generation
(dʒɛnəˈreɪʃən)
Also 3–6 -acion, (6 -yon), 4–5 -acioun.
[a. L. generātiōn-em, n. of action f. generāre to generate. Cf. F. génération.]
I. The action of generating.
1. a. The act or process of generating or begetting physically; procreation; propagation of species. For equivocal, spontaneous generation, see the adjs.
| c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. pr. xi. 78 (Camb. MS.) Þat þat nature desireth and requereth alwey, that is to sein the werk of generacion. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xix. 206 Thei han Membres of Generacioun of Man and Womman. c 1485 Digby Myst., Mor. Wisd. 460 Of lust and lykyng comyth generacion. 1535 Act 27 Hen. VIII, c. 6 §1 The generacion & breding of good and swyfte and strong horses. 1626 Bacon Sylva §608 Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants. 1660 R. Coke Power & Subj. 265 Nor are all Creatures at all times alike disposed to Generation, but apted and disposed thereunto from some exterior cause. 1752 Hume Pol. Disc. x. 159 There is in all men, both male and female, a desire and power of generation more active than is ever universally exerted. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 474 A little thread that appears to be an organ of generation. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 46 In the higher animals, the act of reproduction is accomplished by means of special organs: this is Generative Reproduction, or Generation. |
b. In passive sense: The fact or manner of being begotten.
| 1390 Gower Conf. II. 76 Of generacion..There may no gentilesse be. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xii. 41 (Harl. MS.) By the fadir, that is cause of oure generacion, is vndirstonde mekenesse or humilite. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 547/1 His generacion (that is to wyt his being borne of God by the seed of god..) doth preserue and kepe hym. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 364 The condition of men, even from their generation, is, in their owne sweate to earne their owne meate. |
c. Manner of descent: genealogy, pedigree. rare.
| 1382 Wyclif Matt. i. 1 The boke of the generacioun of Jhesu Crist. 1611 Bible ibid. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 233 They derive their generation from the Cretan Jupiter. 1834 Coleridge Table-t. (1836) 308 The generation of the modern worldly Dissenter was thus: Presbyterian, Arian, Socinian, and last, Unitarian. |
d. Theol. The origin of the Son from the Father. Cf. beget v.
| 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 200 The generation of Christ admits no regeneration, he becoming at once thereby God and Son and heir of all. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 355 Strange Generation this? Father and Son Co-eval, two distinct, and yet but one! 1720 Waterland Eight Serm. 107 The Arians..had some plausible things to urge, particularly in respect of the Generation of the Son. 1848 R. I. Wilberforce Incarnation v. (1852) 122 Origen introduced the phrase of the Son's ‘eternal generation’. |
2. a. Production by natural or artificial processes (as of plants, animals, substances, etc.). † Also, mode of formation, nature of origin (obs.).
In mediæval philosophy, following Aristotle, generation (γένεσις) and corruption (ϕθορά) are often mentioned as contrary processes, together comprehending all the changes which take place in the universe. Hence the frequent allusive use of the words, e.g. in quot. 1611.
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 49 Wiþ þis poudre þe generacioun of þese poris may be mendid. 1519 Interl. 4 Elem. (Percy Soc.) 2 Of the generacyon and cause of stone and metall, and of plantis and herbys. 1563 Fulke Meteors (1640) 63 b, Sand..is of the same generation, consisting of many small bodies, which are congealed into stones. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa ii. 361 There cannot be a countrie more apt then this, for the generation and increase of all plants and creatures. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl iii. E 4 Would you know a catchpoole rightly deriu'd, the corruption of a Cittizen is the generation of a serieant. 1663 Power Exp. Philos. iii. ii. 155 Those insensible Corpuscules which daily produce such Considerable effects in the generation and corruption of Bodies about us. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. Rome 383 The Monks shew'd us..2 marble pillars..Their generation at first was of a mass or heap of small flints and pebbles united into one body by a cement. 1710 J. Clarke Rohault's Nat. Phil. (1729) I 17 The Production of Something which before was not, we call Generation; thus we say Fire is generated, when we see Fire where the Wood was before. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. i. 50 Ideas, their Generations, Associations, and Dependencies on bodily States. 1797 Godwin Enquirer i. i. 1 The true object of education..is the generation of happiness. 1832 Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 210 The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations. 1847 Craig, s.v., In Geometry, generation or genesis is the formation or production of a geometrical figure or quantity. 1863 Tyndall Heat ii. §22 (1870) 26 Liquefaction in this case will conclusively demonstrate a generation of heat. |
b. spec. The production of electricity. Also attrib.
