inversionn.
/ɪnˈvəːʃn/, /ɪnˈvəːʒn/, U.S. /ᵻnˈvərʒ(ə)n/ I. Reversal or transposition, and related senses.† 1. A rhetorical figure in which an opponent's line of reasoning is turned against him or her, esp. one in which an accusation, objection, etc., levelled against a person is argued to count in that person's own favour. Cf. antistrophe n. 1c. Obsolete.
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the mind > attention and judgement > testing > refutation, disproof > [noun] > by turning argument against opponent > use of
inversion1532
retortion1600
1532 L. Cox Art or Crafte Rhetoryke sig. Evi Inuercion is wherby we shew that the signe whiche is brought agaist vs: maketh for vs.
1551 T. Wilson Rule of Reason sig. Ijv You maie confute the same by inuersion, that is to say, turning his taile cleane contrarie.
1656 J. Smith Myst. Rhetorique Unvail'd 125 Inversion is a figure, whereby the Orator or speaker reasons, or brings in a thing for himself, which was reported or alleadged against him.
1706 C. Bland Art Rhetorick as to Elocution 45 Q. What is an Inversion? A. A Figure of a Sentence: whereby the Orator brings in That as an Argument for Himself, which was alledg'd against him; by Inverting it upon his Adversary: and Shewing; that if what is charg'd or objected was true, it would make for the Defendant.
1737 B. Martin Bibliotheca Technologica 183 Inversion makes the Adversary's Plea Our best Defence.
1808 J. Grant Inst. Lat. Gram. 331 If the objection is turned against the adversary, it is named, as in the last, Inversion or Antistrophe.
2. The action or fact of reversing or transposing in direction, order, relationship, or effect; an instance of reversal or transposition; something which has been inverted.
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the world > relative properties > order > order, sequence, or succession > [noun] > reversal of natural or proper order
somersault1530
inversion1546
hysteron proteron1584
preposterousness1607
renversement1610
reversala1626
inverse1630
reversement1720
topsy-turvying1807
topsy-turvification1840
upending1968
1546 G. Joye Refut. Byshop Winchesters Derke Declar. f. xcviiv Because we shulde see the inuersion of the consequence and the euydent probation to the pharisey more clearly, Chryst clerelyer..expresseth the remission to go before loue.
1565 W. Alley Πτωχομυσεῖον f. 277v There be infinitie [sic] errours in those bookes by the inuersion of letters. One for example. There is put, τοπος, for ποτος, Locus pro conuiuio.
1599 H. Buttes Dyets Dry Dinner sig. M2 We may now a dayes use Plinies wordes, with an inversion of the sense.
1639 T. Fuller Hist. Holy Warre ii. xiv. 63 The inversion of order bringeth all to confusion.
1695 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth 62 Without inversion or variation of the ordinary Periods, Revolutions, and Successions of things.
1730 Dr. Allen's Synopsis Medicinæ I. 268 There is a total Inversion of the peristaltick Motion of the Intestines.
1788 N. Tucker tr. E. Swedenborg Wisdom of Angels iii. 236 A Man, who has confirmed himself in Evils and false Principles..cannot by any Inversion or Retorsion be reduced to an opposite State.
1846 Eclectic Rev. 19 177 The leading secret of Napoleon's war-craft, consisted in an inversion of the current rules of warfare.
1855 A. Bain Senses & Intellect ii. i. 385 When we dress by a mirror we perform a series of inversions, very difficult at first.
1876 Pall Mall Gaz. 26 July 2/1 The same inversion of the true sequence of consideration runs through Lord Derby's argument.
1930 T. Sasaki On Lang. R. Bridges' Poetry 91 It has been the rule in the English blank verse since Chaucer not to tolerate stress-shift (or inversion of accent) in the fifth foot.
1963 D. M. Matheson tr. F. Schuon Understanding Islam iv. 130 Virtue will be defined as the inversion of the relationship between ego and alter.
2012 Vanity Fair June 104/2 The two great national parties have, in some fundamental sense, switched roles during the past 50 years. This inversion..isn't neat or exact, but it's a substantial reality and it's substantially complete.
3.
a. Reversal or transposition of the normal or familiar order of the words or clauses of a sentence, elements of a phrase, etc., esp. for literary or rhetorical effect; an instance of this. Cf. anastrophe n., hyperbaton n. See also inversion compound n. at Compounds.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of structure or thought > [noun] > inversion
anastrophe1555
hyperbaton1579
inversion1583
trespasser1589
1583 C. Rosdell tr. J. Calvin Comm. Romanes xii. f. 163v As God hath giuen euery man. Unicuique vt diuisit deus. Here is the figure called Anastrophe, or inuersion [L. inuersio] of words, for, as to euery man God hath giuen.
1620 T. Granger Syntagma Logicum ii. 229 Inversion is when the Consequent, or bond, is placed before the Antecedent.
1657 W. Barlee Prædestination 179 Castalio, whose smooth Latine with some inversion, you have turned into smoother English.
1767 J. Buchanan Regular Eng. Syntax ii. 166 It can scarce be said that Inversion has any Limits; but..the Disjunction of Adverbs, Conjunctions, or Prepositions, from the Words to which they belong, has very seldom a good Effect.
a1782 H. Blair Lect. Rhetoric (1783) I. xviii. 377 Harshness arises from unusual words; from forced inversions..and too much neglect of smoothness and ease.
1819 J. Keats Let. 22 Sept. (1958) II. 167 I have given up Hyperion—there were too many Miltonic inversions in it.
1858 Examiner 6 Mar. 149/1 The inversion used by the true poet, which puts each word where it will with the distinctest emphasis reinforce his meaning.
1914 J. A. Roy Cowper & his Poetry 54 He [sc. Johnson] failed to remark the absence of the Popeian inversions in the seemingly orthodox verse.
1989 Language 65 729 Combinations of auxiliaries preceding the lexical verbs produce hopeless cases of inversion..*Down the hill may roll the baby carriage..*Down the stairs has fallen the baby. [etc.].
2003 N. Smith in A. Marvell Poems 270/2 The diction is notable for the high incidence of words with a wide semantic range,..while the syntax features Latinate inversions.
b. Grammar and Linguistics. Reversal or transposition of the basic order of the constituents of a clause or sentence, which is regarded as standard or expected in certain contexts, set phrases, etc. Also with modifiers indicating the transposed elements, as subject–auxiliary inversion, subject–verb inversion.A common example of inversion in English is the transposition of the basic order of subject and auxiliary verb in a question, e.g. Are you listening? in contrast to the statement I am listening.
