[a. F. transposer (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), f. TRANS- + poser to place: see POSE, COMPOSE.]
† 1. trans. To change (one thing) to or into another; to transform, transmute, convert. Obs.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., II. 387. Vertues ben transposid to vices.
c. 1460. Wisdom, 1005, in Macro Plays, 68. Gyff a peny in thy lyve, with goode wyll To þe pore, & yt pleysythe Gode more Þan mownteynys [MS. mowyntenys] in to golde transposyde were; Ande aftir thy dethe, for the dysposyde.
1530. Palsgr., 761/1. I transpose, I chaunge or tourne a thyng…. He hath transposed his house quyte newe, il a transmué, or contourné sa mayson tout de nouveau, or toute neuue.
1579–80. North, Plutarch (1676), 415. To transpose themselves from good Souldiers … to Labourers, Mercbants, and Farmers.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., I. i. 233. Things base and vilde, holding no quantity, Loue can transpose to forme and dignity: Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 21. That which you are, my thoughts cannot transpose; Angels are bright still, though the brightest fell.
† 2. To change (a writing or book) into another language, style of composition, or mode of expression; to translate; to transfer; to adapt. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 90. The Bible, in which the lawe is closed, Into Latin he [Jerome] hath transposed.
1552. Huloet, Transpose, transcribo.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Transpose,… to turn out of Verse into Prose, to change, or alter the Style.
1858. Faber, trans. Life of Xavier, 256. He spent them in transposing a copious exposition of the Apostle’s Creed into Japanese.
† 3. To change the purport, application, or use of; to apply or use otherwise; to give a different direction to; in bad sense, to corrupt, pervert; to misapply, abuse. Obs.
1509. Barclay, Shyp of Folys (1570), 106. They frowardly the sentence do transpose, And … By their corrupting and vnlawful glose,… bring to damnable heresie.
1548. Geste, Pr. Masse, in Dugdale, Life (1840), App. 101. Can the baptisme water be justly recompted a sacrament when it is transposed to other usage … namely … to christen belles, to washe our clothes withal?
1564. Brief Exam., B iv b. They toke … the salarie … consecrated to the Idolles…, and transposed it to finde the Ministers of the Church.
1644. Milton, Educ., Wks. (1847), 98/1. Nor should … any private friendship have prevailed with me to … transpose my former thoughts.
4. To remove from one place or time to another; to transfer, shift (lit. and fig.: now rare exc. as in 5); † to transplant (obs.); † to convey, conduct (obs.).
c. 1510. Barclay, Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570), F iv. An olde tree transposed shall finde small auauntage.
1555. in Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1721), III. App. xlvi. 139. Bisshope Barlo, alter he was transposed and … discharged out of the bisshoprick of St. Davids.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 77. Many braunches are deriued from this veyne … transposing bloud to euery Membran.
1602. Warner, Alb. Eng., Epit. (1612), 389. Thus … was the Scepter transposed to the House of Lancaster.
a. 1662. Heylin, Laud (1668), 69. Transposing the Communion Table to the East end of the Quire.
1665. Manley, Grotius’ Low-C. Warres, 671. To transpose his Horsemen, and afterwards his Carriages, into that part of the Sea-Coast.
1742. Richardson, Pamela, III. 215. To … transpose his Affections to a worthier Object.
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. vii. 243. As I transpose myself back through the forty years of desultory … reading.
5. To alter the order of (a set or series of things), or the position of (a thing) in a series; to put each of (two or more things) in the place of the other or others, to interchange; esp. to alter the order of letters in a word or of words in a sentence. (Now the ordinary sense.)
1538. Elyot, Metathesis, where one letter is transposed from one place in a worde into an nother as Tymber Tymbre.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxv. 5. Manye because they saw there could no handsom sence be picked out of the words, thoght the order to have bin transposed.
1605. Camden, Rem., 153. The letters of Elizabetha Regina transposed to signifie that happinesse … O Englands Soveraigne thou hast made vs happy: thus Elizabetha Regina, Angliæ Hera, Beasti.
1612. Brinsley, Lud. Lit., xiv. (1627), 197. This one Verse is turned by transposing the words 104 wayes.
1691–8. Norris, Pract. Disc. (1711), III. 171. Whose Notions … are cross and transposed, that calls Evil Good, and Good Evil.
1706. [see TRANSPOSING].
1833. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, II. 289. A common balance … should always be tested in this way:—Let a weight be put in one dish, and balanced by other weights in the other dish: let the weights be then transposed.
1855. Paley, Æschylus (ed. 2), Supplices, 999, note. The following four verses Hermann transposes after 927.
1902. Sloane, Electr. Dict., Transposing, a method of laying metallic circuits for telephoning. The wires at short intervals are crossed so that alternate sections lie on opposite sides of each other. It is done to avoid induction.
b. Algebra. To transfer (a quantity) from one side of an equation to the other, with change of sign.
1810. Hutton, Course Math., I. 222. Thus, if x + 5 = 8; then transposing 5 gives x = 8 – 5 = 3.
c. 1865. in Circ. Sc., I. 456/2. The 3x is transposed: it is taken from the right and put on the left with changed sign.
† 6. To discompose, disturb the mental composure of. Obs. rare.
1594. Kyd, Cornelia, II. 214. Madam, you must not thus transpose your selfe; Wee see your sorrow, but who sorrowes not?
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. III. v. Do something or other, let it [grief] not transpose thee.
7. Mus. To alter the key of; to put into a different key (in composition, arrangement, or performance).
1609. Douland, Ornith. Microl., 26. To transpose is to remoue a song, or a Key from the proper place?
1715[?]. (title) Melodies Proper to be Sung To … ye Psalms of David, Figur’d for the Organ, and … the Treble of each Melody Transpos’d for the Flute.
1845. E. Holmes, Mozart, 30. He transposes prima vista the airs he accompanies.
1875. Ouseley, Mus. Form, 71. At bar 23 the first subject is transposed into the key of E.
Hence Transposed ppl. a.; Transposedly adv.
1609. Douland, Ornith. Microl., 16. In transposed Songs.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, xxii. ¶ 8. He removes the other Transpos’d Page into the place of the first.
1771. Luckombe, Hist. Print., 447. If there be more than two Transpos’d Pages in the Sheet.
1889. F. Taylor, in Grove, Dict. Mus., IV. 161/2. Transposed editions of songs are frequently published, that the same compositions may be made available for voices of different compass.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. v. 676. Writing down the … letters of the alphabet transposedly, any how.
