Forms: 3–4 chaungen, chaungi, 3 changen, changi, 3–7 chaunge, 4 schaungen, chawnge, chong, chongi, 5 chonge, chawngyn, chaunch, 6 chaung, chaundge, chaynge, ? chonch, 3– change. [ME. change-n, a. OF. change-r (= Pr. camjar, cambiar, Sp. cangear, cambiar, It cangiare, cambiāre):—late L. cambiāre (in Salic Law, etc.), f. cambi-um exchange; used for cl. L. cambīre to barter, exchange: perh. cognate with Gr. καμπ- to bend, turn, turn back.]
1. trans. To put or take another (or others) instead of; to substitute another (or others) for, replace by another (or others); to give up in exchange for something else.
(Here (but not in 1 b) the ‘something else’ is almost always of the same kind as the thing it replaces.)
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 7. Þat tu naldes chaungen þat tu liuest in for to beo cwen icrunet.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 29410. He chaunges crun or wede.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1003. In þis werld es bothe wele and wa, Þat es ofte chaunged to and fra.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 109. He shall his place chaunge And seche many londes straunge.
1477. Earl Rivers (Caxton), Dictes, 125. The same herbes … were sent to the Kinges closid and sealled with their sealles, to thentent that they shulde not be chaunged.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xli. (1887), 250. Which for a better liuing will chaung his colledge.
1603. Drayton, Bar. Warres, IV. xxxiv. Changing the Clyme, thou couldst not change thy Care.
1611. Bible, Gen. xli. 14. And he shaued himselfe, and changed his raiment, and came in vnto Pharaoh.
1737. Pope, Hor. Epist., I. i. 155. They change their weekly barber, weekly news.
1805. A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron., III. 197. When I had changed my things, and taken my tea.
b. with for (with obs.) before the thing put or taken in exchange. (Now usually exchange.)
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 548. Mani on stilleliche hor armes a wei caste, & chaungede hom vor herigaus.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 1233. And swore so depe to … chaunge hire for no newe.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7589. He may be chaungit … for sum choise other, þat is takon of Troy.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. ii. 114. Who will not change a Rauen for a Doue? Ibid. (1599), Hen. V., III. vii. 12. I will not change my Horse with any that treades but on foure postures.
1704. Pope, Windsor For., 234. Where Jove … Might change Olympus for a nobler hill.
a. 1875. Monsell, Hymn, ‘When I had wandered,’ iii. I … changed my hopes for fears.
c. spec. To give or procure money of another kind (e.g., foreign or smaller coin) in exchange for money of some defined kind or amount.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 129. [Ihesus] caste adown her stalles, þat … chaungeden any moneye.
1728. Swift, Intelligencer, No. 19 (J.). A poor Shopkeeper might be able to change a Guinea or a Moidore, when a Customer comes for a Crown’s Worth of Goods.
1826. Scott, Diary, in Lockhart (1839), VIII. 382. When we change a guinea, the shillings escape as things of small account.
1876. Burnaby, Ride Khiva, xii. The Commercial Bank would change my English gold.
d. To change oneself: i.e., one’s clothes. So to change one’s feet; i.e., one’s shoes or other covering for the feet. Now only Sc.
c. 1530. Ld. Berners, Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814), 260. Than the kyng entred into a lytel chaumbre, and there dyd chaunge him.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Jew Malta, IV. v. I change myself twice a-day.
1861. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., v. (ed. 18), 118. She did not change her feet when she came in from the wet.
e. intr. To change one’s clothes. (colloq.)
1634. Malory’s Arthur (1816), II. 319. A gentlewoman … brought him a shirt of fine linen cloth; but he changed not there.
1817. Coleridge, Biog. Lit. (1847), II. 350. After dinner I … washed and changed.
2. Often with plural object, in sense: To substitute one thing for another of the same kind; to quit one and take another.
Thus to change hands, to pass from one hand to another, from one person’s possession to another’s; to change sides, to go over from one side to the other; to change carriages (e.g., on a railway). (Rarely with obj. in sing. as † to change the hand (obs.), to change one’s side; these cases belong properly to 1.)
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. X. 529. The place however only chang’d the hand without going out of the Family.
1709. Pope, Ess. Crit., 435. Their weak heads … ’Twixt sense and nonsense daily change their side.
1715. Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 22. If you change ends, still the Air will rush out at the upper end.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., ii. § 2. Money changeth hands.
1755. Game at Cricket, 7. The Bowler … shall bowl to the Number of Four [balls] before he changes wickets.
1884. Times (weekly ed.), 1 Feb., 5/3. The Simla … after changing owners, was converted into a sailing ship.
Mod. Passengers by these trains change carriages at Didcot.
b. intr. or ellipt. To change carriages on a railway, boats on a river, etc.
18[?]. Tyneside Song. Ye mun change here for Jarrow.
Mod. Passengers for Cambridge change at Bletchley. All change here, please!
3. trans. To give and receive reciprocally, exchange, interchange. (For this exchange is now the ordinary prose word, but change is still in dial., arch., and poet. use, and in ‘change places,’ and the like.)
