the masses or the libration points, and through laborious numerical calculations the evolution of each separate class was followed, until the whole evolution of the class up to the natural boundary curves had been covered.

1979 SIAM Jrnl. Appl. Math. 37 357 [Equation] (15) can be solved numerically under these conditions to describe..the evolution of the phase curve to its ultimate circular shape.

1990 Glasgow Math. Jrnl. 32 299 The time evolution of such surfaces is usually described in terms of curvilinear coordinates [2], [4], [6], a procedure which can mask the geometry involved.

b. In arithmetic and algebra: the extraction of any root from any given power. Opposed to involution n. 6a. Now chiefly historical.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [noun] > root > extraction of

extraction1557

evolution1674

devolution1690

1674 J. Mayne Socius Mercatoris 67 This is called the Extraction of a Square Root, and also Evolution of the second Power.

1679 J. Moxon Math. made Easie 173 A Radical Sign with an Index in it, signifies Evolution, as ²√:A−B: Is the Square Root of A less B.

1707 J. Ward Young Mathematician's Guide ii. ii. 161 The Figures placed in the Margin after the Sign..of Evolution, denote the Index of the Root to be Extracted.

1806 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 200 Evolution is..the method of finding the square root, cube root, etc., of any given quantity.

1859 B. Smith Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 262 Evolution is the inverse of Involution; being the method of finding any root of a given quantity.

1874 Analyst 1 149 (title) Involution and evolution of imaginary quantities considered geometrically.

1923 Amer. Math. Monthly 30 217 Our present method of extracting arithmetical roots by the orderly evolving of the digits of the root (evolution) depends upon the inverse of the expression a² + 2ab + b² and a³ + 3a²b + 3ab² + b³.

1991 C. B. Boyer & U. C. Merzbach Hist. Math. (ed. 2) xii. 221 The operations of multiplication and evolution (the taking of roots), as well as unknown quantities, were represented by abbreviations of appropriate words.

III. The process of development.

5. Biology.

a. The process by which living organisms or their parts develop from a rudimentary to a mature or complete state. Now rare.This sense originates as an extended use of sense 3, but early authors differed as to whether the process of ‘evolution’ involved the origination of parts in a predetermined order or their expansion from pre-existing rudiments. See P. J. Bowler in Jrnl. Hist. Ideas (1975) 36 95–114.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [noun]

evolution1671

development1740

1671 Philos. Trans. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 2078 By the word Change [sc. in insects] is nothing else to be understood but a gradual and natural Evolution and Growth of the parts.

1745 J. T. Needham Acct. New Microsc. Discov. Introd. 1 Nature..ever exerting its Fecundity in a successive Evolution of organised Bodies.

1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden ii. 8 (note) The gradual evolution of the young animal or plant from its egg or seed.

1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 336 The formation and evolution of this part of the brain.

?1839 Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 1 No. 7. 201 Masses of eggs, in different stages of their evolution, are met with in the same nest.

1874 R. Brown Man. Bot. iii. v. 387 It must not, however, be supposed that the petal, though called a metamorphosed leaf, has ever actually been a green leaf..; but only that what is fundamentally one and the same organ develops in the progressive evolution of the plant under each or any of these various forms.

1883 Nature 4 Jan. 236/1 Evolution of microscopic organisms..in the dead body and morbid products.

1967 Arch. Neurol. (Chicago) 16 141/2 Ontogenesis is the evolution or developmental history of the individual organism.

b. spec. The process by which, according to the theory of preformation, the embryo or germ is developed or expanded from a pre-existing form, rather than originating in the act of fertilization. Cf. preformation n. 2. Now historical and rare.

ΚΠ

1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 68 The two styles of conversation corresponded to the two theories of generation—one (Johnson's) to the theory of Preformation (or Evolution)—the other (Burke's) to the theory of Epigenesis.

1877 T. H. Huxley in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 745/1 By ‘evolution’ he [sc. Bonnet] means simply the expansion of that which was invisible into visibility.

1927 Isis 9 3 The term evolution was introduced by the great Genevese naturalist Charles Bonnet..in or about 1762. The primary acception was embryological, evolution (or pre-formation, emboitment) being opposed by Bonnet to epigenesis.

a. The action or process of developing in detail what is implicit in an idea or principle; the development of an argument, design, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > furtherance > [noun] > by bringing out what is potential

evolutiona1676

development1724

evolvement1854

the world > space > shape > curvature > series of curves > [noun] > winding curve(s)

folda1250

windinga1387

wrinkling1387

revolution?a1425

wrinkle1430

crink1567

crank1572

cringle-crangle1573

crinkle1596

crankle1598

crinkle-crankle1598

meander1603

anfractuosity1612

ins and outs1655

sinuationa1676

insinuationa1684

anfractus1719

sinuosity1720

flexuosity1737

evolution1765

cringle1808

wriggle1825

voluminosity1841

squiggle1902

a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iii. ii. 259 It must have potentially at least the whole Systeme of Humane Nature, or at least that Ideal Principle..thereof, in the evolution whereof the complement and formation of the Humane Nature must consist.

1765 S. Johnson Pref. to Shakespear's Plays p. xiv His plays..in the successive evolutions of the design, sometimes produce seriousness and sorrow, and sometimes levity and laughter.

1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. p. xv They [sc. certain names] may be again resolved by an easy and fair evolution.

1820 S. T. Coleridge Let. 22 Jan. (1971) V. 18 I had arrived at this conclusion by necessary evolution from the First Principle of my Philosophy.

1870 R. W. Dale Week-day Serm. iv. 100 Some slip in..the evolution of an argument.

1878 R. Simpson School of Shakspere I. 140 A chorus is introduced to make up for the want of dramatic evolution.

1923 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 17 279 Economists..tended to take over the evolution of economic thought and institutions as did the workers in the field of material science.

1986 ARTnews Oct. 145/1 The 16th-century Italian figures studies..showing the progression of the artist's hand and the evolution of his ideas on a single page.

2002 G. R. Osborne & M. C. Williams in R. L. Thomas 3 Views Origins Synoptic Gospels ii. 207 The evolution of this argument by later scholars.

†b. concrete. The outcome of such a process of development. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [noun] > concreteness > embodiment > embodiment or that in which a thing is embodied

incarnation1745

evolution1820

embodiment1850

flesh-garment1860

1820 S. T. Coleridge Let. 22 Jan. (1971) V. 19 The sensible World is but the evolution of the Truth, Love, and Life, or their opposites, in Man.

1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. 19 Philosophers who believe themselves organs of the world-soul, and their systems an evolution of the Deity.

