Word Direct Answers

What does "reversion" mean?

Reversion: That which reverts or returns; residue. [Obs.] The small reversion of this great navy which came home might be looked upon by religious eyes as relics. Fuller.

Additional senses

  1. 2.(Law) The returning of an esttate to the grantor or his heirs, by operation of law, after the grant has terminated; hence, the residue of an estate left in the proprietor or owner thereof, to take effect in possession, by operation of law, after the termination of a limited or less estate carved out of it and conveyed by him. Kent.
  2. 3.Hence, a right to future possession or enjoiment; succession. For even reversions are all begged before. Dryden.
  3. 4.(Annuities) A payment which is not to be received, or a benefit which does not begin, until the happening of some event, as the death of a living person. Brande &C.
  4. 5.(Biol.) A return towards some ancestral type or character; atavism. Reversion of series (Alg.), the act of reverting a series. See To revert a series, under Revert, v. t.

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