revoke

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French révoquer, from Latin revocare, from re- + voco, vocare. Doublet of revocate.

verb

1. (transitive) To cancel or invalidate by withdrawing or reversing.
   Your driver's license will be revoked.
   I hereby revoke all former wills.
   1539, Myles Coverdale et al., (translators), Great Bible, London: Thomas Berthelet, 1540, deuterocanonical addition to the Book of Esther, heading to Chapter 16, The Copye of the letters of Arthaxerses, wherby he reuoketh those which he fyrst sende forth.
2. (intransitive) To fail to follow suit in a game of cards when holding a card in that suit.
3. (obsolete) To call or bring back.
4. (obsolete) To hold back.
5. (obsolete) To move (something) back or away.
6. (obsolete) To call back to mind.
   late 1600s-early 1700s, Robert South, Sermon on Proverbs 18.14 in Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1823, p. 132, A man, by revoking and recollecting within himself former passages, will be still apt to inculcate these sad memoirs to his conscience.

noun

1. The act of revoking in a game of cards.
   Employ two revokes, two trumpings of your partner's best card and two ignorings of a call — all in the same hand! 1923, William Henry Koebel, All Aboard: A Frivolous Book, page 102
2. A renege; a violation of important rules regarding the play of tricks in trick-taking card games serious enough to render the round invalid.
3. A violation ranked in seriousness somewhat below overt cheating, with the status of a more minor offense only because, when it happens, it is usually accidental.