revolution

Etymology

From Middle English revolucion, borrowed from Old French revolucion, from Late Latin revolūtiōnem, accusative singular of revolūtiō (“the act of revolving; revolution”), from Latin revolvō (“roll back, revolve”).

noun

1. A political upheaval in a government or state characterized by great change.
2. The removal and replacement of a government, especially by sudden violent action.
   For a long time the dormouse and polecat had seemed to him overfeeble enemies for his restless valour, even as the granary floor seemed to afford too narrow a field. Every day he read the papers of the previous day in the servants' hall of the houses he visited, and it appeared to him that this war in America, which was hailed as the awakening of the spirit of liberty and justice in the New World, ought to produce a revolution in France. 1837, George Sand, translated by Stanley Young, Mauprat, Cassandra Editions, published 1977, page 237
3. Rotation: the turning of an object around an axis, one complete turn of an object during rotation.
   The ratio between the speeds of revolution of wheel and disc is substantially equal to the reciprocal of the ratio between the diameter of the wheel and the diameter of the mean contact circle on the disc. 1912, P. M. Heldt, The Gasoline Automobile: Its Design and Construction, Volume II: Transmission, Running Gear and Control, The Horseless Age Co., published 1913, page 147
   The Earth has two motions: a daily revolution (or turning around) upon its axis, and a yearly course around the sun. 1864, D. M. Warren, The Common-School Geography, Revised Edition, H. Cowperthwait & Co., page 6
   Numerous cases are recorded which incontestibly prove that during pregnancy, the uterus perform a half or even a complete revolution, on itself, producing torsion of the cervix […] 1878, George Fleming, A Text-Book of Veterinary Obstetrics, Baillière, Tindall, & Cox, page 123
4. In the case of celestial bodies, the traversal of one body along an orbit around another body.
5. A sudden, vast change in a situation, a discipline, or the way of thinking and behaving.
6. A round of periodic changes, such as between the seasons of the year.
7. Consideration of an idea; the act of revolving something in the mind.