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To ring the changes on

Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Change \Change\, n. [F. change, fr. changer. See {Change}. v.
   t.]
   1. Any variation or alteration; a passing from one state or
      form to another; as, a change of countenance; a change of
      habits or principles.

            Apprehensions of a change of dynasty. --Hallam.

            All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till
            my change come.                       --Job xiv. 14.

   2. A succesion or substitution of one thing in the place of
      another; a difference; novelty; variety; as, a change of
      seasons.

            Our fathers did for change to France repair.
                                                  --Dryden.

            The ringing grooves of change.        --Tennyson.

   3. A passing from one phase to another; as, a change of the
      moon.

   4. Alteration in the order of a series; permutation.

   5. That which makes a variety, or may be substituted for
      another.

            Thirty change (R.V. changes) of garments. --Judg.
                                                  xiv. 12.

   6. Small money; the money by means of which the larger coins
      and bank bills are made available in small dealings;
      hence, the balance returned when payment is tendered by a
      coin or note exceeding the sum due.

   7. [See {Exchange}.] A place where merchants and others meet
      to transact business; a building appropriated for
      mercantile transactions. [Colloq. for Exchange.]

   8. A public house; an alehouse. [Scot.]

            They call an alehouse a change.       --Burt.

   9. (Mus.) Any order in which a number of bells are struck,
      other than that of the diatonic scale.

            Four bells admit twenty-four changes in ringing.
                                                  --Holder.

   {Change of life}, the period in the life of a woman when
      menstruation and the capacity for conception cease,
      usually occurring between forty-five and fifty years of
      age.

   {Change ringing}, the continual production, without
      repetition, of changes on bells, See def. 9. above.

   {Change wheel} (Mech.), one of a set of wheels of different
      sizes and number of teeth, that may be changed or
      substituted one for another in machinery, to produce a
      different but definite rate of angular velocity in an
      axis, as in cutting screws, gear, etc.

   {To ring the changes on}, to present the same facts or
      arguments in variety of ways.

   Syn: Variety; variation; alteration; mutation; transition;
        vicissitude; innovation; novelty; transmutation;
        revolution; reverse.
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