[a. OF. eversion, ad. L. ēversiōn-em, n. of action f. ēvertĕre: see EVERT.]
† 1. The action of overthrowing; the condition of being overthrown; an overthrow, overturning; lit. and fig. Obs.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron., vii. (1812), 33, note. Iason at Troie first evercion Caste doun Ilion.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot. (1821), I. 58. This nobil realme … wes neir brocht to finall eversione.
1614. T. Adams, Devil’s Banquet, 292. Their auersion, their euersion is our conuersion.
1640. Bp. Hall, Episc., I. § 4. 15. The restauration of the English Church and eversion of Popery.
1678. Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, I. xxxiv. § 16. 55/2. I will take from Pollio all future occasion of falling into such precipitant eversion of the mind.
1709. Strype, Ann. Ref., I. lvii. 585. Repressing disorderly Preaching and Teaching, tending to the Eversion of good Laws and Orders Ecclesiastical.
1801. Fuseli, Lect. Art, i. (1848), 354. Scenes subsequent to the eversion of Troy.
1820. S. Turner, Anglo-Sax. (ed. 3), I. II. App. 545. The fate of the column of the image after its eversion.
† b. (See quot.) Obs.
1678–1706. Phillips, Eversion in Rhetorick is the same figure, according to Ruffianus, with Epanodus.
2. † a. gen. The action of turning outwards; opposed to inversion. Obs.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. xv. (1660), 197. The Eversion of the taile of the Lyon is an expresse token of his placabilitie or tractablenesse.
b. Path. and Phys. The action of everting or turning (an organ or structure) inside out; the condition of being everted. Eversion of the eyelids = ECTROPION.
1751. Spry, in Phil. Trans., XLIX. 19. The conjunctive became greatly inflamed, with an eversion of the upper lid.
1866. Laing & Huxley, Preh. Rem. Caithn., 100. The increased breadth at the latter spot being due to the well marked eversion of the tuberosities.
1872. Darwin, Emotions, v. 121. Sir C. Bell remarks ‘Dogs, in their expressions of fondness, have a slight eversion of the lips.’
1884. Syd. Soc. Lex., Eversion, in Botany, the external protrusion of organs from the cavity in which they are developed.
† 3. Eversion of proportion = conversion of proportion: see CONVERSION. Obs.
1570. [see EVERSE a.].