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1842 G. M. Heilner Gram. German Lang. iii. §135. 350 The particle should never be joined with the verb as one word when it precedes it by inversion.
1869 W. D. Whitney Compend. German Gramm. 209 The personal verb itself is sometimes placed first in the sentence by inversion... In such an inversion, the verb is usually followed by doch, ‘though’.
1897 Jrnl. Germanic Philol. 1 163 Starker makes the same assumption and upon it bases his explanation of the origin of inversion in the apodosis.
1944 College Eng. 5 435/1 Other inversions due to the negative, the compound construction, and other causes were frequent in Old English... Today there are four types of sentence which most often contain inversion in the main clause.
1970 Found. of Lang. 6 202 The latter restriction is thus intended to account for the presence of subject-auxiliary inversion in direct questions and its absence in indirect questions.
1991 Appl. Linguistics 12 392 Two of the V-S questions with nominal subjects are: quel + être + noun, a type of subject-verb inversion which does not require the referencing of the nominal subject by a pronoun in the inverted structure.
2001 G. V. Silva Word Order in Brazilian Portuguese i. i. 5 Inversion is not exclusively found with indefinite subjects.
4. † a. Military. A manoeuvre by which a rank or ranks of troops are formed up into a file or files. Cf. invert v. 3a. Obsolete.
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society > armed hostility > military operations > evolution > [noun] > other evolutions
inversion1627
conversion1635
fronting1796
platoon1797
platoon exercise1797
half-face1833
right (or left) shoulders (in)!1833
three-quarters face1833
about-face1835
ployment1861
1627 T. Kellie Pallas Armata 61 If ye would bring your Bodie in two Files, the one halfe of the Rankes fall into the right hand File, the other into the left hand File, the right and left hand File standing fast, and the rest of the Files inverting to them, for some calleth this Motion Fileing by inversion.
1635 W. Barriffe Mil. Discipline xxxi. 85 Inversion doth alwaies produce, file, or files; and Conversion, ranke, or rankes.
1650 R. Elton Compl. Body Art Mil. (1668) 32 My subject in this Chapter shall be of Ranks filing, and Files filing, and Ranks ranking, and Files ranking, which are by some called Inversion and Conversion.
1735 J. Gittins Compl. Syst. Mil. Discipline 56 These are the true Directions of Ranks Filing, to Right or Left, by Inversion.
b. Military and Navy. The adoption by a fighting force, line of battle, etc., of a formation in which the former or usual order or arrangement of units is reversed; the fact or condition of being in such a formation. Cf. invert v. 3b. Now historical.
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1787 A. Campbell Horse Drill Native Cavalry Coast Coromandel 51 The line may be formed to the right of the 1st troop by inversion.
1788 D. Dundas Princ. Mil. Movements 172 Although the Inversion of all bodies in line, is in general to be avoided; yet there are situations, where this rule must be dispensed with.
1832 Proposed Regulations Cavalry iii. 46 Inversion—A Regiment is said to be inverted when the Squadrons are not in their natural order, but the right Squadron on the left, and the left on the right, as for instance when the Squadrons entire have wheeled to the right or left about.
1888 Proc. U.S. Naval Inst. 14 362 Inversion takes place in the left squadron. Had the order been line abeam, eight points to point, the inversion would have taken place in the right squadron.
1914 W. Krueger tr. W. Balck Tactics II. ii. i. 41 All ideas of the drawbacks of inversion should be abandoned. It is essential that the platoons be able to..form front into line irrespective of the numerical order in which they happen to be.
1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms 317 Inversion, a movement in tactics by which the order of companies in line is inverted, the right being on the left, the left on the right, and so on.
2015 E. J. Hess Civil War Infantry Tactics ii. 27 Inversion put companies out of their normal spot in the lineup but allowed the regiment to change front to the rear to meet a new threat more quickly.
5. Mathematics.
a. The reversal of a ratio or proportion by interchanging the positions of the antecedent and consequent.
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the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > transformation > [noun] > correspondence > inverting
alternate proportion1570
inversion1645
transposition1664
reversion1698
involution1916
1645 T. Urquhart Trissotetras 58 The reason whereof is altogether grounded upon the inversion of a permutat proportion..whereby the Consequents are compared to Consequents, and Antecedents to Antecedents.
1756 R. Jack Euclid's Data x. 13 By inversion the ratio of BC to CD is given.
a1856 W. Hamilton Lect. Metaphysics (1860) III. xv. 272 These two quantities stand to each other..in a determinate ratio,—the ratio of inversion.
2003 Jrnl. Seismol. 7 451/2 The combination of both then allows for the inversion of the H/V ratio.
b. The calculation of an unknown function from an associated integral; esp. the calculation of a function from its Laplace, Fourier, etc., transform.
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the world > relative properties > number > algebra > [noun] > expression > method of calculation or analysis
extrapolation1872
functional analysis1876
inversion1880
Fourier analysis1929
formalism1940
linear programming1949
quadratic programming1951
simplex method1951
convex programming1963
deconvolution1967
1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 66/2 We have mentioned..the problem of inversion which leads to elliptic functions.
1926 Math. Proc. Cambr. Philos. Soc. 23 359 We may extent Theorem B to give an inversion formula involving Bessel functions of the third kind.
1962 D. R. Cox Renewal Theory i. 13 We shall commonly find that, although we can find a quite simple expression for the Laplace transform, k*(s), of the function k(x) in which we are interested, the inversion cannot be done explicitly in simple terms.
2013 T. B. Co Methods Appl. Math. for Engineers & Scientists xii. 450 The inversion of Laplace transforms..can be quite complicated.
6. Music.
a. The displacement of one or more notes of a chord (typically a triad) into a higher (or lower) octave, so that the root (root n.1 17) of the chord is no longer its lowest note; a chord produced from another chord in this way. Also: the reversal of the relative positions of the two notes of an interval, as by raising (or lowering) one note by a single octave; an interval whose notes have been inverted. More fully harmonic inversion. first (also second, third) inversion: an inverted chord in which the third (also the fifth or the seventh) of the original chord has become the bass; the condition of being inverted in this way.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > melody or succession of sounds > [noun] > melodic progression > inversion
inversion1664
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > [noun] > movement of parts > specific
report1502
augmentationc1570
diminution1597
consecution1655
inversion1664
imitation1728
sequence1737
oblique motion1786
Rosalia1786
triple progression1786
parallel motion1864
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > harmony or sounds in combination > chord > [noun] > arrangement of notes > specific
inversion1664
supposition1796
1664 J. Birchensha tr. J. H. Alsted Templum Musicum ix. 78 The harmonical Mediation of the Octave, which doth agree with the primary, is changed into the arithmetical, by the inversion [L. inversione] of the fourth beneath the fifth with the Triade.
