reinventv.
/ˌriːɪnˈvɛnt/, U.S. /ˌriᵻnˈvɛnt/ 1. transitive. To invent again. Also occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > contrive, devise, or invent [verb (transitive)] > again
reinvent1647
1647 W. Petty Advice to Hartlib 2 So we see many Wittes and Ingenuities lying scattered up and downe the world, whereof some are now labouring to doe what is already done, and pusling themselves to reinvent what is already invented.
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. ix. 371 This not being the first time, that the same thing has been reinvented.
1784 R. Dunthorne et al. Long's Astron. (new ed.) II. v. xi. 707 It is very certain that Galileo..reinvented it, without any other assistance, than that of hearing such an instrument had been made.
1789 W. Williams Primitive Hist. p. iii (heading) Of letters reinvented by him and his son Thoth Hermogenes, tho' known by the Antediluvians.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xlv. 542 The quadrant in most common use, especially for nautical observations, was first proposed by Newton, but improved, or perhaps reinvented, by Hadley.
1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 180 After Spenser..had reinvented the art of writing well.
1888 H. S. Holland Christ or Eccles. 73 [The mind] invents;..it corrects; it reinvents.
1929 L. F. Zwarg Study of Hist. Apparatus Physical Educ. i. 81 Many odd contrivances [of physical education apparatus] of former years have disappeared entirely, others have from time to time been rediscovered or reinvented.
1972 M. I. Goldman Spoils of Progress iv. 148 It seems as if every manufacturer must continually start from scratch and reinvent the air and water filter.
2005 C. Tudge Secret Life Trees iii. 62 Sharks, bony fish, ichthyosaurs and whales all independently reinvented the general form of the fish.
2. transitive. To adopt a new image or identity for (a person or thing). Usually reflexive: to adopt a new image or identity for oneself; to change one's behaviour in order to respond to a change in environment or react to opportunity.
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1913 Forum Jan. 90 The Superman?.. He is the man who reinvents and reappraises himself each day.
1955 L. A. Fiedler End to Innoc. 47 One can almost feel pity for the man who has become as vividly unreal as a political slogan, or as the newspaper headlines that reinvent him daily.
1983 Washington Post 13 Mar. g11/6 What, he is asked, is the best way to know Truman Capote, this man always reinventing himself?
1993 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 June c1/2 CBC Television has been attempting to reinvent itself in the past year as part of ‘repositioning’, an exercise designed to make the CBC more distinct from its competitors.
2002 Mojo Feb. 44/1 Who had the idea of reinventing you as a power-balladeering AOR goddess in the mid-'80s?
Phrases
to reinvent the wheel: to recreate something that already exists, esp. at the expense of unnecessary time and effort; to repeat effort needlessly.
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1956 M. Egan & H. H. Henkle in J. H. Shera et al. Documentation in Action vii. 143 To forestall unnecessary duplication or, as one scientist expressed it, to avoid re-inventing the wheel.
1967 Times 27 Jan. 9/3 (advt.) We are not out to do a technological equivalent of re-inventing the wheel.
1989 J. Churchill Grime & Punishm. (1992) vi. 62 Every generation has to reinvent the wheel.
1993 ‘A. McNab’ Bravo Two Zero (1994) iii. 59 We'd covered everything and to carry on would just be reinventing the wheel.
2000 Superintendent Winter 7/2 There is also the risk of reinventing the wheel every time a new initiative is proposed.
Derivatives
ˌreinˈvented adj.
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1849 Colonial Mag. & East India Rev. July 20 The Brevetes secured a patent in England for this reinvented condenser.
1913 Illinois Law Rev. 7 524 Not merely a restored, but a reinvented system of Roman law.
2007 Independent 22 Mar. 26/1 (headline) Reinvented Gore returns to Capitol Hill.
ˌreinˈventing n.
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1872 Eng. Mechanic & World of Sci. 17 May 227/1 Having suffered ‘pretty considerable’ from the folly of independent investigation and the re-inventing of old things myself.
1919 E. R. Murray & H. B. Smith Child under Eight vi. 77 The re-inventing of primitive industries..may have a higher educational value.
1997 Scotsman (Nexis) 9 May 4 A reinventing of traditional names, many from Scottish or other Celtic cultures.
reinˈventor n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > inventive or creative faculty > [noun] > creator or inventor > again
reinventor1814
1814 T. H. Horne Introd. Study Bibliogr. I. i. iii. 273 Bewick has been considered by some persons, as the re-inventor of the art.
1852 N. Hawthorne Wonder-bk. (1879) 118 My merit as a reinventor and improver.
1907 Times 10 June 6/4 Mr. William De Morgan, the reinventor in modern times of lustred pottery.
2000 Z. Smith White Teeth (2001) xiii. 368 She was like her mother, like her father—a great reinventor of herself, a great make-doer.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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