evolvev.
/ᵻˈvɒlv/, U.S. /əˈvɔlv/, /iˈvɔlv/, /əˈvɑlv/, /iˈvɑlv/ 1. transitive. To draw out, extract, release; to bring to light, disclose, reveal. Also occasionally intransitive: to come to light, appear. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or reveal [verb (transitive)] > gradually
evolve1597
society > communication > manifestation > [verb (transitive)]
uppec897
atewOE
sutelec1000
openOE
awnc1175
kithec1175
forthteec1200
tawnec1220
let witc1275
forthshowa1300
to pilt out?a1300
showa1300
barea1325
mythc1330
unfoldc1374
to open outc1390
assign1398
mustera1400
reyve?a1400
vouchc1400
manifest?a1425
outshowc1425
ostendc1429
explayc1443
objecta1500
reveala1500
patefy?1509
decipher1529
relieve1533
to set outa1540
utter1542
report1548
unbuckle1548
to set forth1551
demonstrate1553
to hold forth1560
testify1560
explicate1565
forthsetc1565
to give show of1567
denudec1572
exhibit1573
apparent1577
display?1578
carry1580
cipher1583
laya1586
foreshow1590
uncloud?1594
vision1594
explain1597
proclaim1597
unroll1598
discloud1600
remonstrate1601
resent1602
to bring out1608
palesate1613
pronounce1615
to speak out1623
elicit1641
confess1646
bear1657
breathe1667
outplay1702
to throw out1741
evolve1744
announce1781
develop1806
exfoliate1808
evince1829
exposit1882
pack1925
1597 Bp. J. King Lect. Ionas x. 139 They deliberate in the cause, they evolue all circumstances for the manifestation of his fact, and by a most exquisite inquisition they proceede in iudgement.
1606 A. Craig Amorose Songes sig. G v When I euolu'd from out the Paper whit, That Symboll, sweete transparent pure & plaine.
1618 J. Harmar tr. D. Heinsius Mirrour of Humilitie i. 40 Wee are too punctuall and pragmaticall in euoluing what God would haue should lye hidde.
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity xvii. 63 I have not yet evolved all the intangling superstitions that may be wrapt up.
1744 M. Akenside Epist. to Curio 23 Time..Evolves their Secrets and their Guilt proclaims.
1773 Ld. Monboddo Of Origin & Progress of Lang. I. i. viii. 101 With so many various forms and substances, that it is difficult to evolve them and shew them by themselves.
1808 W. H. Drummond tr. Lucretius Nature of Things i. 47 Nature from whose bosom things evolve.
1854 Abstr. Papers Royal Soc. 1850–54 6 55 If no union of the sexes occurs, the ovum is nevertheless evolved from the ovary, and enters the Fallopian tube where it perishes.
1858 E. H. Sears Athanasia iii. ix. 325 The outlines of Paul's system of Pneumatology..have been sufficiently evolved in the preceding pages.
1927 G. D. H. Cole & M. Cole Murder at Crome House iii. 41 He..collected his papers neatly, evolved from an inner drawer a cardboard case..and went to bed.
2. transitive and intransitive. To unfold, unroll; to open out, expand; (of a thought, idea, etc.) to examine in depth, consider. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > advance (a proceeding) from previous stage [verb (transitive)]
evolve1623
to carry on1648
unroll1829
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. Euolue, to vnfold.
1625 K. Long tr. J. Barclay Argenis iv. i. 236 He was..euoluing his blacke thoughts that carryed his minde thorow many and confused imaginations.
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana iii. xvi. 389 The Magneticall Fibres, that lye more distant from the Axis of the Earth..may be emoved, evolved, and separated, by some subterraneous Cause or other.
a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) i. i. 31 This little active Principle as the Body increaseth..evolveth, diffuseth and expandeth if not his Substantial Existence, yet his Energy and Virtue.