1770 J. Holden Ess. Rational Syst. Music i. 46/2 Several different arrangements and inversions of the same chord are not only allowable, but also preferable to a consecution of chords all equally full and perfect.
1784 T. Robertson Inq. Fine Arts i. 117 The Chord of Sixth greater is also capable of different Inversions; and so also are Chords by Substitution.
1796 A. F. C. Kollmann Ess. Musical Harmony xvi. 118 The note C..can be considered either as the octave, in the fundamental triad, or chord of the seventh of C; or as..the fourth in its second inversion.
1806 J. W. Callcott Musical Gram. ii. i. 100 When any lower Note of an Interval is placed an Octave higher, or the higher Note an Octave lower, the change thereby produced is called Inversion.
1837 Musical Mag. Feb. 159 The seventh appears in its third inversion, the proper root being the highest note in the treble staff.
1872 G. F. Root Normal Musical Hand-bk. iv. xxiv. 299 The first inversion is when the base is three... What should you suppose the base would be in the second inversion?
1889 E. Prout Harmony vi. §150 A triad, which consists of three notes, has two inversions, because it contains two notes besides its root, and either of these notes can be placed in the bass.
1912 Musical Times 1 Aug. 513/2 Here we have..the surprise in the last bar of an inversion of a perfect thirteenth with the major fifth, in its simplest distribution.
1941 W. Piston Harmony (1978) xxiv. 371 Both fifth and seventh may be included with the ninth, representing a seventh chord in first inversion.
2005 M. Livio Equation that couldn't be Solved viii. 254 Musicians call two intervals that combine to give an octave ‘inversions’ of each other.
b. Esp. in counterpoint: a variation of a melody or theme in which each ascending interval is changed into the corresponding descending interval, and vice versa, leading to a reversal or mirroring of the upward and downward motion of the melody or theme; the action or technique of inverting a melody or theme in this way. More fully melodic inversion. fugue by inversion: a fugue in which the answer is produced by melodic inversion of the subject (now rare).
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1777 J. Keeble Select Pieces for Organ Pref. 1 The Obligato stile of writing, which consists of Fuges, Inversions, Canons, Double Descant, and the like, is interwoven in many parts of these compositions.
1789 C. Burney Gen. Hist. Music III. p. vi There are some [critics] so bewildered in fugues and complicated contrivances that they can receive pleasure from nothing but canonical answers, imitations, inversions, and counter-subjects.
1838 Penny Cycl. XI. 3/1 Fugue by Inversion... In this the theme is inverted.
1891 Musical Times 1 Apr. 231/2 A solo for contralto..is founded on an inversion of the theme which is associated with the Saviour... Bold fugal entries..are succeeded by the joyful outburst ‘Thanks be to God’ in which a clever device is the inversion of the ‘Tomb’ theme heard earlier.
1924 Music & Lett. 5 224 He [sc. Cherubini] could confess his sins in canons and inversions; he could make love in double counterpoint and doubtless he could and did correct his children per recte et retro.
1996 Amer. Rec. Guide (Electronic ed.) Nov. 193 Inspired by the sorcery and magic of Norse myths, this impressive work uses inversion and canon techniques.
2016 G. E. Roberts From Music to Math. v. 173 Most of Bach's inversions consist of reflected answers entering after the original subject has been heard.
c. The alteration of the relative placement of the parts or voices in a piece of contrapuntal music, so that the higher part or parts are placed below the lower, or vice versa; an instance of this.
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1796 A. F. C. Kollmann Ess. Musical Harmony xiv. 98 The expression of double counterpoint, when taken in a general sense.., denotes: a composition of which the parts are calculated for inversion.
1819 Encycl. Londinensis XVI. 337/2 at Counterpoint It makes a material difference whether the original parts shall be doubled in thirds only before their inversion in the twelfth, tenth, and fourteenth, or both before and after those inversions.
1880 W. S. Rockstro in G. Grove Dict. Music II. 16 [In] Double Counterpoint in the Octave..the Inversion is produced by..transposing the upper part an octave lower, or [vice versa]. But the Inversion may take place in any other Interval.
1902 P. Goetschius Counterpoint Appl. 132 The inversion of the parts is effected by transferring either part toward and beyond the other (shifting it up or down, as the case may be).
1994 W. Renwick Analyzing Fugue v. 140 This is a good example of invertible counterpoint at the tenth..as a means of inverting a counterpoint that is not amenable to inversion at the octave.
2006 A. Steinhardt Violin Dreams xi. 195 Did you know that Brahms and his friend exchanged puzzles—double and triple counterpoint inversions?
7. Meteorology. An increase of air temperature with height in the atmosphere (the reverse of the usual situation); a layer of air in which temperature increases with height (= inversion layer n. (a) at Compounds). Also in extended use: an analogous increase of water temperature with depth in a lake or other body of water.= temperature inversion n. at temperature n. Compounds 2.cloud inversion: see cloud inversion n. at cloud n. Additions.
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the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > [noun] > inversion of gradient
inversion1811
1811 A. Rees Cycl. (1819) XVII. at Hail Another cause may subsist for the inversion of temperature in the atmosphere.
1906 W. Marriott Hints to Meteorol. Observers (ed. 6) 66/2 Inversion of temperature, a warmer stratum of air above a colder one.
1928 D. Brunt Meteorol. vi. 59 An inversion is most readily produced during a clear night in winter.
1969 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 16 Sept. 2/3 New York's skyscraper skyline is now badly clouded..only when the city is trapped under what is called an ‘inversion’.
1973 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 18 200 Changes in the shape of thermal profiles in Lake Lanao include..unstable thermal inversions due to cooling at the surface, and stable thermal inversions on the bottom that result from heat retention during cool weather.
2006 G. Pretor–Pinney Cloudspotter's Guide i. 43 If an inversion is present, the Cumulus cloud can then be forced to spread out sideways, rubbing its cotton wool shoulders against those of its neighbours.
