DEVOLVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Devolve

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/dɪvˈɑlv/ Listen

verb

Devolve v. t. (past & past part. devolved; pres. part. devolving)

To roll onward or downward; to pass on. "Every headlong stream Devolves its winding waters to the main." "Devolved his rounded periods."

To transfer from one person to another; to deliver over; to hand down; generally with upon, sometimes with to or into. "They devolved a considerable share of their power upon their favorite." "They devolved their whole authority into the hands of the council of sixty."

Devolve v. i. To pass by transmission or succession; to be handed over or down; generally with on or upon, sometimes with to or into; as, after the general fell, the command devolved upon (or on) the next officer in rank. "His estate... devolved to Lord Somerville."

See images of 'Devolve'

Etymology of 'Devolve'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar

"Devolve" Quotes from Famous Books

... one of the executors is a lady, and another is our venerable friend here, who has no inclination to attend to the settlement of Mr. Zane's estate, it will devolve upon me to examine the whole subject. I am a stranger in the East. As Mr. Van de Lear may have told you, I don't hear anything. Will I be welcome as a boarder under your roof as long as I am looking into my old ...

— Bohemian Days - Three American Tales • Geo. Alfred Townsend

... affirmed that there must have been some supernatural agency at work. Fred felt sure the matter would have to be sifted, and that upon himself and Doctor Holtum (the only magistrate in Lunda since Mr. Garson's death) would devolve the duty of ...

— Viking Boys • Jessie Margaret Edmondston Saxby

... elsewhere—setting forth that "upon the decease of our Sovereign Lord Charles the Second, the right of succession to the Crown of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, with the dominions and territories thereunto belonging, did legally descend and devolve upon the most illustrious and high-born Prince James, Duke of Monmouth, son and heir apparent to the said King Charles ...

— Captain Blood • Rafael Sabatini

... apparent disposition of the House, the friends of the court proposed that, should the queen die childless, the crown should devolve absolutely upon him for his life.[432] But in this they were going too far. The suggestion was listened to coldly; and Philip, who had really calculated on obtaining from parliament, in some form or other, a security for his succession, ...

— The Reign of Mary Tudor • James Anthony Froude

... is born into the world, a mother's duties commence; and of all those which God has allotted to mortals, there are none so important as those which devolve upon ...

— Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper • T. S. Arthur

More quotes...