convert

Verb

convert (third-person singular simple present converts, present participle converting, simple past and past participle converted)

1. (transitive) To transform or change (something) into another form, substance, state, or product.
   • A kettle converts water into steam.
   • if the whole atmosphere were converted into water1684-1690, Thomas Burnet, Sacred Theory of the Earth
2. (transitive) To change (something) from one use, function, or purpose to another.
   • And the deff's further sayen that after the said b'gayn the said lambert compounded wt the said lychefeld ffor the moytie of the said Tymber stone glasse yren and tyle aforsaid by fforce whereof the said Lambert and Jane executrix of the testament of the said Thom's lychefeld haue broken and pulled...c. 1540-1553, John Hobson Matthews, editor, Augmentation proceedings: 1540-1553, volume 3, Cardiff Records, published 1901
   • He converted his garden into a tennis court.
3. (transitive) To induce (someone) to adopt a particular religion, faith, ideology or belief (see also sense 12).
   • They converted her to Roman Catholicism on her deathbed.
   • No attempt was made to convert the Moslems.1855–1858, William H[ickling] Prescott, History of the Reign of Philip the Second, King of Spain, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson, and Company, →OCLC
4. (transitive) To exchange for something of equal value.
   • We converted our pounds into euros.
5. (transitive) To express (a quantity) in alternative units.
6. (transitive) To express (a unit of measurement) in terms of another; to furnish a mathematical formula by which a quantity, expressed in the former unit, may be given in the latter.
   • How do you convert feet into metres?
7. (transitive) To appropriate wrongfully or unlawfully; to commit the common law tort of conversion.
   • The grand jury claims Terrigno "knowingly converted, for the benefit of herself and others, federal funds, which were intended to help the poor and homeless in the Los Angeles area."1985 December 14, Gordon Gottlieb, “L.A. Community Divided over Terrigno Indictment”, in Gay Community News, volume 13, number 22, page 10
8. (ambitransitive) To score extra points after (a try) by completing a conversion.
   • Flood converted to leave Wales with a 23-9 deficit going into the final quarter.2011 February 4, Gareth Roberts, “Wales 19-26 England”, in BBC
9. To score extra points following a touchdown.
   • Bass also kicked field goals of 40 and 49 yards, but he also missed a point-after try, which led to a 2-point conversion that the Bills converted later in the game.2024 November 3, Jon Scott, Tommy Gallagher, “61 yards to victory: Bills ride another 2nd-half surge, beat Dolphins”, in WGRZ
10. (intransitive, transitive) To score (especially a penalty kick).
    • Hinton, inevitably, converted the penalty.2011, Jonathan Wilson, Brian Clough: The Biography, →ISBN
    • However, the lead was doubled after the break, when Branislav Ivanovic converted from close range after Fernando Torres had flicked on.2013, Mark Worrall, Kelvin Barker, David Johnstone, Making History, Not Reliving It: A Decade of Roman's Rule at Chelsea, →ISBN, page 225
11. (intransitive, ten-pin bowling) To score a spare.
12. (intransitive) To undergo a conversion of religion, faith or belief (see also sense 3).
    • We've converted to Methodism.
    • The notion of blood purity was first elaborated in Europe, where it was used to separate Old Christians from Spain’s New Christians—women and men of Jewish and Muslim origin whose ancestors had converted to Christianity.2009, Irene Silverblatt, “Foreword”, in Andrew B. Fisher, Matthew D. O'hara, editors, Imperial Subjects: Race and Identity in Colonial Latin America, page xi

Noun

UK/ˈkɒn.vət/US/ˈkɑn.vɚt/

convert (plural converts)

1. A person who has converted to a religion.
   • They were all converts to Islam.
   • While still in this relationship, Greene, a convert to Roman Catholicism at 23, was asked to be godfather to Catherine Walston, a 30-year-old married woman, at her own conversion.2004, Ted Jones, chapter 3, in The French Riviera: A Literary Guide for Travellers, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, published 2007, →ISBN, page 64
2. A person who is now in favour of something that they previously opposed or disliked.
   • I never really liked broccoli before, but now that I've tasted it the way you cook it, I'm a convert!
3. Anyone who has converted from being one thing to being another.
   • A great advantage of these temporary conversions of a man into a beast is that it enables the convert in his animal shape to pay out his enemy without being suspected.1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 11, page 207
4. (Canadian) The equivalent of a conversion in rugby