8. Chemistry.
a. A process in which the direction of optical rotation of a carbohydrate solution is changed from dextrorotatory to laevorotatory or vice versa; spec. the hydrolysis of dextrose to give a laevorotatory solution of fructose and glucose.
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the world > matter > chemistry > organic chemistry > carbohydrates > sugars > [noun] > inversion
inversion1842
1842 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 505/2 When sugar of canes is dissolved in water mixed with dilute sulphuric acid, and heated below the boiling point, it loses its power of turning the planes of polarization from left to right... Sugar of starch submitted to the same process did not experience this inversion.
1864 H. Watts Dict. Chem. II. 863 A solution of cane-sugar left to itself, or warmed with dilute acids, loses its dextro-rotatory power, and acquires a lævo-rotatory power, which, when the transformation, or inversion, is complete, amounts to 38° for every 100° of the original rotation to the right.
1909 E. I. Lewis Elements Org. Chem. xviii. 145 Since fructose is more laevo-rotatory than glucose is dextro-rotatory the solution becomes progressively more laevo-rotatory as hydrolysis proceeds. The process is called inversion; a term which has now become general for analogous conversions.
1983 P. J. Sicard & P. Leroy in T. H. Grenby et al. Devel. Sweeteners—2 i. 12 Sorbitol has the advantage of being chemically inert—it will not cause inversion when used in mixtures with sucrose, even at a high temperature.
1999 A. Davidson Oxf. Compan. Food 764/1 The inversion process incidentally gives golden syrup a mild but distinctive flavour.
2018 R. W. Hartel et al. Confectionery Sci. & Technol. viii. 235/2 The presence of fructose is most likely due to inversion of sucrose during manufacture.
b. A reversal of the configuration of substituents in a chiral molecule brought about in a substitution reaction, originally one involving a change in the direction of optical rotation; a reaction in which this occurs, spec. a bimolecular nucleophilic substitution causing a change of configuration from d to l (or vice versa). Cf. Walden inversion n.
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the world > matter > chemistry > isomerism > [noun] > stereo-isomerism > optical isomerism > optical rotation > inversion
inversion1896
1896 Proc. Chem. Soc. 12 97 The active lactic acid had undergone inversion by the action of phosphorus pentachloride, as Walden has recently noticed in the case of the malic acids.
1934 C. C. Steele Introd. Plant Biochem. v. xvi. 176 On removal of the phosphoric acid by hydrolysis, an inversion of the groups on this carbon atom takes place (Walden inversion), with the formation of ribose.
1964 D. A. Shirley Org. Chem. ix. 202 The molecule of methyl bromide is said to undergo inversion in its conversion to methyl alcohol.
2014 A. Winter Org. Chem. I for Dummies (ed. 2) iii. 175 The SN2 reaction leads to an inversion of the stereochemistry.
9. Logic. A form of immediate inference from a standard categorical proposition in which a new proposition is formed whose subject is the negative of that of the original proposition. Now rare.
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > logic > predicate or propositional logic > [noun] > logical inference > inversion
inversion1884
1884 J. N. Keynes Stud. & Exercises Formal Logic iv. v. 333 We might define Inversion in connection with complex propositions as a process by which from a given proposition we infer a new one in which some term in the subject is replaced by its contradictory.
1896 J. Welton Man. Logic (ed. 2) iii. iii. §102 The rule for Inversion is: Convert either the Obverted Converse or the Obverted Contrapositive.
1922 Jrnl. Philos. 19 463 The rule of distribution is relevant to no form of immediate inference except conversion; since in all other forms,—obversion, controposition, inversion,—we change one or both of the terms of the original proposition.
1991 W. T. Parry & E. A. Hacker Aristotelian Logic xv. 239 Examples of inversion (not all of which are valid) are: All octagons are polygons; therefore, some non-octagons are non-polygons, No rabbis are priests, hence, no non-rabbis are non-priests, and Some parrots are birds, therefore, all non-parrots are non-birds.
10. Chiefly Psychology and Psychoanalysis in early use. The state or quality of having sexual feelings or other psychological characteristics regarded as contrary to those which are considered normal or typical for one's sex, or as characteristic of an individual of the opposite sex; spec. homosexuality. Now disused in Psychology and rare or historical in general use.Cf. earlier sexual inversion n. at sexual adj. and n. Compounds 2.19th- and early 20th-cent. descriptions and discussions of inversion frequently dealt with feelings and behaviour that would now be related to questions of gender identity rather than sexual orientation, but for much of its history the word in this sense was often used—particularly by non-specialists—interchangeably with homosexuality.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual orientation > homosexuality > [noun]
sexual inversion1883
inversion1891
homosexuality1892
uranism1893
Uranianism1909
homoeroticism1915
homoerotism1916
queerness1925
homoism1927
homophiliaa1942
gayness1954
queerdom1961
poofdom1972
gaydom1978
1870 tr. C. Westphal in Detroit Rev. Med. & Pharmacy 5 28 A congenital inversion [Ger. Verkehrung] of the sexual instinct, with a consciousness of the morbid nature of the symptom.
1883 A. M. Hamilton Man. Med. Jurispr. iii. 185 This sexual inversion has been described by several German writers.]
1891 J. A. Symonds Probl. in Mod. Ethics ix. 67 It is..an essential part of his [sc. Ulrichs'] theory to regard the problem of inversion psychologically.
1910 A. A. Brill tr. S. Freud Three Contrib. to Sexual Theory i. 27 We find feelings of inversion in the unconscious psychic life, fixation of libido on persons of the same sex.
1927 Scots Observer 1 Oct. 15/3 It will help to approach the problems of inversion with knowledge and charity.
1958 Amer. Jrnl. Orthopsychiatry 28 424 The following distinction is offered: homosexuality refers to sexual activity or the desire for such activity between two members of the same sex, while the criterion of inversion is a personality in which a person's thinking, feeling, and acting are typical of the opposite sex.
1984 Economist 4 Feb. 96/2 Even his ‘crime’—of homosexuality—is open to question. His close friend..found no evidence of inversion in this rollicking womaniser.
2003 M. Bronski Pulp Friction iii. 128 In the twenties and thirties homosexuality was generally understood in medical terms as ‘inversion’—the opposite sex in the ‘wrong’ body.
11. Chemistry and Mineralogy. A transformation of a solid substance into a different form, esp. an enantiotropic one, above or below a particular temperature.Recorded earliest in inversion temperature n. (a) at Compounds.
