reversal
    n 1: a change from one state to the opposite state; "there was a
         reversal of autonomic function"
    2: an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something
       that is thwarting or frustrating [syn: reverse, reversal,
       setback, blow, black eye]
    3: turning in an opposite direction or position; "the reversal
       of the image in the lens" [syn: reversal, turn around]
    4: a decision to reverse an earlier decision [syn: reversal,
       change of mind, flip-flop, turnabout, turnaround]
    5: a judgment by a higher court that the judgment of a lower
       court was incorrect and should be set aside [ant:
       affirmation]
    6: turning in the opposite direction [syn: reversion,
       reverse, reversal, turnabout, turnaround]
    7: the act of reversing the order or place of [syn:
       transposition, reversal]
    8: a major change in attitude or principle or point of view; "an
       about-face on foreign policy" [syn: about-face, volte-
       face, reversal, policy change]

Reversal \Re*ver"sal\, a. [See Reverse.]
   Intended to reverse; implying reversal. [Obs.] --Bp. Burnet.
   [1913 Webster]

Reversal \Re*ver"sal\, n. [From Reverse.]
   1. The act of reversing; the causing to move or face in an
      opposite direction, or to stand or lie in an inverted
      position; as, the reversal of a rotating wheel; the
      reversal of objects by a convex lens.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A change or overthrowing; as, the reversal of a judgment,
      which amounts to an official declaration that it is false;
      the reversal of an attainder, or of an outlawry, by which
      the sentence is rendered void. --Blackstone.
      [1913 Webster]

REVERSAL, international law. First. A declaration by which a sovereign 
promises that he will observe a certain order, or certain conditions, which 
have been once established, notwithstanding any changes that may happen to 
cause a deviation therefrom; as, for example, when the French court, 
consented for the first time, in 1745, to grant to Elizabeth, the Czarina of 
Russia, the title of empress, exacted as a reversal, a declaration 
purporting that the assumption of the title of an imperial government, by 
Russia, should not derogate from the rank which France had held towards 
her. Secondly. Those letters are also termed reversals, Litterae Reversales, 
by which a sovereign declares that, by a particular act of his, he does not 
mean to prejudice a third power. Of this we have an example in history: 
formerly, the emperor of Germany, whose coronation, according to the golden 
ball, ought to have been solemnized at Aix-la-Chapelle, gave to that city 
when he was crowned elsewhere, reversals, by which he declared that such 
coronation took place without prejudice to its rights, and without drawing 
any consequences therefrom for the future.