devolution

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • n devolution the delegation of authority (especially from a central to a regional government)
    • n devolution the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of effective power or vitality or essential quality
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
    • Devolution The act of rolling down. "The devolution of earth down upon the valleys."
    • Devolution Transference from one person to another; a passing or devolving upon a successor. "The devolution of the crown through a . . . channel known and conformable to old constitutional requisitions."
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Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n devolution The act of rolling down.
    • n devolution The act of devolving, transferring, or handing over; transmission from one person to another; a passing or falling to a successor, as of office, authority, or real estate.
    • n devolution In Scots law: The reference made by two or more arbiters who differ in opinion to an oversman or umpire to determine the difference.
    • n devolution The falling of a purchase made under articles of roup to the next highest offerer, on the failure of the highest bidder to find caution for payment of the price within the time limited by the articles.
    • n devolution The opposite of evolution; degeneration.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Devolution dev-ol-ū′shun a passing from one person to another.
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Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
LL. devolutio,: cf. F. dévolution,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
See Devolve.

Usage

In literature:

He had never seen his relation, and never dreamed of this romantic devolution of great estates upon himself.
"Beatrice" by H. Rider Haggard
But democracy is not at all an adequate device unless it is accompanied by a very great amount of devolution.
"Political Ideals" by Bertrand Russell
Nevertheless, the problem before us is one of devolution pure and simple, and the question is, how far is devolution to go?
"The Framework of Home Rule" by Erskine Childers
Nor can I stop to dwell upon the very important subject of the delegation or devolution of powers by Parliament to subordinate bodies.
"Essays in Liberalism" by Various
There is no devolution of the wife to the husband's brother, or anything of that nature.
"The Mafulu" by Robert W. Williamson
Is devolution in Irish affairs desirable?
"Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Debate Index" by Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
It stands for evolution rather than for devolution or revolution.
"The Joyful Heart" by Robert Haven Schauffler
First he obtained a right of occupancy in his land and of its devolution to his son if he had one.
"The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India--Volume I (of IV)" by R.V. Russell
The doctrine of the evolution of man as taught by Darwin is neither complimentary to man or God; but the doctrine of devolution is.
"The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882" by Joseph Wild
DEVOLUTION, WAR OF (1667-68), the name applied to the war which arose out of Louis XIV.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3" by Various
They not only have no constructive part but are positively destructive and devolutional.
"Creative Intelligence" by John Dewey, Addison W. Moore, Harold Chapman Brown, George H. Mead, Boyd H. Bode, Henry Waldgrave, Stuart James, Hayden Tufts, Horace M. Kallen
The mildest proposal of all is devolution; in other words, the concession to Ireland of a larger measure of local self-government.
"Irish History and the Irish Question" by Goldwin Smith
It was thus that the first of his wars for the extension of frontiers began, the War of Devolution.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 7" by Various
But there was the dangerous rock of finance, on which all devolution schemes must be wrecked.
"The Viceroys of Ireland" by Charles O'Mahony
He offers federal devolution as the solution of the Irish question.
"Feminism and Sex-Extinction" by Arabella Kenealy
It would then be seen how far the principle of devolution could be applied to his various attributes in their daily exercise.
"Social Transformations of the Victorian Age" by T. H. S. (Thomas Hay Sweet) Escott
The devolution of the former is regulated by the rules of inheritance (q.v.).
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 6" by Various
The method of division shows a devolution of responsibility.
"Expositor's Bible: Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther" by Walter Adeney
It is only when a partition takes place that the devolution of the shares by inheritance has to be traced.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 4" by Various
In May he began what is known as the War of Devolution, with Spain.
"A Student's History of England, v. 2 (of 3)" by Samuel Rawson Gardiner
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In news:

'Lost' Director Jack Bender Developing ' Devolution ' for Legendary (Exclusive).
hollywoodreporter.com
Behind Obama's Evolution and Romney's Devolution on Gay Marriage.
businessweek.com
The devolution of chocolate mousse.
saltlakemagazine.com
From nature's evolution to computer devolution .
knoxnews.com
ANYONE naive enough to think that devolution for Scotland and Wales would leave their relations with England untouched has been disabused these past few weeks.
economist.com
A 200-year evolution followed by a 10-year devolution, progression turned to regression in no time at all.
csmonitor.com
The argument that some matters, such as abortion, are of such moral urgency that they supersede a general preference for devolution sounds reasonable, until you try to decide which subjects are suitably urgent.
economist.com
The devolution of chocolate mousse .
saltlakemagazine.com
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In science:

Grisvard, ´Equations d’´evolution abstraites non lin´eaires de type parabolique, C. R.
Square Root Problem of Kato for the Sum of Operators
We computed the excited non-radial oscillations with mode degree up to 10 for a stellar evolution model representative of the pulsating evolved B1Ib star HD 163899 with the Code Li´egeois d’´Evolution Stellaire (Scuflaire et al. 2008 ) and with the non-adiabatic pulsation code MAD (Dupret 2001 ).
On the origin of macroturbulence in hot stars
Probl`emes d’´evolution en milieux al´eatoires: Th´eor`emes limites, sch´emas num´eriques et applications en optique.
A diffusion approximation theorem for a nonlinear PDE with application to random birefringent optical fibers
Une formule d’isometrie pour l’int´egrale stochastique hilbertienne et ´equations d’´evolution lin´eaires stochastiques. Z.
Stochastic integration with respect to cylindrical Levy processes in Hilbert spaces: an L^2 approach
Lamberton, ´Equations d’´evolution lin´eaires associ´ees `a des semi-groupes de contractions dans les espaces Lp , J.
New Abstract Hardy Spaces
DG]. Giuseppe Da Prato and Pierre Grisvard, Equations d’´evolution abstraites non lin´eaires de type parabolique, Ann.
Stability of complex hyperbolic space under curvature-normalized Ricci flow
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