An acrobatic movement in which a person rolls forward or backward in a complete revolution, bringing the feet over the head. Used literally and figuratively to describe complete reversals.
From Old French sombresault, from sobre meaning 'over' (from Latin super) plus sault meaning 'leap' (from Latin saltus). The word literally means 'over-leap'.
The somersault is one of the few human movements that deliberately defies our natural relationship with gravity and orientation - it's a controlled act of disorientation that somehow brings us back to where we started. The word's figurative use to describe complete reversals of opinion or policy captures this essence of turning everything upside down only to land right-side up again.
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