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the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > phases > [noun] > inversion
inversion1896
1896 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 1895–6 31 94 It is possible that the inversion temperature of these double salts may vary progressively, so that the use of a thermostat would be necessary to secure absolute certainty in the yield.
1905 Science 1 Dec. 703/2 There is scarcely any volume change in the inversion, the specific gravity of wollastonite being 2.915 and that of the pseudo-wollastonite 2.912.
1966 W. A. Deer et al. Introd. Rock-forming Minerals 129 It [sc. pigeonite] then later inverts to an orthorhombic pyroxene and the inversion is accompanied by the exsolution of a second generation of augite lamellae.
2017 C. Klein & A. R. Philpotts Earth Materials (ed. 2) v. 126/1 Low quartz is stable up to about 573°C, at which point it undergoes a reversible, rapid inversion to high quartz.
12. The conversion of direct current into alternating current. Contrasted with rectification n. 4a.
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the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical engineering > rectifier > [noun] > conversion to alternating current
inversion1919
1919 Mech. Engin. Sept. 32a/1 Periodic inversion of currents (without superposition of external current) at starting point and their rectification at receiving point.
1964 New Scientist 2 Apr. 25/1 Thyristors can also be used to convert d.c. to a.c.—a process known as ‘inversion’.
2015 S. Aysha & P. Selvakumar in C. Kamalakannan et al. Power Electronics & Renewable Energy Syst. lxiii. 644 The impedance network couples the source and the inverter to achieve voltage boost and inversion in a single stage.
13. Cell Biology and Genetics. Reversal of the normal sequence of genes or nucleotides in a segment of a chromosome; an instance of this; a chromosome segment exhibiting such reversal.
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the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > [noun] > changes or actions of genes or chromosomes
repulsion1908
polymery1914
hypostasis1917
inversion1921
polymerism1923
interchange1927
position change1937
heterochromatization1941
read-through1969
1921 A. H. Sturtevant in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 7 236 The simple inversion of a section of a normal chromosome.
1939 C. H. Waddington Introd. Mod. Genetics iv. 93 Pairing may be more nearly complete in flies heterozygous for very long inversions.
1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. x. 258 The term mutation embraces stable chromosomal variations..including..the turning of an interstitial segment back to front (inversion).
1972 W. V. Brown Textbk. Cytogenetics xiv. 205/1 Drosophila pseudoobscura is unusual for the number of different inversions within especially the third chromosome of the species.
2003 New Scientist 19 Apr. 15/4 (caption) A pericentric inversion, where the inverted area includes the centromere, occurs in 9 out of 10 shared, rearranged chromosomes.
14. Telecommunications. Reversal of the order of the component frequencies of a signal (either completely or in a restricted range), thus scrambling it for transmission. Cf. invert v. 9. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > telecommunication > [noun] > signal > frequency or band of frequencies > frequency response, reversal, or diversity
frequency response1926
inversion1930
frequency diversity1931
1930 Engineering 14 Nov. 625/3 Though the simple inversion..is satisfactory on short waves, it is not so effective on long waves.
1967 D. H. Hamsher Communication Syst. Engin. Handbk. x. 23 A reduction in interfering energy of about 3 db is realized by frequency inversion.
15. Electronics and Computing. The ‘not’ operation (see not adv., n., and int. Compounds 2a); (also) an operation in which the value of each digit in a binary number is converted to its alternate value, so that every ‘1’ is replaced with a ‘0’ and vice versa.
ΘΚΠ
society > computing and information technology > [noun] > logic > operation > particular operations
and1946
OR1947
negation1949
inversion1955
NOR1957
NAND1958
NOT AND1960
XOR1961
not1969
1955 R. K. Richards Arithm. Operations in Digital Computers ii. 32 The ‘not’ operation, or inversion, is symbolized by a block labeled with the letter I.
1970 O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing ii. 39 The number that is somewhat inappropriately called the 1-complement of x is obtained simply by inversion, i.e. by substituting zeroes for all ones and vice versa.
2017 J. Seiffertt Digital Logic for Computing vi. 71 Sometimes we write the inversion on the input to the gate instead of writing out the full NOT gate.
16. Physics. A transposition of the relative numbers of atoms or molecules occupying certain energy levels; = population inversion n. at population n.1 Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > [noun] > particles occupying energy state > transposition of number of
optical pumping1952
population inversion1961
inversion1963
1963 Jrnl. Appl. Physics 34 2040 The differential equations governing inversion and photon density in a laser are solved for giant pulse operation.
1992 S. P. Maran Astron. & Astrophysics Encycl. 416/2 The mechanism that leads to inversion, which is caused by the cycling of molecules through energy levels, is called the pump.
2015 L. Lugiato et al. Nonlinear Optical Syst. ii. 25 The inversion oscillates between -1 and 1, i.e. the atom passes from the lower to the upper state and vice versa.
17. Finance (originally U.S.). The action or practice of relocating the legal domicile of a corporation to a nation having lower tax rates, usually by switching the roles of a parent company and a foreign-based subsidiary; an instance of this. More fully corporate inversion, tax inversion.
ΚΠ
1993 Tax Managem. Internat. Jrnl. 11 June 301/2 (heading) Corporate Inversion Transactions.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 26 June c12/4 The Louisiana Republican..began by saying that ‘I agree that inversions are a problem’, using the tax argot for companies reincorporating overseas.
2014 Daily Mail 26 Aug. 66/4 President Obama has called companies that engage in tax inversions ‘corporate deserters.’
18. A figure of speech in which a word or phrase is used with a figurative or symbolic meaning, rather than in its literal sense; a metaphor or allegory. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > figure of speech > figures of meaning > [noun] > metaphor
figure1435
transumptionc1449
metaphora1500
tropology1519
translation1534
inversion1538
transport1589
tralation1620
iconism1656
tralatition1864
1538 T. Elyot Dict. Allegoria, a figure or inuersion of wordes, where it is in wordes one, and an other in sentence or meanynge.
1552 R. Huloet Abcedarium Anglico Latinum Inuersion of wordes, allegoria, est quædam figu.
1553 T. Wilson Arte Rhetorique f. 91v An Allegorie, or inuersion of wordes.
1589 G. Puttenham Arte Eng. Poesie iii. xvi. 149 In these verses the inuersion or metaphore, lyeth in these words, saw, harbourd, run.
