- Change
- Change Change, n. [F. change, fr. changer. See {Change}. v.
t.]
1. Any variation or alteration; a passing from one state or
form to another; as, a change of countenance; a change of
habits or principles.
[1913 Webster]
Apprehensions of a change of dynasty. --Hallam. [1913 Webster]
All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. --Job xiv. 14. [1913 Webster]
2. A succesion or substitution of one thing in the place of another; a difference; novelty; variety; as, a change of seasons. [1913 Webster]
Our fathers did for change to France repair. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
The ringing grooves of change. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]
3. A passing from one phase to another; as, a change of the moon. [1913 Webster]
4. Alteration in the order of a series; permutation. [1913 Webster]
5. That which makes a variety, or may be substituted for another. [1913 Webster]
Thirty change (R.V. changes) of garments. --Judg. xiv. 12. [1913 Webster]
6. Small money; the money by means of which the larger coins and bank bills are made available in small dealings; hence, the balance returned when payment is tendered by a coin or note exceeding the sum due. [1913 Webster]
7. [See {Exchange}.] A place where merchants and others meet to transact business; a building appropriated for mercantile transactions. [Colloq. for Exchange.] [1913 Webster]
8. A public house; an alehouse. [Scot.] [1913 Webster]
They call an alehouse a change. --Burt. [1913 Webster]
9. (Mus.) Any order in which a number of bells are struck, other than that of the diatonic scale. [1913 Webster]
Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing. --Holder. [1913 Webster]
{Change of life}, the period in the life of a woman when menstruation and the capacity for conception cease, usually occurring between forty-five and fifty years of age.
{Change ringing}, the continual production, without repetition, of changes on bells, See def. 9. above.
{Change wheel} (Mech.), one of a set of wheels of different sizes and number of teeth, that may be changed or substituted one for another in machinery, to produce a different but definite rate of angular velocity in an axis, as in cutting screws, gear, etc.
{To ring the changes on}, to present the same facts or arguments in variety of ways.
Syn: Variety; variation; alteration; mutation; transition; vicissitude; innovation; novelty; transmutation; revolution; reverse. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