| 1886 W. Wormell tr. Urbanitzky's Electr. in Service of Man 95 The generation of electricity is to be explained by the mere contact of bodies with each other. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 7 Mar. 9/1 The generation and distribution expenses for the year. 1901 Ibid. 14 Nov. 8/3 The generation plant for the first section of the new electric tramways. 1943 J. S. Huxley TVA i. 9 Flood-control could be readily tied up..with the profitable generation of electric power. |
c. Linguistics. The process of deriving the grammatical sequences of a language from a basis that constitutes the grammar.
| 1959 Word XV. 234 Following through with a very condensed generation sequence (in which most irrelevant rules and choices are omitted), we might have something like this. Ibid. 237 A short sample idiom-generation might look like this. 1963 J. Lyons Structural Semantics ii. 31 In the learning and use of language there are two complementary factors to be reckoned with. These I shall call generation and recall... By ‘generation’ [I mean] the construction of a form by the individual speaker from elements which are themselves taken from ‘storage’. 1965 N. Chomsky Aspects of Theory of Syntax i. 60 Both weak and strong generation are determined by the procedure. |
II. That which is generated.
The use of the word in senses 3–6 is largely due to the frequent occurrence of generatio in the Vulgate. Translators were probably uncertain as to the exact meaning of it in certain passages, as Isa. liii. 8, to which the following seems to be the earliest reference in English.
13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 827 Hys generacyoun quo recen con, Þat dyȝed for vus in Iherusalem?
† 3. a. Offspring, progeny. In early instances chiefly to give (have) generation. Obs.
| 1382 Wyclif Isa. lxvi. 9 If I, that generacion to othere men ȝyue, bareyn shal be? seith the Lord thi God. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret, Priv. Priv. (E.E.T.S.) 197 This same ysaac had a wyfe barayne ycallid Rebecta, he Prayed god that he wolde yeue hym generacion. c 1477 Caxton Jason 4 He had in mariage a right fayr lady but they were long to geder with oute hauyng generacion. 1526 Tindale Acts xvii. 28 For we are also his generacion. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1549) 93 His mother Mammea exhorted hym to take to his wyfe some mayden of a noble and auncient house, to the entent that he mought haue generacion. 1553 Becon Reliques of Rome (1563) 240 Al those y{supt} wearry or slea their generations, or their children destroye with drinkes. 1605 Shakes. Lear i. i. 119 The barbarous Scythian Or he that makes his generation messes To gorge his appetite. 1674 tr. Martiniere's Voy. N. Countries 84 If he were discovered..he and his generation [should be] sent Slaves into Siberia. |
† b. Descendants, posterity. Obs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xii. 140 This Machomete..was of the Generacioun of Ysmael, that was Abrahames Sone. 1535 Coverdale Job xxi. 8 Their childers children lyue in their sight, and their generacion [1611 offspring] before their eyes. 1623 Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Exod., Foure hundred yeeres after Jacob came thither with the generation of the Hebrewes. 1704 Hearne Duct. Hist. (1714) I. 185 Which Land the Lord gave to Abraham and his Generation, and promised that in his Family all the Nations of the Earth should be Blessed. |
† c. Fruit, produce (of the vine). Obs. rare.
