Conversion

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Conversion \Con*ver"sion\, n. [L. conversio: cf. F. conversion.
     See {Convert}.]
     1. The act of turning or changing from one state or condition
        to another, or the state of being changed; transmutation;
        change.
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              Artificial conversion of water into ice. --Bacon.
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              The conversion of the aliment into fat. --Arbuthnot.
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     2. The act of changing one's views or course, as in passing
        from one side, party, or from of religion to another;
        also, the state of being so changed. "Conversion to
        Christianity." --Prescott.
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     3. (Law) An appropriation of, and dealing with the property
        of another as if it were one's own, without right; as, the
        conversion of a horse.
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              Or bring my action of conversion
              And trover for my goods.              --Hudibras.
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     4. (Logic) The act of interchanging the terms of a
        proposition, as by putting the subject in the place of the
        predicate, or the contrary.
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     5. (Math.) A change or reduction of the form or value of a
        proposition; as, the conversion of equations; the
        conversion of proportions.
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     6. (Mil.)
        (a) A change of front, as a body of troops attacked in the
            flank.
        (b) A change of character or use, as of smoothbore guns
            into rifles.
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     7. (Theol.) A spiritual and moral change attending a change
        of belief with conviction; a change of heart; a change
        from the service of the world to the service of God; a
        change of the ruling disposition of the soul, involving a
        transformation of the outward life.
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              He oft
              Frequented their assemblies, . . . and to them
              preached
              Conversion and repentance, as to souls
              In prison under judgments imminent.   --Milton.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  conversion
       n 1: an event that results in a transformation [syn: {transition},
             {changeover}]
       2: a change in the units or form of an expression: "conversion
          from Fahrenheit to Centigrade"
       3: a successful free throw or try for point after a touchdown
       4: a spiritual enlightenment causing a person to lead a new
          life [syn: {rebirth}, {spiritual rebirth}]
       5: (psychiatry) a defense mechanism represses emotional
          conflicts which are then converted into physical symptoms
          that have no organic basis
       6: a change of religion; "his conversion to the Catholic faith"
       7: interchange of subject and predicate of a proposition
       8: act of exchanging one type of money or security for another
       9: the act of changing from one use or function or purpose to
          another

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  200 Moby Thesaurus words for "conversion":
     Fabianism, about-face, abstraction, abuse, abuse of office,
     accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, adoption, alteration,
     amelioration, annexation, apostasy, appropriation, architecture,
     assembly, befoulment, betterment, block, blocking, boosting, break,
     building, casting, change, change of heart, changeableness,
     changeover, circumcision, composition, construction,
     constructive change, continuity, conveyance,
     corrupt administration, crafting, craftsmanship, creation,
     cultivation, debasement, defalcation, defection, defense mechanism,
     defilement, degeneration, degenerative change, desecration,
     deterioration, deviation, devising, difference, discontinuity,
     divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, elaboration,
     embezzlement, erection, evangelization, extraction, extremism,
     fabrication, fashioning, filching, fitting, flip-flop, formation,
     forming, formulation, fouling, framing, fraud, gradual change,
     gradualism, graft, growing, handicraft, handiwork, harvesting,
     improvement, innovation, liberation, lifting, machining, making,
     maladministration, malfeasance, malpractice, malversation,
     manufacture, manufacturing, melioration, meliorism, mental block,
     metamorphosis, milling, mining, misapplication, misappropriation,
     misconduct, misemployment, misfeasance, mishandling, mismanagement,
     misusage, misuse, mitigation, modification, modulation, molding,
     mutation, new birth, new life, novelty, overthrow, peculation,
     permutation, persuasion, perversion, pilferage, pilfering,
     pinching, poaching, pollution, poor stewardship, prefabrication,
     preparation, processing, producing, profanation, progressivism,
     proselytism, proselytization, prostitution, qualification,
     radical change, radical reform, radicalism, raising, re-creation,
     realignment, rebirth, reclamation, redeemedness, redemption,
     redesign, refining, reform, reformation, reformism, regeneration,
     remaking, renewal, repression, reshaping, restructuring, reversal,
     revisionism, revival, revivification, revolution, salvation,
     scrounging, second birth, shaping, shift, shoplifting, smelting,
     snatching, sneak thievery, snitching, spiritual purification,
     stealage, stealing, sublimation, sudden change, suppression,
     swindle, swiping, switch, symbolization, theft, thievery, thieving,
     total change, transformation, transition, transmutation, turn,
     turnabout, turning, upheaval, utopianism, variation, variety,
     violation, violent change, workmanship, worsening
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Conversion
     the turning of a sinner to God (Acts 15:3). In a general sense
     the heathen are said to be "converted" when they abandon
     heathenism and embrace the Christian faith; and in a more
     special sense men are converted when, by the influence of divine
     grace in their souls, their whole life is changed, old things
     pass away, and all things become new (Acts 26:18). Thus we speak
     of the conversion of the Philippian jailer (16:19-34), of Paul
     (9:1-22), of the Ethiopian treasurer (8:26-40), of Cornelius
     (10), of Lydia (16:13-15), and others. (See {REGENERATION}.)
