revolve (revolves, present participle revolving; past and past participle revolved)

1. i Physical movement.
   1. (transitive, now, rare) To bring back into a particular place or condition; to restore. [from 15th c.]
   2. (transitive) To cause (something) to turn around a central point. [from 16th c.]
   3. (intransitive) To orbit a central point (especially of a celestial body). [from 17th c.]

      The Earth revolves around the sun.

   4. (intransitive) To rotate around an axis. [from 17th c.]

      The Earth revolves once every twenty-four hours.

      • 1915, G[eorge] A. Birmingham [pseudonym; James Owen Hannay], chapter I, in Gossamer, New York, N.Y.: George H. Doran Company, OCLC 5661828 ↗:

        It is never possible to settle down to the ordinary routine of life at sea until the screw begins to revolve. There is an hour or two, after the passengers have embarked, which is disquieting and fussy.

   5. (intransitive) To move in order or sequence. [from 17th c.]

      The program revolves through all the queues before returning to the start.

2. i Mental activity.
   1. (transitive, now, rare) To ponder on; to reflect repeatedly upon; to consider all aspects of. [from 15th c.]
      • 1748, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, Letter 82:

        These are the difficulties which arise to me on revolving this scheme […].

      • 1843, Thomas Carlyle, Past and Present, Bk.2, Ch.6, Monk Samson:

        He sits silent, revolving many thoughts, at the foot of St. Edmund’s Shrine.

   2. (transitive, obsolete) To read through, to study (a book, author etc.). [15th–19th c.]
      • 1671, John Milton, Paradise Regain'd:

        This having heard, strait I again revolv’d / The Law and Prophets.

• revolution
• revolver
• the world doesn't revolve around you

• French: retourner, tourner
• German: drehen
• Portuguese: orbitar
• Russian: верте́ться
• Spanish: girar (alrededor de)

• French: retourner, tourner
• German: drehen
• Italian: ruotare
• Portuguese: girar
• Russian: враща́ться
• Spanish: rotar

• Italian: ricorrere
• Russian: повторя́ться

• Russian: обду́мывать

revolve (plural revolves)

1. (theater) The rotation of part of the scenery within a theatrical production.
2. (theater) The rotating section itself.
   • 2003, Gary Philip Cohen, The Community Theater Handbook (page 134)

     […] a revolving stage, two-level platforms stage left and stage right, and a large bridge that connected the platforms midstage, twelve feet up off the revolve.

3. (obsolete) A radical change; revolution.