A rendering of genimen (vitis) (Matt. xxvi. 29) = Gr. γέννηµα (τοῦ άµπέλου). Wyclif and later translators use ‘fruit’.
| 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 244 b/2, I shalle not drynke of thys generacion of the vyne tofore I shalle drynke it newe wyth you [etc.]. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 334, I will drinke no more of this Generation of the Vine. |
4. a. The offspring of the same parent or parents, regarded as a single degree or step in the descent of a person or family from an ancestor; also, in wider sense, = degree 3.
In reckoning genealogies, each generation is naturally restricted to one individual in the direct line, without regard to collateral descendants.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 9262 Qua-so will se fra adam þe ald Hu mani knes to crist es tald, He sal find, wit-vten mistruns, Sexti hale generacions. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 231 Caym his synne was i-punsched seuenfold, þat is in þe seuenþe generacioun; for Lamech was þe seuenþe from Adam in þat lyne. c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. ix. (1885) 129 Charles, discended off Carolus Magnus..by ix. or by x. generacions, was put ffrom the Kyngdome of Fraunce. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 181 The Canon of the Law is laide on him, Being but the second generation Remoued from thy sinne-conceiuing wombe. 1638 F. Junius Paint. Ancients 95 When many generations issuing forth out of one man, who had a certaine marke, do constantly retaine the same marke in some part of their bodies. 1816 J. Wilson City of Plague ii. v, I have known the family Three generations, and I loved them all. 1834 T. Medwin Angler in Wales I. 77 A family party, consisting of three generations; the last a numerous one. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. vii. 258 ætolus, his ancestor in the tenth generation, had quitted Elis. |
b. first- (or second-, etc.) generation a., designating a member of the first (or second, etc.) generation of a family, spec. of descendants of immigrant parents, esp. in the United States; also, designating a naturalized immigrant (or a child, etc., of a naturalized immigrant). Also transf. and fig.
| 1896 S. A. Barnett Let. Sept. in H. Barnett Canon Barnett (1918) II. 119 There are the usual Americans. One ‘first-generation man’, as he calls himself..has made a great fortune. 1946 J. O'Hara in 55 Short Stories from New Yorker (1952) 199 Francis had his place at the bar, at the far corner, and it was his so long as he was present. First-generation Jimmy and second-generation Jimmy had seen to that. 1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 67/1 First-generation immigrants who quickly made good. Ibid. 67/2 The father is just such a second-generation type. 1953 E. Coxhead Midlanders vi. 153 Herself a second-generation college girl, she now under-valued the freedoms the pioneers had won. 1956 Nature 10 Mar. 489/2 Second-generation inbreds... Fourth-generation inbreds... F1 hybrids between third-generation inbreds. 1960 Guardian 29 July 4/4 Deriabin, born in 1921, was a second generation Communist. 1960 Ibid. 5 Nov. 3/6 A second-generation Kenyan whose father was one of the pioneer settlers in the White Highlands. 1962 Chem. Engin. Progress Oct. 44 (caption) First generation (left) and improved (right) void-free laminates of phenolic resin and graphite fabric. 1968 L. Black Outbreak ix. 86 The number of notifications [of smallpox] will rise sharply, as second and third generation cases emerge from the incubation period. |
c. Any of the recognized stages in the development of computers; freq. attrib., designating or pertaining to the type of computer belonging to this stage. Usu. in first(-), second(-), etc., generation.
The consistently defined generations are the first (employing valves), the second (employing transistors), and the fifth (not yet realized, but planned to include the capacity for artificial intelligence).
