mid-15c., "the color green" (especially in heraldry), also "trees and brush bearing green leaves" (in forest law), from Anglo-French and Old French vert "foliage, greenery, green cloth," from Latin viridem, viridis "green" (see verdure).
"to turn in some direction," 1570s, from Latin vertere (see versus). As a noun meaning "one who has left the Church of England" from 1864, short for convert (v.).