1871 G. H. Lewes Hist. Philos. (ed. 4) II. 619 Instead of presenting the universe as the evolution of God, he presents it, and God also, as the evolution of the abstract idea.

a. A process of gradual change occurring in a system, institution, subject, artefact, product, etc., esp. from a simpler to a more complex or advanced state. Also: a gradual and natural development as opposed to a sudden or instigated change (often in contrast with revolution).In later use influenced by sense 8.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun]

growingc1380

profitingc1384

increasec1385

bettering?c1425

progress1457

advancementc1475

service1533

progression1586

increment1609

upgrowinga1618

flowering1629

rise1676

development1756

evolution1796

march1818

headway1832

upgrowth1844

upbuilding1876

the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > gradual change > [noun]

devolution1629

induction1638

graduality1646

development1756

evolution1796

transition1800

evolvement1801

shading-off1858

transitioning1955

1796 C. Wyvill Corr. with Rt. Hon. William Pitt I. xx. 80 The progress of this unfortunate war, and..the evolution of this unpopular system.

1807 J. Jebb Let. 20 Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) I. 367 [Our British constitution's] tardy evolution..bespeaks something fitter to endure.

1833 T. Chalmers On Power of God (1835) II. vii. 39 When commerce is left to its own spontaneous evolutions.

1837 F. Palgrave Merchant & Friar (1844) 138 Our constitutional form of government has been produced by evolution.

1847 G. Grote Hist. Greece III. ii. xvii. 332 The same great evolution of Scythian power.

1868 Anthropol. Rev. 6 365 We see in the progress from the fear of departed spirits, shown by the savage, to that of Jehovah exhibited by the Jews, a rational evolution of religious worship.

1891 Ann. Math. 6 49 The continuity in the evolution of mechanical science is distinctly traceable.

1921 E. Sapir Lang. iv. 63 The evolution of forms like teeth and geese.

1929 V. G. Childe Danube in Prehist. 246 Several stages in the evolution of celts, daggers, [etc.].

1965 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 16 139 The uniqueness of the document..lies in the fact that it is a protogenic law, a testimonial of revolution instead of evolution.

1969 Chicago Tribune 7 Sept. vi. 6/1 He can trace the evolution of the automobile.

1991 She May 110/3 We read a lot about the New Man but..it's evolution not a revolution that we're seeing.

2005 R. Nidel World Music: Basics i. 16 Alaoui has recently had major impact on the evolution of Middle Eastern classical music.

b. A developed form of an earlier artefact or product.

ΚΠ

1882 Cent. Mag. July 355/2 It is an evolution from the lee-board, such as the Dutch used two centuries ago.

1904 Kynoch Jrnl. Jan. 33 The Flobert cartridge is notable as being an evolution of the percussion cap.

1996 VTV Aug. 47/4 Dolby Digital is an evolution rather than a revolution.

2006 enRoute (Air Canada) July 59/1 A natural evolution of the spa vacation, ‘lipotourism’ is now reshaping the face of traditional travel all over the world.

a. Biology. The transformation of animals, plants, and other living organisms into different forms by the accumulation of changes over successive generations; the transmutation of species (cf. transmutation n. 3f); the origination or transformation of an organism, organ, physiological process, biological molecule, etc., by such a series of changes. Also figurative. Cf. evolve v. 7, development n. 3c.The application of the theory of evolution to the natural world was regarded as one of the principal discoveries of 19th-cent. science. The idea of organic evolution had been proposed by some ancient Greek thinkers but was long rejected in Europe as contrary to the literal interpretation of the Bible. In the early 19th cent., Lamarck (see Lamarckian adj. and n.) proposed a theory that organisms became transformed by their efforts to respond to the demands of their environment. Lyell's demonstration that geological deposits were the cumulative product of slow processes over vast ages helped Darwin towards a theory of gradual evolution over a long period by the natural selection of those varieties of an organism slightly better adapted to the environment and hence more likely to produce descendants. Combined with the later discoveries of the cellular and molecular basis of genetics, Darwin's theory of evolution has, with some modification, become the dominant unifying concept of modern biology.Darwin does not use the term evolution in the first edition of On the Origin of Species (1859), perhaps because of its association with the notion of preordained design (cf. senses 3 and 5), though evolved appears once (as the last word in the book). However, the word soon became established in this context, partly through the influence of Spencer (see note at sense 10).The supposition that biological evolution necessarily involved progress or advance from the simple to the complex (cf. sense 10) was persistent in 19th-cent. thought, often involving direct analogy with embryological development (cf. sense 5a), or through reinterpretation of the ‘chain of being’ as an orderly unfolding of events through geological time (cf. sense 3a). However, most biologists now regard progress not as an inherent principle of the evolutionary process, but as a contingent effect of the continual adaptation of organisms to their environment.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun]

development1830

evolution1832

descent1859

genealogy1880

emergence1911

1832 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 2) II. 11 The testacea of the ocean existed first, until some of them by gradual evolution, were improved into those inhabiting the land.

1854 Notices Proc. Royal Inst. Great Brit. 1 429 The earnest desire..to discover a law or scheme in arrangements of Nature, has given origin to many speculations... Hence have arisen the hypothesis of an evolution of all organized types, during the course of time, from one rudimentary prototype; that of the succession of distinctly originating forms of animals and vegetables in order of the progression within their respective series; [etc.].

1863 E. V. Neale Analogy Thought & Nature 185 The diversity of species has arisen by the evolution of one species out of another.

1873 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 6) vii. 201 At the present day almost all naturalists admit evolution under some form.

1880 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 559/1 I should regard a teacher of science who denied the truth of evolution as being as incompetent as one who doubted the Copernican theory.

1893 E. D. Cope in Monist 3 637 The process of evolution may be either progressive (Anagenesis) or retrogressive (Catagenesis).

1927 Amer. Mercury Feb. 145/1 The evolution of the horse-hair sofa into the Park avenue Turkish divan.

1956 T. Dobzhansky Biol. Basis Human Freedom 124 Evolution is the method whereby Creation is accomplished.

1975 J. Maynard Smith Theory of Evol. (ed. 3) vi. 107 The real event that took place at the bottom of the Cambrian was the evolution, in a number of different groups of animals, of hard and readily fossilizable calcareous shells.

1976 R. Dawkins Selfish Gene iii. 48 Evolution is the process by which some genes become more numerous and others less numerous in the gene pool.

1986 P. Medawar Mem. Thinking Radish (1988) 56 The little bones which transmit acoustic vibrations from the ear drum to the organ of hearing were made up from bones of the lower jaw that had become redundant in the course of evolution.

