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REVERSAL
REVERSAL, also retronym. Semitechnical terms for a word that spells another word backwards: doom, straw. Deliberate reversals form a new word: the trade name Trebor; the BrE slang yob (‘a backward boy’: a lout). Such reversals are sometimes used for effect in utopian and satirical writing, such as Samuel Butler's novel Erewhon (1872), set in a land where Victorian ideas and values are reversed. Erewhonians have such names as Yram and Nosnibor.
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TOM McARTHUR. "REVERSAL." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. TOM McARTHUR. "REVERSAL." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-REVERSAL.html TOM McARTHUR. "REVERSAL." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. 1998. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O29-REVERSAL.html |
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reversal
reversal
1. A change of direction, usually by 180°. It commonly refers to a change of polarity of the geomagnetic field. 2. A form of homoplasy; resemblance between two taxa because one of them has gained a new character, then lost it again, and the other taxa has never gained it. Reversal by character loss is common; there is much doubt about whether it ever occurs by regaining a lost character. |
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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-reversal.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-reversal.html |
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reversal
reversal A form of homoplasy; resemblance between two taxa because one of them has gained a new character, then lost it again, and the other taxon has never gained it. Reversal by character loss is common; there is much doubt about whether it ever occurs by regaining a lost character.
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Cite this article
MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-reversal.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "reversal." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-reversal.html |
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reversal
reversal •hassle, Kassel, passel, tassel, vassal
•axel, axle
•cancel, hansel, Hänsel, Mansell
•transaxle
•castle, metatarsal, parcel, tarsal
•chancel • sandcastle • Newcastle
•Bessel, nestle, pestle, redressal, trestle, vessel, wrestle
•Edsel • Texel
•intercensal, pencil, stencil
•pretzel • staysail • mainsail • Wiesel
•abyssal, bristle, epistle, gristle, missal, scissel, thistle, whistle
•pixel • plimsoll
•tinsel, windsail
•schnitzel, spritsail
•Birtwistle
•paradisal, sisal, trysail
•apostle, colossal, dossal, fossil, glossal, jostle, throstle
•consul, proconsul, tonsil
•dorsal, morsel
•council, counsel, groundsel
•Mosul • fo'c's'le, forecastle
•bustle, hustle, muscle, mussel, Russell, rustle, tussle
•gunsel • corpuscle
•disbursal, dispersal, Purcell, rehearsal, reversal, succursal, tercel, transversal, traversal, universal
•Herzl
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Cite this article
"reversal." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "reversal." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-reversal.html "reversal." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-reversal.html |
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