Const. A and B change places, A changes places with B.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 1052. Quaþ horn … We schulle chaungi wede.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 238. Will you vouchsafe with me to change a word? Ibid. (1592), Rom. & Jul., III. v. 31. Some say, the Larke and loathed Toad change eyes. Ibid. (1600), A. Y. L., I. iii. 93. Wilt thou change Fathers? I will giue thee mine.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks, 458. With their two nimble ships (after they had changed a few bullets) bourded a tall ship of the Turkes.
a. 1648. Ld. Herbert, Life (1826), 172. Purposing to change a pistol-shot or two with the first I met.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Wks. (1764), I. 45. Forbid by fate to change one transient glance!
1820. Scott, Monast., iii. Her attendants changed expressive looks with each other.
1842. Tennyson, Dora, 42. If you … change a word with her he calls his wife.
1864. Blackw. Mag., XCV. 764 (Hoppe). Do you believe that the Æsculapius would change places with him?
1870. Daily News, 16 April, 6/5. One, whose owner not only cuts his grass with it, but by ‘changing works,’ as the exchange of labour is called, does as much for his neighbours as the condition of their mowings will admit of.
† b. To exchange (a thing) with (a person).
(Here the thing given is the sole object, that received being understood to be the corresponding thing in relation to the other person or party. The construction is thus a mixture of 1 and 3.)
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xxix. I scorn to change my state with kings. Ibid. (1604), Oth., I. iii. 317. I would change my Humanity with a Baboone.
1651. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, 135 (J.). Those thousands with whom thou wouldest not for any interest change thy fortune, and condition.
† 4. To give or bestow in exchange. Obs. rare.
1609. Bible (Douay), 1 Sam. x. 9. God changed unto him another hart.
5. intr. To make an exchange.
† a. with for (also with) before the thing given.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 13 b. In Indie, saith Isidore, there is neyther Lead nor Brasse of his owne, therefore it chaungeth for his owne Marchandise (as with Gemmes and Margarets).
a. 1637. B. Jonson, ‘Drink to me only.’ But might I of Jove’s nectar sip I would not change for thine.
b. with for before the thing taken in exchange.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. iii. 356. It cannot be long that Desdemona should continue her loue to the Moore … She must change for youth. [But the sense may be different.] Ibid. (1608), Per., IV. vi. 174. Thou hold’st a place, for which the pained’st fiend Of hell would not in reputation change.
c. with with before the person, as in 3.
1805. Southey, Madoc in W., xvii. Ere we part change with me.
6. trans. To make (a thing) other than it was; to render different, alter, modify, transmute.
a. 1225. St. Marher., 3. Olibrius … changede his chere.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 14. He ne myȝte hire herte change, þat heo to sore ne drow.
c. 1300. Beket, 258. He gan to changi al his lyf: and his manere also.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 68. His forme he chaungeth sodeinly.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. clii. 181. He changed his countenance.
1583. Babington, Commandm., v. (1637), 42. So times are changed to and fro, and changing times have changed us too.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxvi. 145. No errour of a subordinate Judge, can change the Law.
1790. Paley, Horæ Paul., Rom. i. 9. He so far changed his purpose as to go back through Macedonia.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 8 (1882), 430. A series of victories which … changed the political aspect of the world.
b. With into or to: To turn or convert into.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1258. Þat sumtyme wer gentyle, Now ar chaunged to chorles.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xiv. 58. The vertue that tornyth and chaungyth the substaunce of the sede in to the substaunce of al the partyes of the plante.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., V. i. 126. Cambio is chang’d into Lucentio.
1611. Bible, Ps. cvi. 20. Thus they changed their glory, into the similitude of an oxe that eateth grasse.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, III. 123. Chang’d to a bird, and sent to flit in air.
1833. Tennyson, Lady Clara, vi. You changed a wholesome heart to gall.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 48. They would change the patriarchal or dynastic form into aristocracy or monarchy.
c. To turn from the natural or proper state; to render acid or tainted; as, the wine is changed; thunder and lightning are said to change (or turn) milk. (colloq. or dial.)
7. intr. (for refl.) To become different, undergo alteration, alter, vary.
c. 1275. Lay., 3791. Þo changede [1205 twineden] hire þonkes.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 148. On þe fifte day changed þer wynde.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 779. Tho chaungen gan here colour in here face.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cxxx. 156. When the french kyng sawe the englysshmen, his blode chaunged.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. lxxxviii. 441. The flowers be … of an incarnate … colour changing upon blewe.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., II. ii. 96. Their mindes may change.
1611. Bible, Malachi iii. 6. I am the Lord, I change not.
1632. Rutherford, Lett., xxiii. (1862), I. 90. Ye have not changed upon, nor wearied of your sweet Master, Christ.
1712–4. Pope, Rape Lock, II. 68. Colours that change whene’er they wave their wings.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 91. Nothing will die; All things will change.
b. To turn into or to something else.