2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma iv. 78 Most of the antibiotics sold in America today end up in animal feed, a practice that..is leading directly to the evolution of new antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

b. theory of evolution n. (in general) the proposition that all living organisms have undergone a process of alteration and diversification from simple primordial forms during the earth's history; (in particular) a scientific theory proposing a mechanism for this process, now esp. that based on Darwin's theory of the natural selection of genetically inherited and adaptive variation (cf. neo-Darwinism n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > theories > [noun] > of genetics or evolution

theory of preformation1756

Darwinizing1807

development hypothesis1845

generationism1847

theory of evolution1858

Darwinism1860

Darwinianism1861

monogenesis1864

monogenism1865

monogeny1865

pangenesis1868

evolutionism1869

phylogeny1869

polygenism1871

derivation1874

phylogenesis1875

transformism1878

biogenetic law1879

gastraea theory1879

fortuitism1881

organicism1883

hereditism1884

kinetogenesis1884

Lamarckianism1884

Lamarckism1884

neo-Lamarckianism1884

monogenesy1885

neo-Lamarckism1887

preformationism1890

neo-Darwinism1891

blastogenesis1893

Haeckel-ismus1894

Weismannism1894

preformism1895

Haeckelism1899

mutation theory1902

directivity1903

Mendelianism1903

Mendelism1903

hereditarianism1906

mutationism1912

selectionism1912

hologenesis1931

parsimony1931

Morganism1934

Lysenkoism1948

neutralism1972

punctuated equilibrium1972

saltationism1975

punctuationism1977

punctuationalism1978

adaptationism1980

geneticism1984

adaptationalism1985

1858 H. Spencer Ess. 1st Ser. ix. 389 Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported by no facts at all.

1865 Anthropol. Rev. 3 129 In his remarks on Species the author avows himself a convert to the doctrine of development, or as he phrases it the theory of evolution.

1904 Science 8 Jan. 74/2 It is surprising to find that he apparently regards the theory of evolution by selection and DeVries's mutation theory as being in a degree of conflict.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1004 Huxley considered that palaeontology..constituted the only really sound basis for theories of evolution.

1985 P. J. Wingate Before Bridge xiv. 127 Scopes..had been indicted for violating the state law against teaching the theory of evolution.

1999 T. S. Kemp Fossils & Evol. iii. 26 The theory of evolution that is subscribed to by most biologists is the outcome of the well-known synthesis between Darwinian natural selection and Mendelian genetics.

9. The formation and subsequent development of the solar system, stars, or the physical universe in general, by the action of natural processes; the natural origination or development of geological or geographical features.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the universe > heavenly body > [noun] > formation of

evolution1850

1850 J. P. Nichol Archit. Heavens Pt. iii. (title) Psyche, or evolution.

1851 J. P. Nichol Archit. Heavens (ed. 9) 289 As on Earth, there is [sic] also—ruling these high Heavens—vast processes of evolution.

1854 W. Whewell Plurality of Worlds (ed. 2) Suppl. Dialogue 29 [Critic to the author] You adopt the Nebular hypothesis..not only..as applied by the elder Herschel and Laplace, to the starry world; but as it is applied by Laplace to the evolution of our solar system out of a revolving cloud of solar matter.

1879 Mind 4 596 The evolution of the Earth's crust.

1914 J. R. Kippax Call of Stars 15 White and bluish-white stars, such as Sirius, Rigel, Spica, and Vega, are young in the order of evolution, and are at full glow.

1918 Geogr. Rev. 6 328 Progradation and dune formation along this coast have not been confined to the present cycle of coastal evolution.

1933 A. S. Eddington Expanding Universe i. 8 Perhaps in the first stage only the rudiments of matter existed..and the evolution of the elements has progressed simultaneously with the evolution of worlds.

1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. i. 11 The idea that in the evolution of landscapes there is a systematic sequence of land forms.

1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 81 37 Ghost, or elementary, rings represent a very early stage in the evolution of a lunar crater.

1990 J. Gribbin & M. Rees Cosmic Coincidences (1991) ii. 31 Supernovae..mark the violent end point of stellar evolution, when a star too massive to become a white dwarf exhausts its available nuclear energy.

2005 L. Randall Warped Passages xi. 234 According to Georgi and Glashow's Grand Unified Theory, early in the evolution of the universe,..the strength of each of the three forces was the same as that of the others and the three nongravitational forces fused into a single one, ‘The Force.’

10. Progression from simple to complex forms, conceived as a universal principle of development, either in the natural world or in human societies and cultures.Recorded earliest in social evolution n. at social adj. and n. Compounds 2.creative evolution: see the first element.According to the speculative metaphysical theory of Herbert Spencer, which greatly influenced both technical and popular use of the word in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, all changes in the universe, whether material or psychical, were seen as phenomena either of Evolution or of the reverse process of Dissolution (cf. quot. 1875), with senses 5a, 8, 7a, 9 representing special instances of this generalized process.

ΚΠ

1853 H. Martineau Positive Philos. of Comte II. vi. 156 The elements of our social evolution are connected, and always acting on each other.

1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. 216 Evolution is a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity, to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; through continuous differentiations and integrations.

1874 St. G. Mivart in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 786 The phenomena of Cosmical Evolution are presented by the sensist school in terms of matter and force.

1875 H. Spencer First Princ. (ed. 3) ii. xvii. §145 396 Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation.

1878 J. Sully in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 765 Mental evolution is a progressive composition of units of feeling in more and more complex forms.

1885 E. Clodd Myths & Dreams ii. i. 144 Evolution is advance from the simple to the complex.

1925 J. E. Boodin Cosmic Evol. ii. 66 We must conceive the evolution of its [sc. the earth] various forms, including life forms, as integral parts of its history, moving under cosmic control.

2001 Re: Logic of Cosmic Consciousness in alt.consciousness (Usenet newsgroup) 5 Dec. Evolution is a cosmic force that reveals the potential that lies in the universe.

IV. The process of emission.

11. Chiefly Chemistry. The emission or release of gas, heat, light, etc.; the disengagement of a substance from combination; an instance of such a process. Cf. evolve v. 5.

ΘΚΠ

the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > [noun] > emission

deliverancea1398

puttinga1398

voidinga1425

effusionc1477

vent?1507

evaporation1555

delivery1588

extramission1613

extromission1615

ejaculation1625

emissiona1626

discharge1653

disclusion1656

voidance1672

emitting1693

spout1771

evolution1783

emanation1822

1783 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 350 The method put in practice by Mr. Hutchins to settle the freezing point of quicksilver depends entirely upon this generation, re-appearance or evolution of heat.

1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide 425 This is on account of the increased evolution of nitrogene from the blood.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 278 Two dissimilar metals are not essential to the evolution of galvanism.

1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. 102/1 Intra-venous Formations are produced by evolution of absorbed elements.

1858 J. Deane Man. Hist. & Sci. Fire-arms 270 A full and quasi simultaneous evolution of the whole force of the powder-charge.

1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. ii. xxxii. 214 There is a constant evolution of heat and light.

1906 H. J. H. Fenton Notes Qualitative Anal. (new ed.) 48 (table) Effervescence in the cold with evolution of carbon dioxide (recognised by turning lime-water milky) indicates carbonate.

1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) i. vii. 68 Cold water poured on quick-lime causes it to swell up, with the evolution of much heat.

1955 J. C. Giblin Qualitative & Volumetric Anal. (ed. 2) i. 19 Evolution of Sulphur Dioxide and the solution turning..milky (Sulphur) indicates Thiosulphate.

