-vols-

a. [ L. altivolans. See Volant. ] Flying high. [ Obs. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. archivolte, fr. It. archivolto; pref. archi- + volto vault, arch. See Vault. ] (Arch.) (a) The architectural member surrounding the curved opening of an arch, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a square opening. (b) More commonly, the molding or other ornaments with which the wall face of the voussoirs of an arch is charged. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ L. avolare; a (ab) + volare to fly. ] To fly away; to escape; to exhale. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. avolatio. ] The act of flying; flight; evaporation. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. benevolence, L. benevolentia. See Benevolent. ] 1. The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

The wakeful benevolence of the gospel. Chalmers. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An act of kindness; good done; charity given. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A species of compulsory contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Benevolence, Beneficence, Munificence. Benevolence marks a disposition made up of a choice and desire for the happiness of others. Beneficence marks the working of this disposition in dispensing good on a somewhat broad scale. Munificence shows the same disposition, but acting on a still broader scale, in conferring gifts and favors. These are not necessarily confined to objects of immediate utility. One may show his munificence in presents of pictures or jewelry, but this would not be beneficence. Benevolence of heart; beneficence of life; munificence in the encouragement of letters. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. benevolens, -entis; bene well (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish. See Bounty, and Voluntary. ] Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable. -- Be*nev"o*lent*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Benevolent, Beneficent. Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word benevolent has been widened to include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the public good, benevolent societies. In like manner, beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades of meaning. Thus, the phrase “benevolent labors” turns attention to the source of these labors, viz., benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark them as productive of good. So, “beneficent intentions” point to the feelings of the donor as bent upon some specific good act; while “benevolent intentions” would only denote a general wish and design to do good. [1913 Webster]

a. [ L. benevolus. ] Kind; benevolent. [ Obs. ] T. Puller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of various tropical American orchids with usually solitary fleshy leaves and showy white to green nocturnally fragrant blossoms solitary or in racemes of up to 7. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Chem.) One of a species of aromatic oils, resembling carvacrol. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. circumvolans, p. pr. See Circumvolation. ] Flying around. [ 1913 Webster ]

The circumvolant troubles of humanity. G. Macdonald. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. circumvolate. -volatum, to fly around; circum + volare to fly. ] The act of flying round. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Circumvolve. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. The act of rolling round; the state of being rolled. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thing rolled round another. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A roundabout procedure; a circumlocution. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had neither time nor temper for sentimental circumvolutions. Beaconsfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Circumvolved p. pr. & vb. n. Circumvolving. ] [ L. circumvolvere, -volutum; circum + volvere to roll. ] To roll round; to cause to revolve; to put into a circular motion. Herrick. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To roll round; to revolve. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Firearms) A revolver made according to a system using a patented revolving cylinder, holding six cartridges, patented by Samuel Colt, an American inventor, in 1835. With various modifications, it was for many years been the standard for the United States army. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

a. [ L. convolutus, p. p. of convolvere. See Convolve. ] (Bot.) Rolled or wound together, one part upon another; -- said of the leaves of plants in æstivation. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having convolutions. [ 1913 Webster ]

beaks recurved and convoluted like a ram's horn. Pennant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Folded in tortuous windings. [ 1913 Webster ]

A highly convoluted brain. North Amer. Rev. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of rolling anything upon itself, or one thing upon another; a winding motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

O'er the calm sea, in convolution swift,
The feathered eddy floats. Thomson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being rolled upon itself, or rolled or doubled together; a tortuous or sinuous winding or fold, as of something rolled or folded upon itself. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Anat.) An irregular, tortuous folding of an organ or part; as, the convolutions of the intestines; the cerebral convolutions. See Brain. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Convolved p. pr. & vb. n. Convolving. ] [ L. convolvere, -volutum; con- + volvere to roll. See Voluble. ] To roll or wind together; to roll or twist one part on another. [ 1913 Webster ]

Then Satan first knew pain,
And writhed him to and fro convolved. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ From Convolvus. ] (Bot.) Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the family of plants of which the bindweed and the morning-glory are common examples. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Chem.) A glucoside occurring in jalap (the root of a convolvulaceous plant), and extracted as a colorless, tasteless, gummy mass of powerful purgative properties. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. L.Convolvuli E. Convoluluses [ L., bindweed, fr. convolvere to roll around. So named from its twining stems. ] (Bot.) A large genus of plants having monopetalous flowers, including the common bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), and formerly the morning-glory, but this is now transferred to the genus Ipomæa. [ 1913 Webster ]

The luster of the long convolvuluses
That coiled around the stately stems. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. demi- volte. ] (Man.) A half vault; one of the seven artificial motions of a horse, in which he raises his fore legs in a particular manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. devolutus, p. p. of devolvere. See Devolve. ] To devolve. [ Obs. ] Foxe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ LL. devolutio: cf. F. dévolution. ] 1. The act of rolling down. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The devolution of earth down upon the valleys. Woodward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Transference from one person to another; a passing or devolving upon a successor. [ 1913 Webster ]