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl., 306. Ha … Chaungeþ fram water into blod.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. v. 88. Our solemne Hymnes, to sullen Dyrges change. Ibid. (1601), All’s Well, IV. iii. 5. He chang’d almost into another man.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., liv. 16. And every winter change to spring.
c. With complemental adj.: To become, turn. Obs. rare.
1660. Sharrock, Vegetables, 128. Endive … by this means will change whitish.
d. Of the moon: (a.) To pass through her various phases. (b.) To pass from one monthly revolution to another, pass through the phase of ‘new moon’; sometimes extended to ‘full moon,’ and intermediate phases. Cf. CHANGE sb. 5.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 5336. It shal chaungen … as the moone.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XVIII. 83. The minde of men chaungeth as the mone.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., II. ii. 110. The Moone … That monethly changes in her circled Orbe.
1693. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen., 322. The moon changeth; Luna coit, vel novatur.
1881. W. H. Rideing, in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 810/1. When the moon changes, I have the fits.
† e. spec. To change countenance; to turn pale, blush, etc. Obs.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, V. i. 140. He changes more and more, I thinke he be angrie indeede. Ibid., Hen. V., II. ii. 73. Looke ye how they change: Their cheekes are paper. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., I. vi. 12. Change you, Madam.
f. spec. To turn sour or acid, become tainted; to ‘turn.’ (colloq. or dial.)
† 8. trans. To shift, transfer (from one place to another). rare.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 131. From feble lande eke chaunge hem yf thou mowe: For man and tree from feble lande to goode Who can and wol not chaunge I holde him woode.
b. intr. To remove to another place or into other circumstances; to be shifted or transferred. (rare; occas. colloq. with about, over, etc.)
c. 1360. Song of Yesterd., 33, in E. E. P. (1862), 134. Hit [worldly bliss] schaungeþ so oft and so sodeynly, To day is here, to morwe a way.
1426. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 134. To forein blode that it not ne choinge, The crowne to put in non hondis straunge.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 155. When trewe mens money, chaungth into théeues purses.
1574. trans. Littleton’s Tenures, 119 a. If a person or a vicar … dieth or chaungeth.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xliii. 491 (Hoppe). To let us change and change about.
9. Phrases. [In some of these it is uncertain whether the verb was originally transitive or intransitive.] To change arms: (Mil.) to shift the rifle from one shoulder to the other. To change colo(u)r or hue: to become altered in color; spec. of persons, to turn pale, blush, etc. (cf. COLOUR). † To change (one’s) copy: to change or alter one’s style, manner, character. † To change countenance or face (obs.) = to change color. To change foot: † a. to change sides, play the turncoat (obs.); b. (also to change feet) = to change step. To change front: (orig. Mil.) to face in another direction, to alter one’s direction of standing or marching; usually fig. To change hands: see 2. To change hand, or change a horse (Horsemanship): see quot. † To change one’s life (obs. rare): to die. To change one’s mind: to alter one’s opinion or purpose (see MIND). To change one’s note or tune: to alter one’s manner of speaking, to speak more respectfully, to change from laughter to tears (colloq.). To change sides: see 2. To change step: to alter the cadence of the steps in marching so that each foot falls at the instant the other would have fallen. To chop and change: see CHOP v.2
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. ccccl. 795. With those wordes the duke a lytell chaunged *colour.
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., III. ii. 192. Change you colour?
1634. Brereton, Trav. (1844), Mr. Thatcher … was so apprehensive of the danger, that he changed colours.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 72. One large star … changed colour incessantly.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. cxiii. [cix.] 327. Chaunge your *copye, so that we haue no cause to renewe our yuell wylles agaynste you.
1605. Camden, Rem., 190. I shall change copie from a Duke to a King.
1640. G. Watts, trans. Bacon’s Adv. Learn., 374. Howsoever we change Copy, we are embased and made the lighter thereby.
1637. Heywood, Royall King, Wks. 1874, VI. 22. Why, to change *face They say in modest maides are signes of grace.
1613–8. Daniel, Coll. Hist. Eng. (1621), 153. Glocester … conceiuing his turning, not so to serue his turne, as he expected … againe changed *foote.
1833. Regul. & Instr. Cavalry, I. 18. Change Feet…. This may be required of a man who is stepping with a different foot from the rest.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., s.v., To change a *horse, or change *hand, is to turn or beat the horse’s head from one hand to the other, from the right to the left, or from the left to the right.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 4210 (Trin.). Soone bigon he chaunge *hew.
1546. Langley, Pol. Verg. De Invent., IV. i. 83 a. At ye same time Marye the Vyrgyne … did chaunge her *life.
1611. Bible, Heb. xii. 17. Hee found no place of repentance [marg. way to change his *minde].
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. viii. Mrs. Western had changed her mind on the very point of departure.
1885. Sir H. Cotton, in Law Times, LXXX. 136/1. The lady … afterwards changed her mind and wished to take it back.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, V. ix. I’ll make him change his *Note presently.
1578. Scot. Poems 16th C. (1801), II. 185. Priestes change your *tune.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, I. 124 (Hoppe). You must not suppose … that I can change and chop my *politics for my own purpose.