1991 D. T. Sawyer Oxygen Chem. iv. 105 (table) The remainder of the HOOH was unreacted or consumed via slow O₂ evolution.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	evolution
释义	evolutionn. Brit. /ˌiːvəˈl(j)uːʃn/, /ˌɛvəˈl(j)uːʃn/, U.S. /ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/ Forms: 1600s euolution, 1600s– evolution. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Perhaps also partly a borrowibng from French. Etymons: Latin ēvolūtiōn-, ēvolūtiō; French évolution. Etymology: < classical Latin ēvolūtiōn-, ēvolūtiō action of unrolling a scroll (Cicero), in post-classical Latin also lapse of time (12th cent.; from 13th cent. in British sources), tactical manoeuvre to effect a change of formation (1534 in a Latin translation of Aelian; compare quot. 1616 at sense 1a), historical development (late 17th cent. or earlier with reference to the semantic history of a word), unfolding or opening out of a curve (1673 or earlier), extraction of a root (beginning of the 18th cent. or earlier), process by which, according to the theory of preformation, the embryo or germ is developed or expanded from a pre-existing form (1745 in A. von Haller Boerhaave's Prælectiones academicæ IV. ii. 250/2 in evolutionum theoria , literally ‘theory of evolutions’), emergence or release from an envelope or enclosing structure (1761 in J. C. Schaeffer Icones et descriptio fungorum, the source reviewed in quot. 1763 at sense 3b) < ēvolūt- , past participial stem of ēvolvere evolve v. + -iō -ion suffix¹; in sense 1 perhaps also partly via French évolution tactical manoeuvre to effect a change of formation (1536 in Middle French as †euolution , in a French translation of Aelian; for other senses see below). The word was also borrowed into many other European languages, the immediate source frequently being French and the earliest (but now uniformly marginal) sense being sense 1; compare e.g. Spanish evolución (late 18th cent.), Portuguese evolução (1789), Italian evoluzione (1640 as †evolutione ), Dutch evolutie (1752), German Evolution (c1700), Swedish evolution (1679). Compare revolution n., with which the word is frequently contrasted especially in sense 7a, and development n.Other senses of the word in French include: unfolding or opening out of a curve (1694 or earlier), unfolding of a series of events (1710 or earlier), wheeling, twisting, or turning movement (1733 or earlier), process by which living organisms or their parts develop from a rudimentary to a mature or complete state (1762 (in Charles Bonnet) or earlier), change, transformation, development in general (1776 in a translation from English), progression from simple to complex forms in human societies (1839 or earlier in A. Comte Cours de philosophie positive, e.g. frequently in vol. IV, ch. lxi of that work; compare quot. 1853 at sense 10), series of transformations leading to the genesis and diversification of species, phylogenesis (1844 or earlier). With sense 4b compare involution n. 6a. In sense 11 after evolve v. (which is attested slightly earlier in its spec. chemical use: compare evolve v. 5, and also evolved adj. 2). On the semantic history of the word with special reference to its use in biology, see further P. J. Bowler in Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 36 (1975) 95–114. I. A movement or change of position. 1. a. Military and Navy. A manoeuvre executed by troops or ships to adopt a different tactical formation. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military operations > evolution > [noun] evolution1616 1616 J. Bingham in tr. Ælian Tactiks xxviii. 132 The nature of this Euolution is clearely to leaue the File-leaders in front, and Bringers-vp in reare. 1622 F. Markham Five Decades Epist. of Warre iv. viii. 151 But if it be to performe any Evolution or alteration of figure..then he shall see that they obserue at least six foote distance..betweene one Horseman and another. 1690 (title) The exercise of the foot with the evolutions, according to the words of command, as they are explained. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. (at cited word) By Naval Evolutions, he [sc. Hoste] means the Motions made by a Fleet, Squadron, or Naval Armament, in order to put themselves into a proper Arrangement, or Situation, for attacking the Enemy, or defending themselves with the most Advantage. 1796 Instr. & Regulations Cavalry 118 This countermarch of each division is an evolution of great utility. 1836 C. Thirlwall Hist. Greece II. xv. 307 The Persian ships were turned by the wind and the waves, their evolutions were thwarted. 1853 J. H. Stocqueler Mil. Encycl. 99/2 That evolution is best which, with a given number of men, may be executed in the least space. 1929 F. C. Bowen Sea Slang 42 Dummy run, a practice evolution in the Navy. 1958 Mariner's Mirror 44 92 She tacked ship easily and performed smartly all the evolutions of a square rigger. 2001 Navy News Sept. 38/3 He spent an evening watching the Cadets in action, performing evolutions which included boatwork, band, seamanship and junior training. †b. figurative. A (tactical) change in behaviour or attitude. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > time > change > [noun] > from a state, opinion, etc. variance1415 evolution1771 1771 E. Burke Corr. (1844) I. 296 That versatility, those sudden evolutions..have something derogated from the credit of all public professions. 1841 I. D'Israeli Amenities Lit. III. 129 Jonson's intense observation was microscopical when turned to the minute evolutions of society. 1847 A. Helps Friends in Council I. vii. 101 Evolutions of patience and temper are performed at the fireside. 2. a. A wheeling, twisting, or turning movement; (in later use esp.) one performed in dancing or gymnastics. Also occasionally: a regulated movement of a machine part. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in specific manner > revolution or rotation > [noun] swayc1374 turning1390 overwhelming?a1439 circumvolution1447 winding1530 conversion1541 rotationa1550 revolution1566 gyring?1578 revolve1598 circulation1605 gyration1615 evolution1654 sweep1679 gyrating1837 revolving1867 1654 H. Vaughan Flores Solitudinis i. 114 They creep from us like a mist or smoke, which in confused and silent Evolutions steales out at the top of the chimney, after it hath fouled it within. a1691 R. Boyle Wks. (1772) I. 421 The spontaneous coagulation of the little saline bodies was preceded by almost innumerable evolutions. 1751 T. Smollett Peregrine Pickle III. xci. 273 Our necromancer,..taking up his wand, waved it around his head in a very mysterious motion, with a view of intimidating these forward visitants, who, far from being awed by this sort of evolution, became more and more obstreperous. 1770 J. Langhorne & W. Langhorne tr. Plutarch Lives (1879) I. 79/1 They [sc. armed dancers] move in an agreeable manner, performing certain involutions and evolutions in a quick measure. 1786 T. Denman Ess. Preternatural Labours vii. 37 Though it was not in my power to turn the child,..by the mere effect of the action of the uterus, an evolution took place, and the child was expelled. 1823 J. Badcock Domest. Amusem. 41 Clouds..of a dark brown colour, floating in varied evolutions. 1825 ‘J. Nicholson’ Operative Mechanic 73 The various evolutions and positions to which every revolution of the wheel subjects each paddle. 1833 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal II. 214 The short evolution which the bar has to traverse, not being more than one fourth of a circle. 