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Evolve
8 dictionary results for: evolve
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
e·volve       [i-volv] Pronunciation Key verb, e·volved, e·volv·ing.
–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 évolvere to unroll, open, unfold, equiv. to é- e- + volvere to roll, turn]

—Related forms
e·volv·a·ble, adjective
e·volve·ment, noun
e·volv·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
e·volve       (ĭ-vŏlv')  Pronunciation Key 
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.
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
evolve

verb
1. work out; "We have developed a new theory of evolution" 
2. undergo development or evolution; "Modern man evolved a long time ago" 
3. gain through experience; "I acquired a strong aversion to television"; "Children must develop a sense of right and wrong"; "Dave developed leadership qualities in his new position"; "develop a passion for painting" [syn: develop] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Evolve

Ev"o*lute\, 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.

Note: Any curve may be an evolute, the term being applied to it only in its relation to the involute.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Evolve

Ev`o*lu"tion\, n. [L. evolutio an unrolling: cf. F. ['e]volution evolution. See Evolve.]

1. The act of unfolding or unrolling; hence, in the process of growth; development; as, the evolution of a flower from a bud, or an animal from the egg.

2. A series of things unrolled or unfolded. "The whole evolution of ages." --Dr. H. More.

3. (Geom.) The formation of an involute by unwrapping a thread from a curve as an evolute. --Hutton.

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

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.

Those evolutions are best which can be executed with the greatest celerity, compatible with regularity. --Campbell.

6. (Biol.) (a) 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. (b) That theory of generation which supposes the germ to pre["e]xist in the parent, and its parts to be developed, but not actually formed, by the procreative act; -- opposed to epigenesis.

7. (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 pocess 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.

Evolution is to me series with development. --Gladstone.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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