1766 R. Hurd Diss. Idea Universal Poetry 4 There needs but to evolve the philosopher's idea, and to apply it, as occasion serves.
1835 I. Taylor Spiritual Despotism ii. 54 If we wish to see..the Voluntary Principle fully evolved and ripened under a summer heat.
1849 C. Brontë Shirley I. v. 100 The budding vegetation..may feel ripe to evolve in foliage.
1851 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. (ed. 17) 429 Spikes, racemes or corymbs generally secund, and circinate before flowering, evolving as the flowers expand.
a1854 H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. (1878) vi. 188 Their condensed wisdom may be evolved for new applications.
1875 Amer. Naturalist 9 11 [A snake] actually pushes itself forward, and advances out of the skin..; that is, the old hose evolves from itself forward, though it appears to be rolled on itself backward.
1907 Daily Chron. 3 June 3/5 An exquisite draughtsman..who evolved the tender veil that mists his figures from the depths of his personality.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > straightness > make straight [verb (transitive)]
unfoldc890
evenOE
rightc1275
rectifyc1475
straight1530
unbow1538
straighten1542
unarch1598
uncrisp1598
uncurl1598
undouble1611
untuck1611
unwind1614
bendc1616
unbend1663
unwarp1670
evolve1689
unwrap1859
unkink1891
dekink1957
1689 W. Salmon tr. Y. van Diemerbroeck Anat. Human Bodies i. 256/2 Even very lately I found it [sc. the navel string] above the Breast and Head, and evolv'd about the left Foot.
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.
1704 C. Hayes Treat. Fluxions viii. 178 The new curve A 9 I, is said to be describ'd by Evolving the Curve A Z E.
1796 C. Hutton Math. & Philos. Dict. Evolute..is any curve supposed to be evolved or opened, by..beginning to evolve or unwind the thread from the other end, keeping the part evolved, or wound off, tight stretched.
1811 C. Hutton Course Math. II. 334 If AE, BF, etc. be any positions of the thread, in evolving or unwinding; it follows, etc.
1860 Amer. Agriculturist 19 360/2 Back and forth moves the patient head, slowly evolving the silken cable, until it concludes it is strong enough to prevent it from falling.
4. transitive. Mathematics. To extract (the root of a number or quantity). Also occasionally intransitive. Cf. evolution n. 4b. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > perform arithmetic or algebraic operations [verb (transitive)] > extract root
eradicate1610
evolve1707
1707 J. Ward Young Mathematician's Guide ii. v. 181 When any Single Power of the unknown Quantity is at one side of an Æquation; Evolve both Sides of the Æquation, according as the Index of that Power denotes, and their Roots will be equal.
1769 T. Wilder in J. Raphson & S. Cunn tr. I. Newton Universal Arithmetick 53 (note) The Index of the Power to be evolved, divided by the Index of the Root required, gives the Index of the Root to Unity.
1810 C. Hutton Course Math. (ed. 6) I. 202 To Evolve or Extract the Roots of Surd Quantities.
1913 Math. Gaz. 7 183 When evolving, if we don't come to a conclusion, the number cannot be evolved indefinitely. In such a case, divide the remainder by the evolved root.
5. transitive. Chiefly Chemistry. To give off or emit (gas, heat, etc.) as a product of chemical, physiological, or other internal action; to liberate or disengage from a state of chemical combination. Also intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical reactions or processes > subject to chemical reactions or processes [verb (transitive)] > subject to named chemical reaction or process > subject to miscellaneous other processes
reduce?a1425
weaken1540
projecta1550
brown1570
spiritualize1593
colliquate1603
redisperse1621
imbibe1626
educe1651
to cant off1658
part1663
regalize1664
dint1669
roche1679
subtilizea1722
neutralize1744
develop1756
evolve1772
extricate1790
separate1805
unburn1815
leach1860
methylate1864
nitrate1872
nitre1880
sweeten1885
deflocculate1909
hybridize1959
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming out > letting or sending out > let or send out [verb (transitive)] > emit
send971
stretchc1275
casta1300
sheda1325
manda1350
to throw outa1413
yielda1450
devoida1475
render1481
reflair1509
sup out1513
to give out1530
utter1536
spout1568
to give fortha1586
to let fly1590
to put out1614
eject1616
evacuate1622
ejaculate1625
emit1626
fling1637
outsend1647
exert1660
extramit1668
exclude1677
emane1708
extromita1711
evolve1772
emanate1797
discharge1833
exsert1835
to give off1840
1772 [implied in: J. MacLurg Exper. Human Bile 38 The colouring matter of the Bile discovers also a much stronger attraction to the mineral acids, and gives indubitable marks of a more evolved phlogiston. (at evolved adj. 2)].