1837 New Monthly Mag. 51 471 A perfect artiste of the ballet..going through her admirable evolutions. 1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. xii. 175 Haley..made him..perform various evolutions to show his muscles. 1874 H. E. Vandervell & T. M. Witham Syst. Figure-skating (ed. 2) iv. 68 Good ice-skaters are usually under the impression that they can at once perform their..evolutions on these roller-skates. 1940 H. F. Witherby et al. Handbk. Brit. Birds I. 8 Aerial evolutions..are a feature of courtship [of the raven]. 1945 E. Denby Looking at Dance (1949) vi. 455 Both these sections have sharply cut rhythms, a powerful onward drive and a diamond-like sparkle in their evolutions. 2002 Evening Standard (Nexis) 8 Mar. 42 These evolutions are intercut by conventional dance solos. †b. A twist; an intricate form. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > types of ornamentation > [noun] > intricate evolution1773 twiddly bit1906 1773 J. Bryant New Syst. I. 270 Roots..and sprays are often so fantastic in their evolutions as to betray a remote resemblance [to the human fabric]. 1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1763 I. 228 [Johnson:] It is not in the shewy evolutions of buildings..that the wonderful immensity of London consists. II. The process of unrolling, opening out, or revealing. 3. a. The action or process of opening out, unfolding, or unrolling; esp. the unfolding or progression of a series of events in orderly succession. Now rare.In quot. 1762 concrete: an opened bud. ΘΚΠ the world > space > extension in space > [noun] > unfurling or unfolding unfolding1483 evolution1624 unrolling1648 unfurling1780 unlapping1809 unrollment1823 unfoldure1837 outrolling1860 outroll1891 1624 E. Bolton Nero Caesar xxii. 69 The best chaine to be vsed in the euolution of facts is composed of the linckes of time, in order as they were done. 1667 H. More Divine Dialogues i. §15 The whole evolution of..ages, from everlasting to everlasting, is..represented to God at once. 1678 R. Cudworth True Intellect. Syst. Universe i. v. 878 The Periods of Divine Providence, here in this World, are commonly Longer, and the Evolutions thereof Slower. 1681 S. Pordage tr. T. Willis Med.-philos. Disc. Fermentation viii. 26 The growth and ascent of the thing, to its height or acme is only an evolution, or unrowling of that radical matter, and protension or stretching it self forth into a greater dimension. 1743 E. Young Complaint: Night the Fourth 30 Beyond long Ages, yet roll'd up in Shades,..What Evolutions of surprising Fate? 1762 E. Young Resignation ii. 36 Flow'rs..When Ev'ning Damps, and Shades descend, Their Evolutions close. 1801 E. Darwin Zoonomia II. 247 The world..might have been gradually produced from very small beginnings..rather than by a sudden evolution of the whole by the Almighty fiat. 1844 G. S. Faber Sacred Cal. Prophecy (ed. 2) I. Advt. p. xv The evolution of time has served only to confirm me in..the honest persuasion, that etc. 1861 Universalist Q. July 296 The high-spirited young officer..waited the tardy evolution of events. 1880 R. Owen Sanctorale Catholicum 271 From the horrible manner of his death by the evolution of his intestines, Italians regard him [sc. St Elmo] as their advocate against spasmodic pains. 1907 Expositor Sept. 270 ‘Hour’ in this Gospel means..a psychological moment in the evolution of the Messianic consciousness full of significance for the Saviour's purpose. †b. Chiefly Biology. Emergence or release from an envelope or enclosing structure; (also) protrusion, evagination. Obsolete.With the use in quot. 1763 cf. sense 5a. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > projection or protuberance > [noun] > act of protruding or emerging evolution1763 1763 Philos. Trans. 1762 (Royal Soc.) 52 500 Our author [sc. J. C. Schaeffer] asserts, That every Fungus is contained in an entire and perfect state..in the egg, or as it is called, the seed, and wants nothing but evolution, in order to imbibe the necessary juices. 1817 T. Say Hessian Fly in Entom. Wks. (1859) II. 7 The specious circumstance of its evolution from the pupa itself of the destroying larva. 1887 Gray's Anat. (ed. 11) 85 The first appearance of the eye consists in the protrusion or evolution from the medullary wall of the..interbrain of a vesicle. 4. Mathematics. a. Geometry. Originally: the unfolding or opening out of a curve; spec. †(a) the straightening out of a curve, through all intermediate degrees of curvature, until it becomes a straight line (obsolete); (b) the generation of an involute of a curve, as by tracing the end of a taut thread unwound from the outside of the curve. Now more generally: the successive transformation of a curve by the alteration of the conditions which define it.The later use is influenced by senses in branch III., the notion of ‘unfolding, opening out’ being largely lost. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > geometry > curve > [noun] > change in evolution1673 variation of curvaturea1727 1673 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 8 6069 He thought himself obliged to enter upon a new consideration of Curve Lines, viz. of those, which by their Evolution generate other Curves. 1700 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 22 445 By the Equable Evolution of a Circle, I mean such a gradual approach of its Periferie to Rectitude, as that all its parts do together and equally evolve or unbend. 1716 Philos. Trans. 1714–16 (Royal Soc.) 29 335 The Length AT (by the nature of Evolution of Curves,) is every where equal to the Tangent of its correspondent Circular Arc DM. 1728 E. Chambers Cycl. Evolution, in Geometry, the unfolding, or opening, of a Curve, and making it describe an Evolute. 1828 O. Gregory Hutton's Course Math. (ed. 9) III. 352 To determine the nature of the curve by whose evolution the common parabola AB is described. 1938 Amer. Jrnl. Math. 60 878 Formerly the starting point was those periodic orbits, which were known to exist near the masses or the libration points, and through laborious numerical calculations the evolution of each separate class was followed, until the whole evolution of the class up to the natural boundary curves had been covered. 1979 SIAM Jrnl. Appl. Math. 37 357 [Equation] (15) can be solved numerically under these conditions to describe..the evolution of the phase curve to its ultimate circular shape. 1990 Glasgow Math. Jrnl. 32 299 The time evolution of such surfaces is usually described in terms of curvilinear coordinates [2], [4], [6], a procedure which can mask the geometry involved. b. In arithmetic and algebra: the extraction of any root from any given power. Opposed to involution n. 6a. Now chiefly historical. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [noun] > root > extraction of extraction1557 evolution1674 devolution1690 1674 J. Mayne Socius Mercatoris 67 This is called the Extraction of a Square Root, and also Evolution of the second Power. 1679 J. Moxon Math. made Easie 173 A Radical Sign with an Index in it, signifies Evolution, as ²√:A−B: Is the Square Root of A less B. 1707 J. Ward Young Mathematician's Guide ii. ii. 161 The Figures placed in the Margin after the Sign..of Evolution, denote the Index of the Root to be Extracted. 1806 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 5) I. 200 Evolution is..the method of finding the square root, cube root, etc., of any given quantity. 1859 B. Smith Arith. & Algebra (ed. 6) 262 Evolution is the inverse of Involution; being the method of finding any root of a given quantity. 