The devolution of the crown through a . . . channel known and conformable to old constitutional requisitions. De Quincey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Devolved p. pr. & vb. n. Devolving. ] [ L. devolvere, devolutum, to roll down; de + volvere to roll down; de + volvere to roll. See Voluble. ] 1. To roll onward or downward; to pass on. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every headlong stream
Devolves its winding waters to the main. Akenside. [ 1913 Webster ]

Devolved his rounded periods. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To transfer from one person to another; to deliver over; to hand down; -- generally with upon, sometimes with to or into. [ 1913 Webster ]

They devolved a considerable share of their power upon their favorite. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]

They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To pass by transmission or succession; to be handed over or down; -- generally with on or upon, sometimes with to or into; as, after the general fell, the command devolved upon (or on) the next officer in rank. [ 1913 Webster ]

His estate . . . devolved to Lord Somerville. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act or process of devolving;; devolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To uncover; to unfold or unroll; to disentangle. [ R. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. diversus diverse + volens, -entis, p. pr. of velle to wish. ] Desiring different things. [ Obs. ] Webster (White Devil). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a unit of energy, being equal to the kinetic energy acquired by an electron when accelerated through a potential difference of one volt. It is equal to 1.602 x 10-19 Joules. It is abbreviated eV. The unit electron-volt is often used to express the rest mass and the energy of fundamental particles, especially when accelerated to high velocity in an accelerator. In accelerators, the units encountered are more commonly megaelectron-volts (MeV or million electron-volts) and giga-electron-volts (GeV or billion electron-volts). [ PJC ]

v. t. To form into, or incorporate with, a volume. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ See Envelop. ] To wrap up; to envelop. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ L. evolare to fly away; e out + volare to fly. ] Apt to fly away. [ Obs. or R. ] Blount. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. evolatio. ] A flying out or up. [ Obs. ] Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. evolutus unrolled, p. p. of evolvere. See Evolve. ] (Geom.) A curve from which another curve, called the involute or evolvent, is described by the end of a thread gradually wound upon the former, or unwound from it. See Involute. It is the locus of the centers of all the circles which are osculatory to the given curve or evolvent. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Any curve may be an evolute, the term being applied to it only in its relation to the involute. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Evolution. ] (Biol.) The faculty possessed by all substances capable of self-nourishment of manifesting the nutritive acts by changes of form, of volume, or of structure. Syd. Soc. Lex. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. evolutio an unrolling: cf. F. évolution evolution. See Evolve. ] 1. The act of unfolding or unrolling; hence, any process of growth or development; as, the evolution of a flower from a bud, or an animal from the egg. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A series of things unrolled or unfolded. “The whole evolution of ages.” Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Geom.) The formation of an involute by unwrapping a thread from a curve as an evolute. Hutton. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Arith. & Alg.) The extraction of roots; -- the reverse of involution. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Mil. & Naval) A prescribed movement of a body of troops, or a vessel or fleet; any movement designed to effect a new arrangement or disposition; a maneuver. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those evolutions are best which can be executed with the greatest celerity, compatible with regularity. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Biol.) A general name for the history of the steps by which any living organism has acquired the morphological and physiological characters which distinguish it; a gradual unfolding of successive phases of growth or development. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Biol.) That theory of generation which supposes the germ to preëxist in the parent, and its parts to be developed, but not actually formed, by the procreative act; -- opposed to epigenesis. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Metaph.) That series of changes under natural law which involves continuous progress from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous in structure, and from the single and simple to the diverse and manifold in quality or function. The process is by some limited to organic beings; by others it is applied to the inorganic and the psychical. It is also applied to explain the existence and growth of institutions, manners, language, civilization, and every product of human activity. The agencies and laws of the process are variously explained by different philosophrs. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evolution is to me series with development. Gladstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to evolution. “Evolutional changes.” H. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Relating to evolution; as, evolutionary discussions. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The theory of, or belief in, evolution. See Evolution, 6 and 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One skilled in evolutions. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who holds the doctrine of evolution, either in biology or in metaphysics. Darwin. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Evolved p. pr. & vb. n. Evolving. ] [ L. evolvere, evolutum; e out + volvere to roll. See Voluble. ] 1. To unfold or unroll; to open and expand; to disentangle and exhibit clearly and satisfactorily; to develop; to derive; to educe. [ 1913 Webster ]

The animal soul sooner evolves itself to its full orb and extent than the human soul. Sir. M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

The principles which art involves, science alone evolves. Whewell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not by any power evolved from man's own resources, but by a power which descended from above. J. C. Shairp. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To throw out; to emit; as, to evolve odors. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become open, disclosed, or developed; to pass through a process of evolution. Prior. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of evolving, or the state of being evolved; evolution. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. evolvens, -entis, unrolling, p. pr. of evolvere. ] (Geom.) The involute of a curve. See Involute, and Evolute. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. flavus yellow + -oil. ] (Chem.) A yellow, crystalline substance, obtained from anthraquinone, and regarded as a hydroxyl derivative of it. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To act frivolously; to trifle. Kipling. -- Friv"ol*er Friv"ol*ler, n. [ All Colloq. ] [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]