Also 4–5 -cioun, -sioun, 4–6 -cion, -cyon, 6–7 -tion. [a. OF. subversion (from 12th c.), = It. sovversione, Sp. su(b)version, Pg. subversão, ad. late L. subversio, -ōnem, n. of action f. subvertĕre to SUBVERT.] The action of subverting or state of being subverted.
1. Overthrow, demolition (of a city, stronghold, etc.). ? Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xix. 29. He … dylyueride Loth fro the subuersioun of citees in whiche he had dwellid.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), xvii. 77. Þis Loth was he þat was saued at the subuersioun of Sodom.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 2946. For þis þe fyn þat þer folwe schal: Subuersioun, bothe of tour and wal.
1547. J. Harrison, Exhort. Scottes, 208. Sackyng of tounes, subuersion of holdes, murder of men.
1589. Puttenham, Engl. Poesie, I. xxiv. (Arb.), 62. Nowe are the causes of mans sorrowes many:… the ouerthrowes and discomforts in battell, the subuersions of townes and cities, the desolations of countreis.
1605. B. Jonson, Volpone, II. i. A whale … that had waited there … for the subuersion Of the Stode-Fleet.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 205. Beseiged by an hundred and fifty thousand Mahometans, Acre received an utter subversion.
1618. Bolton, Florus, II. xvii. (1636), 144. That Gracchus who was father of the Gracchi punished them with the subversion of one hundred and fifty of their cities.
1856. Stanley, Sinai & Pal., vii. (1858), 289. Bela, the old name of Zoar, was understood … to allude to the fact of its frequent subversion by earthquakes.
2. The turning (of a thing) upside down or uprooting it from its position; overturning, upsetting (of an object). Now rare.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, I. IV. 181. The violence of the powder was so great, that it blew up the floor where the Duke sate at dinner,… the Duke only by a miracle of Fortune remaining still sitting, and upright in the midst of this subversion.
1684. T. Burnet, Theor. Earth, I. vii. 91. The opening and shutting the Abysse, with the dissolution or subversion of the Earth.
1703. Evelyn, Diary, 26 Nov. The subversion of woods and timber … through my whole estate … is almost tragical.
c. 1791. Encycl. Brit. (1797), VII. 374/1. Others think, that the waters of the sea … turned the whole surface of the earth upside down;… and that in this general subversion, the shells came to be interred here, fishes there, trees there, &c.
1816. T. L. Peacock, Headlong Hall, x. The subversion of a cup of chocolate … into the nape of the neck of Sir Patrick O’Prism.
† 3. Med. Subversion of the stomach: nausea. Obs.
Cf. med.L. subversio animæ (Sinon. Barth.).
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 145. The great consent betweene the stomacke and the kidneyes, and the subuersion of the stomacke, and frequent vomits.
1628. Venner, Baths of Bathe (1650), 355. Weaknesse and subversion of the stomack.
4. In immaterial senses: Overthrow, ruin.
a. of a law, rule, system, condition, faculty, character, etc.
1399. Rolls of Parlt., III. 451/2. Subversion of lawe of the lond.
1488–9. Act 4 Hen. VII., c. 19. To the subvercion of the polecy and gode rule of this lond.
1502. Ord. Crysten Men (W. de W.), V. iv. Manyfested subuercyon of the trouth of god.
1558. T. Watson, Seven Sacr., 34 b. Wherupon foloweth the decaye of healthe, and subuersion of reason.
1669. Gale, Crt. Gentiles, I. Introd. 9. A Discourse … which directly tendes to the subversion of my main Hypothesis.
1681. Flavel, Meth. Grace, xxvii. 461. The crucifixion of sin necessarily implies the subversion of its dominion over the soul.
1757. W. Pitt, Desp., 23 Aug., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 213. The Danger to Great Britain and her Allies, resulting from a total Subversion of the System of Europe.
1757. Gray, Lett., in Poems (1775), 252. It is the brokenness, the ungrammatical position, the total subversion of the period that charms me.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 412. The violent subversion of one free constitution would have been a strange prelude to the violent restoration of another.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. vii. 64. The Norman Conquest was a subversion of the titles to land.
1880. E. White, Certainty in Relig., 103. Under conditions which expose your faith to ever-imminent subversion.
b. of persons, countries, peoples, or their lives or fortunes.
1470–1. Rolls of Parlt., VI. 233/2. The seid Duke and Erle intended … the subversion of this his Reaume.
1531. Elyot, Gov., III. xv. Many a valyaunt capitayne and noble prince haue … brought all their contrayes in daungeour, and often tymes to subuercion and ruyne.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot., I. 31. He drew … to his assistance … the erle of Douglas and mentenit him onlie for the chancellaris subuerssioun and ruwyne.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., III. i. 208. That these great Lords, and Margaret our Queene, Doe seeke subuersion of thy harmelesse Life.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 827. The ouerthrow and subuersion of the Cananites.
1643. Fuller, Serm. Reform., 17. We have so long waited for their conversion, we have almost seene our subversion.
1737. Waterland, Eucharist, 599. The common methods of Subversion begin with lessening the Work of Preparation.
1755. W. Duncan, Cicero’s Sel. Orat., viii. § 27 (1841), 143. His pursuit of new praise threatens the entire subversion of his former fortune.
1798. Ld. Auckland, in Corr. (1862), III. 386. The subversion of several powers and states upon the continent.