1874 Analyst 1 149 (title) Involution and evolution of imaginary quantities considered geometrically. 1923 Amer. Math. Monthly 30 217 Our present method of extracting arithmetical roots by the orderly evolving of the digits of the root (evolution) depends upon the inverse of the expression a² + 2ab + b² and a³ + 3a²b + 3ab² + b³. 1991 C. B. Boyer & U. C. Merzbach Hist. Math. (ed. 2) xii. 221 The operations of multiplication and evolution (the taking of roots), as well as unknown quantities, were represented by abbreviations of appropriate words. III. The process of development. 5. Biology. a. The process by which living organisms or their parts develop from a rudimentary to a mature or complete state. Now rare.This sense originates as an extended use of sense 3, but early authors differed as to whether the process of ‘evolution’ involved the origination of parts in a predetermined order or their expansion from pre-existing rudiments. See P. J. Bowler in Jrnl. Hist. Ideas (1975) 36 95–114. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > development, growth, or degeneration > [noun] evolution1671 development1740 1671 Philos. Trans. 1670 (Royal Soc.) 5 2078 By the word Change [sc. in insects] is nothing else to be understood but a gradual and natural Evolution and Growth of the parts. 1745 J. T. Needham Acct. New Microsc. Discov. Introd. 1 Nature..ever exerting its Fecundity in a successive Evolution of organised Bodies. 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Garden ii. 8 (note) The gradual evolution of the young animal or plant from its egg or seed. 1805 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 14 336 The formation and evolution of this part of the brain. ?1839 Hist. Berwickshire Naturalists' Club 1 No. 7. 201 Masses of eggs, in different stages of their evolution, are met with in the same nest. 1874 R. Brown Man. Bot. iii. v. 387 It must not, however, be supposed that the petal, though called a metamorphosed leaf, has ever actually been a green leaf..; but only that what is fundamentally one and the same organ develops in the progressive evolution of the plant under each or any of these various forms. 1883 Nature 4 Jan. 236/1 Evolution of microscopic organisms..in the dead body and morbid products. 1967 Arch. Neurol. (Chicago) 16 141/2 Ontogenesis is the evolution or developmental history of the individual organism. b. spec. The process by which, according to the theory of preformation, the embryo or germ is developed or expanded from a pre-existing form, rather than originating in the act of fertilization. Cf. preformation n. 2. Now historical and rare. ΚΠ 1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 68 The two styles of conversation corresponded to the two theories of generation—one (Johnson's) to the theory of Preformation (or Evolution)—the other (Burke's) to the theory of Epigenesis. 1877 T. H. Huxley in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 745/1 By ‘evolution’ he [sc. Bonnet] means simply the expansion of that which was invisible into visibility. 1927 Isis 9 3 The term evolution was introduced by the great Genevese naturalist Charles Bonnet..in or about 1762. The primary acception was embryological, evolution (or pre-formation, emboitment) being opposed by Bonnet to epigenesis. 6. a. The action or process of developing in detail what is implicit in an idea or principle; the development of an argument, design, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > furtherance > [noun] > by bringing out what is potential evolutiona1676 development1724 evolvement1854 the world > space > shape > curvature > series of curves > [noun] > winding curve(s) folda1250 windinga1387 wrinkling1387 revolution?a1425 wrinkle1430 crink1567 crank1572 cringle-crangle1573 crinkle1596 crankle1598 crinkle-crankle1598 meander1603 anfractuosity1612 ins and outs1655 sinuationa1676 insinuationa1684 anfractus1719 sinuosity1720 flexuosity1737 evolution1765 cringle1808 wriggle1825 voluminosity1841 squiggle1902 a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iii. ii. 259 It must have potentially at least the whole Systeme of Humane Nature, or at least that Ideal Principle..thereof, in the evolution whereof the complement and formation of the Humane Nature must consist. 1765 S. Johnson Pref. to Shakespear's Plays p. xiv His plays..in the successive evolutions of the design, sometimes produce seriousness and sorrow, and sometimes levity and laughter. 1774 J. Bryant New Syst. (new ed.) I. p. xv They [sc. certain names] may be again resolved by an easy and fair evolution. 1820 S. T. Coleridge Let. 22 Jan. (1971) V. 18 I had arrived at this conclusion by necessary evolution from the First Principle of my Philosophy. 1870 R. W. Dale Week-day Serm. iv. 100 Some slip in..the evolution of an argument. 1878 R. Simpson School of Shakspere I. 140 A chorus is introduced to make up for the want of dramatic evolution. 1923 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 17 279 Economists..tended to take over the evolution of economic thought and institutions as did the workers in the field of material science. 1986 ARTnews Oct. 145/1 The 16th-century Italian figures studies..showing the progression of the artist's hand and the evolution of his ideas on a single page. 2002 G. R. Osborne & M. C. Williams in R. L. Thomas 3 Views Origins Synoptic Gospels ii. 207 The evolution of this argument by later scholars. †b. concrete. The outcome of such a process of development. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > existence > substantiality or concreteness > [noun] > concreteness > embodiment > embodiment or that in which a thing is embodied incarnation1745 evolution1820 embodiment1850 flesh-garment1860 1820 S. T. Coleridge Let. 22 Jan. (1971) V. 19 The sensible World is but the evolution of the Truth, Love, and Life, or their opposites, in Man. 1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) I. 19 Philosophers who believe themselves organs of the world-soul, and their systems an evolution of the Deity. 1871 G. H. Lewes Hist. Philos. (ed. 4) II. 619 Instead of presenting the universe as the evolution of God, he presents it, and God also, as the evolution of the abstract idea. 7. a. A process of gradual change occurring in a system, institution, subject, artefact, product, etc., esp. from a simpler to a more complex or advanced state. Also: a gradual and natural development as opposed to a sudden or instigated change (often in contrast with revolution).In later use influenced by sense 8. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > prosperity > advancement or progress > [noun] growingc1380 profitingc1384 increasec1385 bettering?c1425 progress1457 advancementc1475 service1533 progression1586 increment1609 upgrowinga1618 flowering1629 rise1676 development1756 evolution1796 march1818 headway1832 upgrowth1844 upbuilding1876 the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > gradual change > [noun] devolution1629 induction1638 graduality1646 development1756 evolution1796 transition1800 evolvement1801 shading-off1858 transitioning1955 1796 C. Wyvill Corr. with Rt. Hon. William Pitt I. xx. 80 The progress of this unfortunate war, and..the evolution of this unpopular system. 1807 J. Jebb Let. 20 Aug. in J. Jebb & A. Knox Thirty Years' Corr. (1834) I. 367 [Our British constitution's] tardy evolution..bespeaks something fitter to endure. 1833 T. Chalmers On Power of God (1835) II. vii. 39 When commerce is left to its own spontaneous evolutions. 