rev

present singular third person revs · participle present revving · participle past revved · past revved

1. ergativeTo increase the speed of a motor, or to operate at a higher speed.

   He revved the engine in a rather macho style.

   3 more examples

   You could hear the engines revving from a mile away.

   Two in a row, everybody knows at the green light you rev it on the red line.

   1979, Al Greenwood, Lou Gramm, “Rev on the Red Line”, in Head Games

   It is impossible to see inside the mind of a killer. What was he thinking, the young man who sat at the wheel of the white van at the top of Las Ramblas and purposefully revved the engine? What warped ideology, what distorted belief system, what bitter life experience had brought him to this fateful tipping point?

   2017 August 20, “The Observer view on the attacks in Spain”, in The Observer

plural revs

1. abbreviationclippingClipping of revolution (of something spinning).

   Up came the revs again, slam the door shut, kick the stick off the throttle and up through the gears, down the others side! Whee! Made it again!

   2000, Bob Foster, Birdum or Bust!, Henley Beach, SA: Seaview Press, page 175

   1 more example

   He pushed the revs up and up, hurrying the car to eighty then to ninety, his huge Marchal headlights boring a safe white tunnel, nearly half a mile long, between the walls of the night.

   1953, Ian Fleming, “Black Hare and Grey Hound”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 104

1. abbreviationclippinguncountableClipping of revenue

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plural revs

1. abbreviationclippingClipping of reverend

1. alternativeAlternative form of Rev..

plural REVs

1. abbreviationinitialismautomotiveInitialism of range-extended vehicle or range extender vehicle

   Synonyms: EREV, REX, REx, REEV

2. abbreviationacronymautomotiveAcronym of rotary exhaust valve

1. A road network in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for bicycles