Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To invalidate or cause to no longer be in effect, as by voiding or canceling.
  • intransitive verb To fail to follow suit in cards when required and able to do so.
  • noun Failure to follow suit in a card game when required and able to do so.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To call back; summon back; cause to return.
  • To bring back to consciousness; revive; resuscitate.
  • To call back to memory; recall to mind.
  • To annul by recalling or taking back; make void; cancel; repeal; reverse: as, to revoke a will; to revoke a privilege.
  • To restrain; repress; check.
  • To give up; renounce.
  • Synonyms Recant, Abjure, etc. (see renounce); Repeal, Rescind, etc. (see abolish).
  • To recall a right or privilege conceded in a previous act or promise.
  • In card-playing, to neglect to follow suit when the player can and should do so.
  • noun Revocation; recall.
  • noun In card-playing, the act of revoking; a failure to follow suit when the player can and Should do so.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To call or bring back; to recall.
  • transitive verb Hence, to annul, by recalling or taking back; to repeal; to rescind; to cancel; to reverse, as anything granted by a special act.
  • transitive verb obsolete To hold back; to repress; to restrain.
  • transitive verb obsolete To draw back; to withdraw.
  • transitive verb obsolete To call back to mind; to recollect.
  • intransitive verb (Card Playing) To fail to follow suit when holding a card of the suit led, in violation of the rule of the game; to renege.
  • noun (Card Playing) The act of revoking.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To cancel or invalidate by withdrawing or reversing
  • verb intransitive To fail to follow suit in a game of cards when holding a card in that suit.
  • noun The act of revoking in a game of cards.
  • noun A renege; a violation of important rules regarding the play of tricks in trick-taking card games serious enough to render the round invalid.
  • noun A violation ranked in seriousness somewhat below overt cheating, with the status of a more minor offense only because, when it happens, it is usually accidental.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb cancel officially
  • verb fail to follow suit when able and required to do so
  • noun the mistake of not following suit when able to do so

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English revoken, from Old French revoquer, from Latin revocāre : re-, re- + vocāre, to call; see wekw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin revocare, re- + vox

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Examples

  • The word revoke has appeared in 97 New York Times articles in the past year, including on April 7 in Housing Authority, Facing

    NYT > Home Page By THE LEARNING NETWORK 2010

  • I call a revoke, Dal; you trumped spades on the second round. "

    When a Man Marries Mary Roberts Rinehart 1917

  • After this remark by the Dummy, the Declarer claims a revoke, the claim is disputed upon the ground that the Dummy called the revoke to the attention of the Declarer.

    Auction of To-day Milton C. Work

  • A revoke occurs when a player, other than dummy, holding one or more cards of the suit led, plays a card of a different suit.

    Auction of To-day Milton C. Work

  • The penalty for the revoke is the most severe in Auction, many think it unreasonably so, and a player is unquestionably entitled to every protection the law affords him.

    Auction of To-day Milton C. Work

  • "revoke" -- the literary act after which, if he does it on purpose, you must not play with a man -- is speaking of authors and books which he has not read and cannot read in the original, while he leaves you ignorant of his ignorance.

    Matthew Arnold George Saintsbury 1889

  • I know by now you've seen the notice by the guy claiming to "revoke" the GPL license on his code, because I'm getting email about it.

    GNU GPL: It's Irrevocable glyn moody 2008

  • "The word 'revoke' has a negative connotation, but [the relationship] was anything but that," he said.

    News From DefenseNews.com CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS 2010

  • To "revoke" a device we just leave off the copy of the media key encrypted with his secret key!

    Doom9's Forum 2010

  • O'Reilly's Christmas paranoia: They want to 'revoke' Christmas!

    Think Progress 2009

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