1837 F. Palgrave Merchant & Friar (1844) 138 Our constitutional form of government has been produced by evolution. 1847 G. Grote Hist. Greece III. ii. xvii. 332 The same great evolution of Scythian power. 1868 Anthropol. Rev. 6 365 We see in the progress from the fear of departed spirits, shown by the savage, to that of Jehovah exhibited by the Jews, a rational evolution of religious worship. 1891 Ann. Math. 6 49 The continuity in the evolution of mechanical science is distinctly traceable. 1921 E. Sapir Lang. iv. 63 The evolution of forms like teeth and geese. 1929 V. G. Childe Danube in Prehist. 246 Several stages in the evolution of celts, daggers, [etc.]. 1965 Univ. Toronto Law Jrnl. 16 139 The uniqueness of the document..lies in the fact that it is a protogenic law, a testimonial of revolution instead of evolution. 1969 Chicago Tribune 7 Sept. vi. 6/1 He can trace the evolution of the automobile. 1991 She May 110/3 We read a lot about the New Man but..it's evolution not a revolution that we're seeing. 2005 R. Nidel World Music: Basics i. 16 Alaoui has recently had major impact on the evolution of Middle Eastern classical music. b. A developed form of an earlier artefact or product. ΚΠ 1882 Cent. Mag. July 355/2 It is an evolution from the lee-board, such as the Dutch used two centuries ago. 1904 Kynoch Jrnl. Jan. 33 The Flobert cartridge is notable as being an evolution of the percussion cap. 1996 VTV Aug. 47/4 Dolby Digital is an evolution rather than a revolution. 2006 enRoute (Air Canada) July 59/1 A natural evolution of the spa vacation, ‘lipotourism’ is now reshaping the face of traditional travel all over the world. 8. a. Biology. The transformation of animals, plants, and other living organisms into different forms by the accumulation of changes over successive generations; the transmutation of species (cf. transmutation n. 3f); the origination or transformation of an organism, organ, physiological process, biological molecule, etc., by such a series of changes. Also figurative. Cf. evolve v. 7, development n. 3c.The application of the theory of evolution to the natural world was regarded as one of the principal discoveries of 19th-cent. science. The idea of organic evolution had been proposed by some ancient Greek thinkers but was long rejected in Europe as contrary to the literal interpretation of the Bible. In the early 19th cent., Lamarck (see Lamarckian adj. and n.) proposed a theory that organisms became transformed by their efforts to respond to the demands of their environment. Lyell's demonstration that geological deposits were the cumulative product of slow processes over vast ages helped Darwin towards a theory of gradual evolution over a long period by the natural selection of those varieties of an organism slightly better adapted to the environment and hence more likely to produce descendants. Combined with the later discoveries of the cellular and molecular basis of genetics, Darwin's theory of evolution has, with some modification, become the dominant unifying concept of modern biology.Darwin does not use the term evolution in the first edition of On the Origin of Species (1859), perhaps because of its association with the notion of preordained design (cf. senses 3 and 5), though evolved appears once (as the last word in the book). However, the word soon became established in this context, partly through the influence of Spencer (see note at sense 10).The supposition that biological evolution necessarily involved progress or advance from the simple to the complex (cf. sense 10) was persistent in 19th-cent. thought, often involving direct analogy with embryological development (cf. sense 5a), or through reinterpretation of the ‘chain of being’ as an orderly unfolding of events through geological time (cf. sense 3a). However, most biologists now regard progress not as an inherent principle of the evolutionary process, but as a contingent effect of the continual adaptation of organisms to their environment. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > [noun] development1830 evolution1832 descent1859 genealogy1880 emergence1911 1832 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 2) II. 11 The testacea of the ocean existed first, until some of them by gradual evolution, were improved into those inhabiting the land. 1854 Notices Proc. Royal Inst. Great Brit. 1 429 The earnest desire..to discover a law or scheme in arrangements of Nature, has given origin to many speculations... Hence have arisen the hypothesis of an evolution of all organized types, during the course of time, from one rudimentary prototype; that of the succession of distinctly originating forms of animals and vegetables in order of the progression within their respective series; [etc.]. 1863 E. V. Neale Analogy Thought & Nature 185 The diversity of species has arisen by the evolution of one species out of another. 1873 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 6) vii. 201 At the present day almost all naturalists admit evolution under some form. 1880 Pop. Sci. Monthly Feb. 559/1 I should regard a teacher of science who denied the truth of evolution as being as incompetent as one who doubted the Copernican theory. 1893 E. D. Cope in Monist 3 637 The process of evolution may be either progressive (Anagenesis) or retrogressive (Catagenesis). 1927 Amer. Mercury Feb. 145/1 The evolution of the horse-hair sofa into the Park avenue Turkish divan. 1956 T. Dobzhansky Biol. Basis Human Freedom 124 Evolution is the method whereby Creation is accomplished. 1975 J. Maynard Smith Theory of Evol. (ed. 3) vi. 107 The real event that took place at the bottom of the Cambrian was the evolution, in a number of different groups of animals, of hard and readily fossilizable calcareous shells. 1976 R. Dawkins Selfish Gene iii. 48 Evolution is the process by which some genes become more numerous and others less numerous in the gene pool. 1986 P. Medawar Mem. Thinking Radish (1988) 56 The little bones which transmit acoustic vibrations from the ear drum to the organ of hearing were made up from bones of the lower jaw that had become redundant in the course of evolution. 2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma iv. 78 Most of the antibiotics sold in America today end up in animal feed, a practice that..is leading directly to the evolution of new antibiotic-resistant superbugs. b. theory of evolution n. (in general) the proposition that all living organisms have undergone a process of alteration and diversification from simple primordial forms during the earth's history; (in particular) a scientific theory proposing a mechanism for this process, now esp. that based on Darwin's theory of the natural selection of genetically inherited and adaptive variation (cf. neo-Darwinism n.). ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > theories > [noun] > of genetics or evolution theory of preformation1756 Darwinizing1807 development hypothesis1845 generationism1847 theory of evolution1858 Darwinism1860 Darwinianism1861 monogenesis1864 monogenism1865 monogeny1865 pangenesis1868 evolutionism1869 phylogeny1869 polygenism1871 derivation1874 phylogenesis1875 transformism1878 biogenetic law1879 gastraea theory1879 fortuitism1881 organicism1883 hereditism1884 kinetogenesis1884 Lamarckianism1884 Lamarckism1884 neo-Lamarckianism1884 monogenesy1885 neo-Lamarckism1887 preformationism1890 neo-Darwinism1891 blastogenesis1893 Haeckel-ismus1894 Weismannism1894 preformism1895 Haeckelism1899 mutation theory1902 directivity1903 Mendelianism1903 Mendelism1903 hereditarianism1906 mutationism1912 selectionism1912 hologenesis1931 parsimony1931 Morganism1934 Lysenkoism1948 neutralism1972 punctuated equilibrium1972 saltationism1975 punctuationism1977 punctuationalism1978 adaptationism1980 geneticism1984 adaptationalism1985 1858 H. Spencer Ess. 1st Ser. ix. 389 Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported by no facts at all. 1865 Anthropol. Rev. 3 129 In his remarks on Species the author avows himself a convert to the doctrine of development, or as he phrases it the theory of evolution. 