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONVERSION. torts. the unlawful turning or applying the personal goods of 
  another to the use of the taker, or of some other person than the, owner; or 
  the unlawful destroying or altering their nature. Bull. N. P. 44; 6 Mass. 
  20; 14 Pick. 356; 3 Brod. & Bing. 2; Cro. Eliz. 219 12 Mod. 519; 5 Mass. 
  104; 6 Shepl. 382; Story, Bailm. Sec. 188, 269, 306; 6 Mass. 422; 2 B. & P. 
  488; 3 B. & Ald. 702; 11 M. & W. 363; 8 Taunt. 237; 4 Taunt. 24. 
       2. When a party takes away or wrongfully assumes the right to goods 
  which belong to another, it will in general be sufficient evidence of a 
  conversion but when the original taking was, lawful, as when the party found 
  the goods, and the detention only is illegal, it is absolutely necessary to 
  male a demand of the goods, and there must be a refusal to deliver them 
  before the conversion will, be complete. 1 Ch. Pr. 566; 2 Saund. 47 e, note 
  1 Ch. Pl. 179; Bac. Ab. Trover, B 1 Com. Dig. 439; 3 Com. Dig. 142; 1 Vin. 
  Ab. 236; Yelv. 174, n.; 2 East, R. 405; 6 East, R. 540; 4 Taunt. 799 5 Barn. 
  & Cr. 146; S. C. 11 Eng. C. L. Rep. 185; 3 Bl. Com. 152; 3 Bouv. Inst. n. 
  3522, et seq. The refusal by a servant to deliver the goods entrusted to him 
  by his master, is not evidence of a conversion by his master. 5 Hill, 455. 
       3. The tortious taking of property is, of itself, a conversion 15 John. 
  R. 431 and any intermeddling with it, or any exercise of dominion over it, 
  subversive of the dominion of the owner, or the nature of the bailment, if 
  it be bailed, is, evidence of a conversion. 1 Nott & McCord, R. 592; 2 Mass. 
  R. 398; 1 Har. & John. 519; 7 John. R. 254; 10 John. R. 172 14 John. R. 128; 
  Cro. Eliz. 219; 2 John. Cas. 411. Vide Trover. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CONVERSION, in equity, The considering of one thing as changed into another; 
  for example, land will be considered as converted into money, and treated as 
  such by a court of equity, when the owner has contracted to sell his estate 
  in which case, if he die before the conveyance, his executors and not his 
  heirs will be entitled to the money. 2 Vern. 52; S., C. 3 Chan. R. 217; 1 
  B1. Rep. 129. On the other hand, money is converted into land in a variety 
  of ways as for example, when a man agrees to buy land, and dies before he 
  has received the conveyance, the money he was to pay for it will be 
  considered as converted into lands, and descend to the heir. 1 P. Wms. 176 2 
  Vern. 227 10 Pet. 563; Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.