1786 Edinb. New Dispensatory i. 7 In the incipient state a quantity of gas is still evolved, and along with it a quantity of alkaline air.
1807 H. Davy in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 97 9 The fixed alkali is not generated, but evolved, either from the solid materials employed, or from saline matter in the water.
1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art (new ed.) II. 63 The chlorine will be evolved.
1831 Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pa.) 10 May The oily substance gradually evolving as the bone calcines, makes a more substantial manure than almost any other substance.
1869 J. Phillips Vesuvius iii. 69 In September the vapours evolved from Vesuvius grew to be considerable.
1906 H. J. H. Fenton Notes Qualitative Anal. (new ed.) 38 Treated with dilute HCl or other dilute acids, many cyanides..evolve hydrocyanic acid in the cold.
1938 R. Hum Chem. for Engin. Students x. 192 Heat of Neutralisation is the amount of heat evolved when one gram-equivalent weight of an acid is neutralised by one gram-equivalent of an alkali in dilute solution.
1957 R. H. Thomson Naturally Occurring Quinones i. 5 Derivatives of 2-ethyl- and 2-methylnaphthalene may evolve from six acetate units.
2003 Mod. Power Syst. (Nexis) 30 Sept. 11 [He]..believes that..nuclear fission is the only primary energy source with which enough of hydrogen could be supplied without evolving carbon dioxide.
6.
a. transitive. To extract (something implicit or potential); to derive or deduce (a conclusion, law, or principle); to develop (an idea, theory, or system). Also intransitive.
ΚΠ
1801 S. T. Coleridge Let. 16 Mar. (1956) II. 706 I shall be able to evolve all the five senses, that is, to deduce them from one sense, & to state their growth, & the causes of their difference.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus i. xi. 28/2 An English Editor, endeavouring to evolve printed Creation out of a German printed and written Chaos.
1851 R. Hussey Rise Papal Power iii. 172 New claims of authority..were gradually evolved from the doctrine of the Supremacy.
1859 J. S. Mill On Liberty ii. 92 Other ethics than any which can be evolved from exclusively Christian sources.
1864 F. C. Bowen Treat. Logic viii. 262 The particular instances are first stated as facts, and then the law they constitute is evolved.
1879 H. Spencer Data of Ethics §104. 269 How does mechanical science evolve from these experiences?
1902 E. Banks Autobiogr. Newspaper Girl 237 The sports-editor devoted his hitherto undiscovered talents to evolving alliterative headlines.
1930 W. R. Inge Christian Ethics v. 252 Professor Raymond Pearl..has evolved a theory that the growth of population follows what he calls a logistic curve.
1981 Jrnl. Amer. Acad. Relig. 49 702 Puritan ministers were as much pastors as theologians, and..their theology evolved from experience rather than pure Ramean logic.
2000 G. Marinovich & J. Silva Bang-Bang Club xi. 124 The system of guarantees had evolved as a hands-off way of getting photographs.
2001 Times 12 Sept. 12/1 The Cold War had..begun to evolve a set of informal rules.
b. transitive. To create or imagine independently, or by a priori reasoning. Frequently in to evolve from one's inner consciousness.
