Devolve



GRE Barron

解释

GRE 红宝书

• v. ( 指工作, 职务) 移交给某人
• ［英］ v. ( 指工作, 职务) 移交给某人 ( passed to others power, work, or property)

Webster Collegiate

verb (devolved; devolving)

• Etymology: Middle English, from Latin devolvere, from de- + volvere to roll — more at voluble
• Date: 15th century
• transitive verb
  • to pass on (as responsibility, rights, or powers) from one person or entity to another <devolving to western Europe full responsibility for its own defense — Christopher Lane>
• intransitive verb
  • 1.
    • a. to pass by transmission or succession <the estate devolved on a distant cousin>
    • b. to fall or be passed usually as a responsibility or obligation <the responsibility for breadwinning has devolved increasingly upon women — Barbara Ehrenreich>
  • 2. to come by or as if by flowing down <his allegedly subversive campaigns…devolve from his belief in basic American rights — Frank Deford>
  • 3. to degenerate through a gradual change or evolution <where order devolves into chaos — Johns Hopkins Magazine>

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