1904 Science 8 Jan. 74/2 It is surprising to find that he apparently regards the theory of evolution by selection and DeVries's mutation theory as being in a degree of conflict. a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) II. 1004 Huxley considered that palaeontology..constituted the only really sound basis for theories of evolution. 1985 P. J. Wingate Before Bridge xiv. 127 Scopes..had been indicted for violating the state law against teaching the theory of evolution. 1999 T. S. Kemp Fossils & Evol. iii. 26 The theory of evolution that is subscribed to by most biologists is the outcome of the well-known synthesis between Darwinian natural selection and Mendelian genetics. 9. The formation and subsequent development of the solar system, stars, or the physical universe in general, by the action of natural processes; the natural origination or development of geological or geographical features. ΘΚΠ the world > the universe > heavenly body > [noun] > formation of evolution1850 1850 J. P. Nichol Archit. Heavens Pt. iii. (title) Psyche, or evolution. 1851 J. P. Nichol Archit. Heavens (ed. 9) 289 As on Earth, there is [sic] also—ruling these high Heavens—vast processes of evolution. 1854 W. Whewell Plurality of Worlds (ed. 2) Suppl. Dialogue 29 [Critic to the author] You adopt the Nebular hypothesis..not only..as applied by the elder Herschel and Laplace, to the starry world; but as it is applied by Laplace to the evolution of our solar system out of a revolving cloud of solar matter. 1879 Mind 4 596 The evolution of the Earth's crust. 1914 J. R. Kippax Call of Stars 15 White and bluish-white stars, such as Sirius, Rigel, Spica, and Vega, are young in the order of evolution, and are at full glow. 1918 Geogr. Rev. 6 328 Progradation and dune formation along this coast have not been confined to the present cycle of coastal evolution. 1933 A. S. Eddington Expanding Universe i. 8 Perhaps in the first stage only the rudiments of matter existed..and the evolution of the elements has progressed simultaneously with the evolution of worlds. 1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. i. 11 The idea that in the evolution of landscapes there is a systematic sequence of land forms. 1970 Jrnl. Brit. Astron. Assoc. 81 37 Ghost, or elementary, rings represent a very early stage in the evolution of a lunar crater. 1990 J. Gribbin & M. Rees Cosmic Coincidences (1991) ii. 31 Supernovae..mark the violent end point of stellar evolution, when a star too massive to become a white dwarf exhausts its available nuclear energy. 2005 L. Randall Warped Passages xi. 234 According to Georgi and Glashow's Grand Unified Theory, early in the evolution of the universe,..the strength of each of the three forces was the same as that of the others and the three nongravitational forces fused into a single one, ‘The Force.’ 10. Progression from simple to complex forms, conceived as a universal principle of development, either in the natural world or in human societies and cultures.Recorded earliest in social evolution n. at social adj. and n. Compounds 2.creative evolution: see the first element.According to the speculative metaphysical theory of Herbert Spencer, which greatly influenced both technical and popular use of the word in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, all changes in the universe, whether material or psychical, were seen as phenomena either of Evolution or of the reverse process of Dissolution (cf. quot. 1875), with senses 5a, 8, 7a, 9 representing special instances of this generalized process. ΚΠ 1853 H. Martineau Positive Philos. of Comte II. vi. 156 The elements of our social evolution are connected, and always acting on each other. 1862 H. Spencer First Princ. ii. iii. 216 Evolution is a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity, to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; through continuous differentiations and integrations. 1874 St. G. Mivart in Contemp. Rev. Oct. 786 The phenomena of Cosmical Evolution are presented by the sensist school in terms of matter and force. 1875 H. Spencer First Princ. (ed. 3) ii. xvii. §145 396 Evolution is an integration of matter and concomitant dissipation of motion; during which the matter passes from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity; and during which the retained motion undergoes a parallel transformation. 1878 J. Sully in Encycl. Brit. VIII. 765 Mental evolution is a progressive composition of units of feeling in more and more complex forms. 1885 E. Clodd Myths & Dreams ii. i. 144 Evolution is advance from the simple to the complex. 1925 J. E. Boodin Cosmic Evol. ii. 66 We must conceive the evolution of its [sc. the earth] various forms, including life forms, as integral parts of its history, moving under cosmic control. 2001 Re: Logic of Cosmic Consciousness in alt.consciousness (Usenet newsgroup) 5 Dec. Evolution is a cosmic force that reveals the potential that lies in the universe. IV. The process of emission. 11. Chiefly Chemistry. The emission or release of gas, heat, light, etc.; the disengagement of a substance from combination; an instance of such a process. Cf. evolve v. 5. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > [noun] > emission deliverancea1398 puttinga1398 voidinga1425 effusionc1477 vent?1507 evaporation1555 delivery1588 extramission1613 extromission1615 ejaculation1625 emissiona1626 discharge1653 disclusion1656 voidance1672 emitting1693 spout1771 evolution1783 emanation1822 1783 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 73 350 The method put in practice by Mr. Hutchins to settle the freezing point of quicksilver depends entirely upon this generation, re-appearance or evolution of heat. 1800 H. Davy Res. Nitrous Oxide 425 This is on account of the increased evolution of nitrogene from the blood. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 278 Two dissimilar metals are not essential to the evolution of galvanism. 1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. 102/1 Intra-venous Formations are produced by evolution of absorbed elements. 1858 J. Deane Man. Hist. & Sci. Fire-arms 270 A full and quasi simultaneous evolution of the whole force of the powder-charge. 1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. ii. xxxii. 214 There is a constant evolution of heat and light. 1906 H. J. H. Fenton Notes Qualitative Anal. (new ed.) 48 (table) Effervescence in the cold with evolution of carbon dioxide (recognised by turning lime-water milky) indicates carbonate. 1929 H. A. A. Nicholls & J. H. Holland Text-bk. Trop. Agric. (ed. 2) i. vii. 68 Cold water poured on quick-lime causes it to swell up, with the evolution of much heat. 1955 J. C. Giblin Qualitative & Volumetric Anal. (ed. 2) i. 19 Evolution of Sulphur Dioxide and the solution turning..milky (Sulphur) indicates Thiosulphate. 1991 D. T. Sawyer Oxygen Chem. iv. 105 (table) The remainder of the HOOH was unreacted or consumed via slow O₂ evolution. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.1616
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