ΚΠ
1862 C. N. Bovee Intuitions & Summaries of Thought I. 58 He must not, like the German, sit down to evolve the camel out of the depths of his moral consciousness.
1869 Galaxy Sept. 420 Where did the man [sc. Dickens] get all his names?.. Did he evolve them..‘from his inner consciousness’?
1936 Science 20 Mar. 272/2 Doctors are so preoccupied with the sick that they do not know the well and are forced to evolve the normal from their inner consciousness.
1997 J. Levinson Music in Moment 5 In listening to it one seems to evolve it from within oneself, one seems to construct the melody..by the very act of listening.
7.
a. transitive. To generate, develop, or modify by natural processes or gradual alteration, esp. from a comparatively rudimentary to a more highly organized condition; esp. to originate (species of living organism) by gradual modification from earlier forms, to produce or modify by evolution. Chiefly in passive without reference to an agent.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > creation > [verb (transitive)] > evolve or develop
unplight?c1400
develop1752
evolve1805
to bring up1823
evolute1874
the world > life > biology > biological processes > evolution > evolve [verb (transitive)]
evolve1805
develop1853
evolute1874
1805 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1962) II. 2444 The difference therefore between Fabrication and Generation becomes clearly indicable/the Form of the latter is ab intra, evolved, the other ab extra, impressed.
1825 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 115 249 If a head, the most important of all organs, was evolved from every inconsiderable fragment [of a planaria], supernumerary parts might..be produced.
1826 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 1 297 He [sc. Lamarck]..maintains, that all other animals, by the operation of external circumstances, are evolved from these in a double series, and in a gradual manner.
1832 C. Lyell Princ. Geol. ii. i. 14 The orang-outang, having been evolved out of a monad, is made slowly to attain the attributes and dignity of man.
1854 R. I. Murchison Siluria ii. 21 Lying upon them, and therefore evolved after them, other strata succeed.
1873 H. Spencer Study Sociol. v. 102 Societies are evolved in structure and function as in growth.
1884 E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Apr. 737/2 If God..chooses to evolve His universe, why shouldn't He?
1931 H. S. Williams Bk. Marvels 122 Joseph Henry's genius led him to create a new type of electromagnet by using many turns of wire insulated with a silk covering, and to connect this with a number of batteries in series; and the so-called ‘intensive’ system thus evolved proved revolutionary.
1955 W. K. Neal Spanish Guns & Pistols 5 By the commencement of the seventeenth century a characteristic form of Spanish gun was evolved..fitted with..what the collector to-day calls a ‘miquelet lock’.
1976 Sci. Amer. July 95/1 The Plankton..have evolved clever mechanisms for meeting the problems of life in a totally fluid and surfaceless environment.
a1985 P. White With the Jocks (2003) 36 The locals had a theory that the British had evolved a device which upset the gyro-compass and put the bombs off their target.
2001 Guardian (Nexis) 8 Mar. 3 We now think that fishes evolved legs long before they left the water..and that the ancestors of birds evolved feathers long before they learned to fly.
b. intransitive. To be transformed from one form into another by a process of gradual modification, esp. from a more rudimentary to a more highly organized condition; esp. (of a species of living organism) to be generated or transformed by evolution.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > change > change to something else, transformation > gradual change > change gradually [verb (intransitive)] > from or into
slidea1398
growc1460
wear1555
accrue1586
ripen1611
shuffle1635
melt1651
steal1660
spawn1677
verge1757
to glide into1800
shade1819
evolve?1831
shadow1839
grade1892
the world > action or operation > continuing > progress, advance, or further continuance > furtherance > further [verb (intransitive)] > be furthered or developed
evolve?1831
?1831 [implied in: J. McHenry Meredith ii. 32 Drawing comfort from her evolving intellect, her innocent cheerfulness, and her filial attention. (at evolving adj. 3)].