19. Diversion to an improper purpose; perversion. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [noun] > misapplication > perversion
pervertinga1450
corrupting1565
inversion1616
perversion1622
obtortion1650
corruption1654
1616 T. Tuke Treat. against Paintng & Tincturing 21 Is not this an inuersion of nature, to dissemble and hide the naturall visage with an artificiall, and to offer one for another?
1651 J. Howell S.P.Q.V. 4 They abhorre that inversion of the Law of Nature, but gray heads sway, and green heads obey.
1711 in Hist. MSS Comm.: 10th Rep.: App. Pt. V: MSS Marquis of Ormonde &c. (1885) 115 in Parl. Papers 1884–5 (C. 4576–I) XLII. 1 Who..would object unto the King an inversion of the lawes of the land? For he left the courts of judicature to run their usual course.
1755 E. Young Centaur v. 358 What a terrible inversion is this of the high favours of Heaven!
III. Turning inside out or turning inwards.
20.
a. Medicine and Surgery. The condition (of a part of the body) of being turned inside out or outside in.Originally used esp. with reference to the eyelids (cf. ectropion n., entropion n.), and later with reference to prolapse of the uterus, bladder, etc.In quot. 1751 = intussusception n. 3a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > physical aspects or shapes > physical arrangement or condition > [noun] > turning inwards or inside out
inversion1565
invagination1658
introversion1796
evagination1877
meniscus1877
1565 J. Hall tr. Lanfranc Most Excellent Woorke Chirurg. v. viii. 45 Vngula, maye in the beginninge, be cured wyth a Collyrie, whiche is also common to the oulde scabbe of the eye, & the inuersion of the eye liddes.
1598 J. Mosan tr. C. Wirsung Praxis Med. Vniuersalis i. vi. 63 Of the inuersion of the eielids, where the inward red flesh appeereth outwardly.
1657 N. Culpeper & W. Rowland tr. J. Johnstone Idea Pract. Physick viii. 42/2 Inversion, which we may likewise cal Ectropium, to wit, the turning inside outward of the Lower Eye-lid.
1682 T. Gibson Anat. Humane Bodies i. xxviii. 154 The Hymen may be corroded by acrimonious fretting humours flowing through it with the Menses, or from the falling out or inversion of the Uterus or the Vagina at least, which sometimes happens even to Maids.
1751 tr. F. Ruysch Pract. Observ. Surg. & Midwifry xci. 215 In the third Place, the Iliac Passion may proceed from an Introsusception, or Inversion of the Intestine, one Part of which is forced into the other.
1771 Med. Observ. & Inq. IV. (heading) History of a Fatal Inversion of the Uterus and Rupture of the Bladder.
1849 Amer. Jrnl. Med. Sci. 17 417 Some excellent remarks follow on inversion of the womb after delivery and the mode of proceeding for its reposit.
1887 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Inversion of bladder, the condition in which the bladder is prolapsed through the urethra, either partially or completely.
1922 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Feb. 309/1 Every attempt was made to get a thorough invagination, several tiers of catgut being used to secure inversion of the bowel wall.
2015 T. C. Aeby in D. Chelmow et al. Acute Care & Emergency Gynecol. i. 3/1 Excessive downward traction can lead to inversion of the uterus.
b. Originally: †the turning of the stomach inside out, spec. as a (supposed) mechanism of vomiting (obsolete); the action or an act of vomiting, spec. when attributed to abnormal position or muscular activity of the stomach. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > place > absence > fact of being unoccupied > [noun] > emptiness > emptying > by turning out
inversion1598
turn-out1856
1598 J. Mosan tr. C. Wirsung Praxis Med. Vniuersalis 3rd Index sig. Mmm1 Anastrophe, Inuersio ventriculi, an inuersion of the stomacke.
1687 Chirurgorum Comes iii. xxiii. 362/2 So the offence being communicated to the Stomach, it is drawn inward and pursed, and turned upwards: from this Inversion of the Stomach..those things which are contained in the capacity of it are rejected by vomiting.
1812 B. Travers Inq. Process Nature repairing Injuries Intestines 212 (note) The inversion of the stomach which constitutes vomiting.
1991 G. A. Linderer Eyes of Eagle 71 I made it through the ordeal without a stomach inversion. I never realized that one could swallow and breathe through one's mouth at the same time.
21. † b. Heraldry. The fact or condition of being depicted pointing, turning, or curving inwards. Cf. inverted adj. 2. Obsolete.
a. The action or an act of turning something inside out; the action of turning something inwards; the fact or condition of being turned inwards or inside out.
ΚΠ
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Inversione, an inversion, a turning inside out.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Inuersion, a turning in.
1637 T. Nabbes Microcosmus i. sig. B4 Earth. With my ponderous weight, Ile presse their climbing heads beneath my centre; And by inversion bury them within me.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 373 The inversion of the plant necessarily raises it to the surface; what was before the upper and outer part of the wrapper being now next the ground.
1851 S. P. Woodward Man. Mollusca i. 25 The snail..draws in its eye-stalks, by a process like the inversion of a glove-finger.
1889 Forest & Stream 19 Sept. 164/2 In [skinning] other snakes it is only necessary to make a circumcision about the neck, when the entire skin can be slipped off by inversion.
1917 H. F. Lewis & A. de Roulet Handbk. Gynecol. iv. 86 In taking rubber gloves off it is well to lift up the wrists and allow water to enter before pulling them off by inversion.
1973 Bull. Amer. Schools Oriental Res. No. 210. 46 The greater degree of inversion..finally results in the folded-over rim's being lapped down.
2018 K. W. D. Tan & L. Pereira Best-kept Secrets A-level Chem. (Electronic ed.) During the reaction, the three bonds that are attached to the δ+ carbon atom are turned ‘inside out’. This is comparable to the inversion of an umbrella in a windstorm.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > indication > insignia > heraldic devices collective > heraldic representations of creatures > [noun] > postures of creatures
inversion1632
trian aspectc1828
1632 Guillim's Display of Heraldrie (ed. 2) iii. xv. 202 I say that the Euersion of the Tayle of the Lion is an expresse token of his placabilitie or tractablenesse, as contrariwise the Inversion of his Tayle is a note of his wrath and fury, especially if he do beat the back there with.
1685 R. Blome Art Heraldry i. 20 This Bordure is quite contrary to the last, for as the other did enter into the Field, so contrariwise this doth, by the inversion of the points, into it self.
1771 ‘M. A. Porny’ Elements Heraldry (ed. 2) 36 As the other turns its points from the Bordure into the Field, so contrarywise this does, by the inversion of the points from the Field into the Bordure.
