change

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
change/tʃeɪnʤ/

▶verb

• 1 make or become different.

  ■ (of the moon) arrive at a fresh phase; become new.

• 2 take or use another instead of: she decided to change her name.

  ■ move from one to (another).

  ■ (change over) move from one system or situation to another.

  ■ remove (something dirty or faulty) and replace it with another of the same kind.

  ■ engage (a different gear) in a motor vehicle.

  ■ (change down or up) Brit. engage a lower (or higher) gear in a vehicle or on a bicycle.

• 3 put different clothes on.

• 4 exchange (a sum of money) for the same sum in a different currency or denomination.

▶noun

• 1 the action of changing.

  ■ an instance of becoming different.

  ■ (the change or the change of life) informal the menopause.

• 2 a clean garment or garments as a replacement for something one is wearing.

• 3 coins as opposed to banknotes.

  ■ money given in exchange for the same sum in larger units.

  ■ money returned to someone as the balance of the sum paid.

• 4 an order in which a peal of bells can be rung.

– phrases
change colour blanch or flush.
change hands (of a business or building) pass to a different owner.

■ (of money or a marketable commodity) pass to another person in the course of a business transaction.

a change of air a different climate, typically as a means of improving one's health.
change step alter one's step so that the opposite leg is the one that marks time when marching.
change one's tune express a very different opinion or behave in a very different way.
for a change contrary to how things usually happen or in order to introduce variety.
get no change out of Brit. informal fail to get information or a desired reaction from.
ring the changes vary the ways of doing something. [with allusion to the different orders in which a peal of bells may be rung.]

– derivatives
changeful adjective,
changeless adjective,
changelessly adverb,
changelessness noun,
changer noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. change (n.), changer (v.), from late L. cambiare, from L. cambire ‘barter’.