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Evolve - 7 dictionary results

e⋅volve

  [i-volv] verb, e⋅volved, e⋅volv⋅ing.
Use Evolve in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to develop gradually: to evolve a scheme.
2. to give off or emit, as odors or vapors.
–verb (used without object)
3. to come forth gradually into being; develop; undergo evolution: The whole idea evolved from a casual remark.
4. Biology. to develop by a process of evolution to a different adaptive state or condition: The human species evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal.
Origin:
1635–45; < L ēvolvere to unroll, open, unfold, equiv. to ē- e- + volvere to roll, turn

Related forms:
e⋅volv⋅a⋅ble, adjective
e⋅volve⋅ment, noun
e⋅volv⋅er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Evolve
e·volve   (ĭ-vŏlv')   
v.   e·volved, e·volv·ing, e·volves

v.   tr.
    1. To develop or achieve gradually: evolve a style of one's own.
    2. To work (something) out; devise: "the schemes he evolved to line his purse" (S.J. Perelman).
  2. Biology To develop (a characteristic) by evolutionary processes.
  3. To give off; emit.
v.   intr.
  1. To undergo gradual change; develop: an amateur acting group that evolved into a theatrical company.
  2. Biology To develop or arise through evolutionary processes.

[Latin ēvolvere, to unroll : ē-, ex-, ex- + volvere, to roll; see wel-2 in Indo-European roots.]
e·volv'a·ble adj., e·volve'ment n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Evolve

E*volve"\, 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.

The animal soul sooner evolves itself to its full orb and extent than the human soul. --Sir. M. Hale.

The principles which art involves, science alone evolves. --Whewell.

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

2. To throw out; to emit; as, to evolve odors.

Evolve

E*volve"\, v. i. To become open, disclosed, or developed; to pass through a process of evolution. --Prior.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Evolve
Spanish: evolucionar,
German: sich entwickeln,
Japanese: 進化する
More Translations »

evolve 
1641, "to unfold, open out, expand," from L. evolvere "unroll," from ex- "out" + volvere "to roll" (see vulva). Evolution (1622), originally meant "unrolling of a book;" it first was used in the modern scientific sense 1832 by Scot. geologist Charles Lyell. Charles Darwin used the word only once, in the closing paragraph of "The Origin of Species" (1859), and preferred descent with modification, in part because evolution already had been used in the 18c. homunculus theory of embryological development (first proposed under this name by Bonnet, 1762), in part because it carried a sense of "progress" not found in Darwin's idea. But Victorian belief in progress prevailed (along with brevity), and Herbert Spencer and other biologists popularized evolution.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: evolve
Pronunciation: i-'välv, -'volv
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: evolved; evolv·ing
transitive senses
: to produce by natural evolutionary processes evolved the types that were transitional to higher animals —R. W. Miner> evolve intransitivesenses
: to develop by or as if by evolution : undergo evolutionary change evolved into preventive medicine —Victor Robinson>
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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evolve   (ĭ-vŏlv')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. To undergo biological evolution, as in the development of new species or new traits within a species.
  2. To develop a characteristic through the process of evolution.
  3. To undergo change and development, as the structures of the universe.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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