22. Anatomy. A position of the foot in which its medial (inner) border is raised and the sole faces inwards. In early use also: †a position of the foot in which the big toe points towards the other foot (obsolete).
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > deformities of specific parts > [noun] > of foot
club-foota1552
baker feet1656
valgus1800
varus1800
inversion1825
talipes1842
pommel foot1857
inturn1860
talus1864
flat-foot1870
spurious valgus1872
flat-footedness1882
Friedreich('s) foot1940
1825 G. J. Guthrie in Medico-chirurg. Trans. 13 114 In the dislocation upwards and forwards, or on the dorsum ilii, the inversion of the foot is complete, the great toe is turned inwards, and rests on the instep of the opposite foot.
1858 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 1 May 348/1 Inversion of the foot, with semirotation of its anterior part by the contraction of the anterior and posterior tibial muscles.
1902 D. Hepburn in D. J. Cunningham Text-bk. Anat. 304 By inversion we mean the raising of the inner border of the foot so that the sole looks inwards, while the toes are depressed towards the ground.
1971 D. L. Kelley Kinesiology vi. 75 Inversion lifts the medial border of the foot to turn the sole inward.
2014 A. Roberts Incredible Unlikeliness of Being 291 You can also bring the sole of your foot to face inwards (this is called inversion).
23. Geometry. Any of several methods for transforming a geometric figure in a manner regarded as analogous to turning (a section of) it inside out; spec. (in later use) that in which each point within a circle, sphere, or hypersphere of a given radius is substituted for a point lying a certain distance along a line passing through both the centre and the original point (more fully circular or spherical inversion).The centre of the circle, sphere, or hypersphere determining the inversion is called the origin or centre of inversion.Early methods of inversion include quadric inversion, in which a conic section is employed in the role more usually occupied by a circle, sphere, or hypersphere, and tangential inversion, in which the form of the inversion is determined by the translation of the figure's tangents, rather than its points.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > transformation > [noun] > correspondence > replacing quantities
conversion1570
composition1660
substitution1694
inversion1843
reciprocation1852
1843 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 23 339 From the theorem of the three perpendiculars from the angles of a triangle on the opposite sides meeting in a point, we get by inversion the three polar circles perpendicular to the opposite sides of the polar triangle.
1858 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 4th Ser. 16 166 They are at the same time anti-parallel sections of a cone whose vertex is the centre of inversion.
1865 Proc. Royal Soc. 14 91 (heading) On the quadric inversion of plane curves.
1881 Q. Jrnl. Pure & Appl. Math. 17 313 Familiar theorems are now applied to generate by tangential inversion the quadricuspid hypocycloid.
1925 H. F. Baker Princ. Geom. (2010) IV. i. 14 These are the formulae of inversion in the plane ω, in which (ξ, η, ζ) are the coordinates of a point, and (ξ', η', ζ') those of the inverse point.
1949 Q. Appl. Math. 6 387 Another method of handling homogeneous harmonic functions of integral degree n is by differentiation of functions of degree zero, and spherical inversion.
1992 H. Eves Fund. Mod. Elem. Geom. ii. 104 When working with inversion in space, we add to the set S of all points of space a single ideal point at infinity.
2012 D. A. Brannan et al. Geometry (ed. 2) v. 336 Inversion in a circle is a one-one transformation of the plane minus the centre of inversion onto itself.
IV. Turning or placing upside down, or turning over.
24. The action or an act of turning or placing something upside down or turning something over; the fact or an instance of being upside down.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > inversion > [noun]
turning1536
inversion1598
reversing1610
topsy-turvy1655
resupination1661
canting1769
retroversion1790
supernaculum1827
upturning1846
upending1968
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes Inuersione, an inuersion, a turning..upside downe.
1654 W. Charleton Physiologia Epicuro-Gassendo-Charltoniana i. v. 39 Upon the inversion of the Tube, you may plainly behold an intersection between the descending Quicksilver and the ascending aer.
1694 R. Blome tr. A. Le Grand Entire Body Philos. viii. xix. 301 When we look into the bottom of the Eye, we shall see the Image turn'd upside down... This inversion of the Image in the Eye, [etc.].
1738 R. Smith Compl. Syst. Opticks II. iii. iv. 319 Supposing the..plumb-line plays over the point c; and upon the inversion of the instrument, we find that..we must hang it over the point e.
1787 S. Henley in Annot. Var. Commentators Meas. for Meas. ii. 45 Supposing an inversion of letters by the compositor, as in Macbeth, way of life for may of life.
1877 Morning Post 17 Jan. 4/6 He or she could..foretell the destinies of persons who consulted them..by an adroit inversion of a tea-cup containing a small quantity of grounds.
1895 J. O. Arnold Steel Wks. Anal. 238 Close the flask with a plain india-rubber stopper, and thoroughly mix the contents by repeated inversions.
1935 Illustr. London News 6 July 19/1 This special type of handle..is designed to facilitate the complete inversion of the vessel, and may reflect the requirements of beer-drinking people.
1986 Jrnl. Aesthetics & Art Crit. 45 21/2 Leonardo thought he had solved the problem by positing a double inversion of the image in the eye: the first at the pupil, the second at the lens.
2006 M. Aldhouse-Green in T. Otto et al. Warfare & Society xx. 287 The inversion of his body is interesting: it may be associated with..symbolic contempt. Sacrificial prisoners-of-war are represented upside-down in Moche ceramic iconography.
25. Geology. A rock sequence in which older strata overlie younger ones; a process of folding or faulting in which such a sequence is formed. Also: a reversal of the direction of vertical movement of a section of crust.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > sedimentary formation > [noun] > stratum > folding back or inversion
inversion1831
overthrow1831
1831 J. Macculloch Syst. Geol. I. xiv. 279 In the case of individual strata in a group,..an inversion is as common as an omission.
1882 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iv. iv. 518 Individual mountains..present stupendous examples of inversion, great groups of strata being folded over and over each other.
1902 Geogr. Jrnl. 20 630 The Table mountain sandstone of the Zwartebergen has a southerly dip which brings it beneath the slate and conglomerates; this is probably the result of a great inversion.
1977 GeoJournal 1 22/1 The late Hercynian and Laramide inversion movements..resulted in an uplifting of the formerly deeply buried Paleozoic floor of these Mesozoic basins.
2004 Y. Yamada & K. R. McClay in K. R. McClay Thrust Tectonics & Hydrocarbon Syst. xv. 284/1 At the early stages of inversion, the main detachment fault propagated upward at a constant angle of 60°.
