Revoke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Revoked;p. pr. & vb. n. Revoking.]
Etymology: [F. révoquer, L. revocare; pref. re- re- + vocare to call, fr. vox, vocis, voice. See Voice, and cf. Revocate.]
1. To call or bring back; to recall. [Obs.] The faint sprite he did revoke again, To her frail mansion of morality. Spenser.
2. Hence, to annul, by recalling or taking back; to repeal; to rescind; to cancel; to reverse, as anything granted by a special act; as, , to revoke a will, a license, a grant, a permission, a law, or the like. Shak.
3. To hold back; to repress; to restrain. [Obs.] [She] still strove their sudden rages to revoke. Spenser.
4. To draw back; to withdraw. [Obs.] Spenser.
2 more senses
5. To call back to mind; to recollect. [Obs.] A man, by revoking and recollecting within himself former passages, will be still apt to inculcate these sad memoris to his conscience. South.
Syn. -- To abolish; recall; repeal; rescind; countermand; annul; abrogate; cancel; reverse. See Abolish.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Revoke, v. i. (Card Playing)
To fail to follow suit when holding a card of the suit led, in violation of the rule of the game; to renege. Hoyle.
Revoke, n. (Card Playing)
The act of revoking. She [Sarah Battle] never made a revoke. Lamb.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for revoke; he lists it under abolish, cancel, renounce.
Where he writes about it:
Abjure, discard, forswear, recall, recant, renounce, retract, and revoke, like abandon, imply some previous connection. — from renounce
Revoke (L. re, back, and voco, call), etymologically the exact equivalent of the English recall, is to take back something given or granted; as, to revoke a command, a will, or a grant; recall may be used in the exact sense of revoke, but is often applied to persons, as revoke is not; we recall a messenger and revoke the order with which he was charged. — from renounce