2. A notch or recess, in the margin or border of anything;
as, the indentations of a leaf, of the coast, etc.
3. A recess or sharp depression in any surface.
4. (Print.)
(a) The act of beginning a line or series of lines at a
little distance within the flush line of the column or
page, as in the common way of beginning the first line
of a paragraph.
(b) The measure of the distance; as, an indentation of one
em, or of two ems.
{Hanging}, or {Reverse}, {indentation}, indentation of all
the lines of a paragraph except the first, which is a full
line.
He did so with the reverse of the lance. --Sir W.
Scott.
2. That which is directly opposite or contrary to something
else; a contrary; an opposite. --Chaucer.
And then mistook reverse of wrong for right. --Pope.
To make everything the reverse of what they have
seen, is quite as easy as to destroy. --Burke.
3. The act of reversing; complete change; reversal; hence,
total change in circumstances or character; especially, a
change from better to worse; misfortune; a check or
defeat; as, the enemy met with a reverse.
The strange reverse of fate you see; I pitied you,
now you may pity me. --Dryden.
By a reverse of fortune, Stephen becomes rich.
--Lamb.
4. The back side; as, the reverse of a drum or trench; the
reverse of a medal or coin, that is, the side opposite to
the {obverse}. See {Obverse}.
5. A thrust in fencing made with a backward turn of the hand;
a backhanded stroke. [Obs.] --Shak.
6. (Surg.) A turn or fold made in bandaging, by which the
direction of the bandage is changed.
2. Turned upside down; greatly disturbed. [Obs.]
He found the sea diverse With many a windy storm
reverse. --Gower.
3. (Bot. & Zo["o]l.) Reversed; as, a reverse shell.
{Reverse bearing} (Surv.), the bearing of a back station as
observed from the station next in advance.
{Reverse curve} (Railways), a curve like the letter S, formed
of two curves bending in opposite directions.
{Reverse fire} (Mil.), a fire in the rear.
{Reverse operation} (Math.), an operation the steps of which
are taken in a contrary order to that in which the same or
similar steps are taken in another operation considered as
direct; an operation in which that is sought which in
another operation is given, and that given which in the
other is sought; as, finding the length of a pendulum from
its time of vibration is the reverse operation to finding
the time of vibration from the length.
And that old dame said many an idle verse, Out of
her daughter's heart fond fancies to reverse.
--Spenser.
2. To cause to return; to recall. [Obs.]
And to his fresh remembrance did reverse The ugly
view of his deformed crimes. --Spenser.
3. To change totally; to alter to the opposite.
Reverse the doom of death. --Shak.
She reversed the conduct of the celebrated vicar of
Bray. --Sir W.
Scott.
4. To turn upside down; to invert.
A pyramid reversed may stand upon his point if
balanced by admirable skill. --Sir W.
Temple.
5. Hence, to overthrow; to subvert.
These can divide, and these reverse, the state.
--Pope.
Custom . . . reverses even the distinctions of good
and evil. --Rogers.
6. (Law) To overthrow by a contrary decision; to make void;
to under or annual for error; as, to reverse a judgment,
sentence, or decree.
{Reverse arms} (Mil.), a position of a soldier in which the
piece passes between the right elbow and the body at an
angle of 45[deg], and is held as in the illustration.
{To reverse an engine} or {a machine}, to cause it to perform
its revolutions or action in the opposite direction.
Syn: To overturn; overset; invert; overthrow; subvert;
repeal; annul; revoke; undo.
2. (Geol. & Mining) A dislocation caused by a slipping of
rock masses along a plane of facture; also, the dislocated
structure resulting from such slipping.
Note: The surface along which the dislocated masses have
moved is called the
{fault plane}. When this plane is vertical, the fault is a
{vertical fault}; when its inclination is such that the
present relative position of the two masses could have
been produced by the sliding down, along the fault plane,
of the mass on its upper side, the fault is a
{normal}, or {gravity}, {fault}. When the fault plane is so
inclined that the mass on its upper side has moved up
relatively, the fault is then called a
{reverse} (or {reversed}), {thrust}, or {overthrust},
{fault}. If no vertical displacement has resulted, the fault
is then called a
{horizontal fault}. The linear extent of the dislocation
measured on the fault plane and in the direction of
movement is the
{displacement}; the vertical displacement is the
{throw}; the horizontal displacement is the
{heave}. The direction of the line of intersection of the
fault plane with a horizontal plane is the
{trend} of the fault. A fault is a
{strike fault} when its trend coincides approximately with
the strike of associated strata (i.e., the line of
intersection of the plane of the strata with a horizontal
plane); it is a
{dip fault} when its trend is at right angles to the strike;
an
{oblique fault} when its trend is oblique to the strike.
Oblique faults and dip faults are sometimes called
{cross faults}. A series of closely associated parallel
faults are sometimes called