26. The action or practice of turning over earth so as to bring the lower soil to the surface, esp. by ploughing, digging, etc.; an instance of this.
ΚΠ
1842 Cultivator June 93/1 Trenching has for its object the inversion of the soil to the depth trenched; placing the original surface soil at the bottom.
1871 15th Ann. Rep. Secretary Maine Board of Agric. for 1870 283 Soil will be rendered more fertile by repeated inversions with the plow.
1879 Gardeners' Chron. 27 Sept. 400/2 Skillful digging results in a thorough intermixture rather than in a mere inversion of the earth.
1954 R. H. Cochrane Farm Machinery & Tractors (ed. 2) 13 An opportunity should be taken to spread lime before ploughing and then again afterwards on the top of the soil after inversion.
1981 Financial Times 25 Apr. 14/7 Those who are opposed to all digging..[point out]..that inversion of the soil with plough or spade is an unjustifiable interference with the normal course of events.
2011 D. Hillel & C. Rosenzweig Handbk. Climate Change & Agroecosystems i. 17 Conventional tillage is defined as the mechanical manipulation (pulverization, mixing, and inversion) of the topsoil that leaves no more than 15% of the ground surface covered with crop residues.
Compounds
inversion compound n. Linguistics a type of compound in which the conventional or expected order of the elements is reversed, as when an adjective or other modifier is placed after the noun it qualifies; esp. a compound place name consisting of a generic topographical element followed by a personal name or title indicating ownership or association (or, less frequently, a postmodifying adjective).Inversion compounds are typically indicative of syntactic influence from another language. They are originally and most frequently discussed in the study of the place names of northern Britain and Ireland, where they reflect the regular word order of noun phrases in the Celtic languages; in some cases (and probably originally) these show substitution of a Germanic element for an earlier Celtic one, as in the name of Kirkdominie, Ayrshire (probably lit. ‘the Lord's church’), which is recorded in 1404 as Kildomine (with the first element reflecting Scottish Gaelic cill church: see kill n.3).Formations such as herb Robert and heir presumptive (which reflect regular word order in French noun phrases) are also sometimes described as inversion compounds.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > naming > name or appellation > [noun] > place name > compound
inversion compound1918
1918 E. Ekwall Scand. & Celts North-west of Eng. i. 15 If this is right Hallsenna means Senna Hall and may be an inversion-compound.
1951 Mod. Lang. Rev. 46 470 [In Cumberland] there is an abundance of inversion compounds formed on the Celtic model, such as Carnetley and Cumwhinton. These inversion compounds may also contain non-Celtic elements: thus Brotherilkeld is ‘Úfkell's booths’, and Aspatria ‘Patrick's ash-tree’.
1985 Verbatim Summer 29/1 Combinations referred to by Marchand as ‘inversion compounds’ form a generally cohesive group. The majority are..coined after the pattern of a foreign language. Thus consul general, court martial, etc., follow the French word order introduced into English through law-French.
2014 F. Edmonds in J. V. Sigurðsson & T. Bolton Celtic-Norse Relationships in Irish Sea in Middle Ages 800–1200 iii. 55 ‘Kirkbride’ [is] a place-name which features the Norse word kirkja and Brigit's name in an inversion compound.
inversion layer n. (a) (Meteorology) a layer of air in the atmosphere in which temperature increases with height; (in extended use) a layer in a body of water in which temperature increases with depth; cf. sense 7; (b) (in a metal-oxide-semiconductor transistor (see MOS n. at M n. Initialisms 1)) a conducting channel of electrons formed at the boundary between the semiconductor and the oxide, each having a charge opposite that of the holes (hole n. 4f).
ΚΠ
1905 Sci. Abstr. A. 8 168 Then comes a sudden change; the thermometer rises by several degrees, the humidity drops to 50; this inversion layer reaches up to 1,000 m.
1949 Physical Rev. 75 1208/2 The barrier layer is such as to raise the levels of the filled band to a position close to the Fermi level at the surface, giving an inversion layer of p-type or defect conductivity.
1983 New Scientist 3 Feb. 314/2 If the semiconductor is cooled sufficiently for all the electrons to be in the lowest permitted energy states, then the mobile electrons in the inversion layer can move only in two directions.
1987 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 32 70 Cool, dense water must be advected horizontally below the inversion layer by the river entering the lake from the south.
2001 Independent on Sunday (Nexis) 26 Aug. 18 LA is ringed with mountains that create an inversion layer that traps ozone and irritants in a brown sky.
2010 D. Vaslleska et al. Computational Electronics viii. 369 Such quantum effects play an important role even at room temperature, where the width of the inversion layer is of the same order of magnitude as the thermal wavelength of the carriers.
inversion temperature n. (a) Chemistry and Mineralogy a temperature above or below which a solid substance is transformed into a different form, or at which such forms can coexist in equilibrium (cf. sense 11); (b) Physics the temperature at which a particular gas expanding with constant enthalpy does not undergo a rise or drop in temperature (see Joule-Thomson n.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > [noun] > at which two forms of a substance can co-exist
inversion temperature1896
cricondentherm1936
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > [noun] > at which a gas is neither heated nor cooled
inversion temperature1896
the world > matter > chemistry > physical chemistry > phases > [noun] > inversion > inversion temperature
inversion temperature1896
1896 Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 1895–6 31 94 It is possible that the inversion temperature of these double salts may vary progressively, so that the use of a thermostat would be necessary to secure absolute certainty in the yield.
1903 London, Edinb., & Dublin Philos. Mag. 6th Ser. 6 521 The method thus briefly sketched is..not applicable to hydrogen at temperatures above −80° C., which Olszewski has found to be the inversion temperature of the Joule–Thomson effect for that gas.
1963 W. A. Deer et al. Rock-forming Minerals IV. 181 The higher temperature forms, cristobalite and tridymite, can exist metastably below their inversion temperatures.
2006 Energy Explor. & Exploitation 24 200 Hydrogen gas is compressed and cooled below the inversion temperature of 202 K.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1532- undertrumping
- undertrumps
- undertruss
- undertub
- undertune
- undertunic
- underturf
- underturn
- underturnkey
- undertuterage
- undertutor
- undertwig
- undertyrant
- underuse
- underused
- underuses
- underusher
- underusing
- underutilisation
- underutilisations
- underutilise
- underutilised
- underutilises
- underutilising
- underutilization