1867 Amer. Naturalist 1 459 With him civilization is a definite stage in the growth of mind.., not unlike, in kind, to that which evolves from the germ, the bud, the leaf.
1869 Catholic World Nov. 253/2 By the long continued accumulation and conservation..of these modifications the species have evolved from one another.
1903 Philos. Rev. 12 353 Hegel was trying to see life as it is, an experience which begins in seeming disconnectedness and mere sensation, and which gradually evolves into an intelligible order.
1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah Pref. p. lxxi The Old Vitalist, who was essentially a Materialist, has evolved into the New Vitalist.
1938 L. MacNeice I crossed Minch vii. 98 They [sc. seals] must, he thought, have evolved late into sea-creatures.
1974 R. J. Glossop Philos.: Introd. to Probl. & Vocab. ii. 20 The hypothesis that life on earth has evolved is..no longer a philosophical theory to be advocated or attacked by abstract argumentation.
1988 F. Spalding Brit. Art since 1900 iii. 69 His method evolved into a formula during the 1960s.
2007 Chicago Daily Herald (Nexis) 30 Mar. 11 How small meat-eating dinosaurs evolved into birds.
8. transitive. To produce or give rise to (a condition, circumstance, process, etc.) as a natural consequence. Also intransitive: to arise.
ΘΚΠ
the world > existence and causation > causation > [verb (transitive)] > bring about as a consequence or entail
makeOE
haveOE
drawa1400
to draw inc1405
to leave behind1424
goc1449
to draw on1572
train1579
carry1581
beara1616
to lead toa1770
evolve1816
entail1829
mean1841
issue1842
subinduce1855
the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > originate, derive, or arise [verb (intransitive)] > arise gradually, develop, or evolve
to grow upa1599
spread1642
develop1744
evolve1851
evolute1872
1816 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 363 The man who shapes and frames together, the rude materials of society,..subjects them to the action of the springs and principles which evolve prosperity and happiness.
1820 S. Turner Hist. Anglo-Saxons (ed. 3) I. iv. iv. 502 When great political exigencies evolve..they are usually as much distinguished by the rise of sublime characters.
1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend i. 18 The new diseases that human life Evolves in its progress.
1863 W. Phillips Speeches ix. 235 Hold on to that idea..—the sacredness of individual man,—and everything else will evolve from it.
1866 T. H. Huxley Lessons Elem. Physiol. (1872) x. 236 The simple sensations which are thus evolved.
1879 Spectator 7 June 719 That habits of gregariousness tend eventually to evolve a morality.
1928 Daily Express 13 June 3/6 These elusive cakelets are evolved by mixing [etc.].
1999 R. Yeomans Story Islamic Archit. x. 186/2 Timurid architecture evolved that vibrant vocabulary of colour and form.
9. intransitive. With non-referential it as subject and that clause as complement. U.S. To become known or be revealed; to transpire.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > manifestation > disclosure or revelation > disclose or make revelations [verb (intransitive)] > be disclosed or revealed
to come to (also in, on) (the) lightOE
sutelea1000
kitheOE
unfoldc1350
disclosea1513
burst1542
to break up1584
to take vent1611
vent1622
bleed1645
emerge1664
to get (also have) vent1668
to get or take wind1668
to stand (appear) confessed1708
eclat1736
perspire1748
transpire1748
to come out1751
develop1805
unroll1807
spunk1808
effloresce1834
to come to the front1871
to show up1879
out1894
evolve1920
to come or crawl out of the woodwork1964
1920 J. M. Gibbon Conquering Hero 278 When it evolved that Kate had gone away as the lady's maid, the telephone wires were red-hot with conjectural vibrations.
1941 William & Mary Q. 21 132 In this discussion it evolved that six Italians and their families were scheduled to go to Virginia.
1994 J. S. Kestenberg in E. Fogelman & J. S. Kestenberg Children during Nazi Reign i. 22 It evolved that several events following the first interview sessions contributed to the continuing healing process.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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