| 1952 Rev. Electronic Digital Computers (Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers) 109/3 In building the first generation of electronic digital computers, we have learned the magnitude of the engineering involved. 1958 Computer Jrnl. I. 105/2 Much depends on the intrinsic reliability achieved by the next generation of very fast digital computers. 1963 Ibid. VI. 144/1 It has recently become conventional to distinguish between ‘first-generation computers’ and ‘second-generation computers’. The term second-generation computer has come to mean transistorized core-store computers, mostly with some sort of time-sharing routine... The third-generation computers..will be transistorized with magnetic-film stores or superconducting stores. Ibid. 153/2 The new fourth-generation computers will be limited mainly by the uncertainty principle associated with any form of wave motion. 1969 P. B. Jordain Condensed Computer Encycl. 529 Fourth-generation computers will employ very large capacity data storage files. 1971 E. F. Schoeters in B. de Ferranti Living with Computer viii. 71 Programmers ran into severe difficulties with second-generation equipment on comparatively simple routines. Users are naturally applying a ‘softly-softly’ approach, even with third-generation computers, which are so much more flexible and powerful. 1978 Pract. Computing July–Aug. 12/1 The result was that the first Apple..was quickly converted into a market research exercise for a properly-funded second generation machine. 1982 F. J. Galland Dict. Computing 112/2 Some writers have used the term ‘fourth generation’ with respect to computers with virtual storage and/or dispersed intelligence. 1982 Longley & Shain Dict. Information Technol. 125/2 Fifth generation computer, the proposed series of computers, to be produced in the early 1990's, which will have radically new architectures to exploit the potential of AI developments. 1983 Dict. Computing 150/2 Fourth generation of computers, a designation covering machines that were designed after 1970 (approximately) and are characterized by use of integrated circuit technology and very large (more than one megabyte) main memory. In addition to these characteristics, fourth generation systems nearly all have extensive support for networking. Ibid. 360/1 Third generation of computers... Discrete transistors were used through most of this generation. Ibid. 360/2 The third generation saw the introduction of comprehensive operating systems that included support for multiprogramming, multiprocessing, and multiprocessors. 1984 Listener 1 Nov. 38/4 The fifth-generation computer will carry out ‘parallel processing’, imitating the human brain by trying many paths of reasoning at the same instant, and quickly finding the ‘right’ answer. 1984 QL User Dec. 18 A fifth-generation computer is an artificial intelligence machine, a super-expert system. |
5. The whole body of individuals born about the same period; also, the time covered by the lives of these.
In reckoning historically by ‘generations’, the word is taken to mean the interval of time between the birth of the parents and that of their children, usually computed at thirty years, or three generations to a century.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xi. 8 Þou lord sall ȝeme vs & kepe vs fra þis generacioun. 1535 Coverdale Mark viii. 12 Why doth this generacion seke a token? Verely I saye vnto you: There shal no token be geuen vnto this generacion. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 28 Barley, accounted in the olde generations among the woorthyest sort of grayne, and not of small estimation at this day. 1611 Bible Judg. ii. 10 And also all that generation were gathered vnto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them. 1694 Acc. Sev. Late Voy. Introd. (1711) 24 Heaps of Rocks, broken Stones, and Ice heap'd up from many Generations. 1750 Johnson Rambler No. 77 ¶14 The hopes of the rising generation. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. II. xxvi. 48 The rising generation was not disposed to accept his advice. 1831 Brewster Newton (1855) II. xxiii. 306 His second objection to the new system relates to the length of generations, which he says is made only eighteen or twenty years. 1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 151 The negroes of the next generation are not to be doomed to slavery for fear of somewhat more being inflicted on their parents. 1874 Green Short Hist. ix. §1. 591 It is in this group of scientific observers that we catch the secret of the coming generation. |
† 6. Family, breed, race; class, kind, or ‘set’ of persons. Obs.
| c 1477 Caxton Jason 4 Thenne his wyf conceyued of his seed and multeplied the generacion humayn of a right fayr sone. c 1511 1st Eng. Bk. Amer. (Arb.) Introd. 36/2 Sende to vs ayen a good knyght of ye generacyon of fraunce. 1556 Aurelio & Isab. (1608) F vij, Butte corsede be the generation, that dressethe all his thoughtes againste hus unto the worste parte. 1576 J. Sandford Gard. Pleas. 48 Banished out of Rome, advocates, proctours, notaries, and that lyke generation. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 204, Pain. Y'are a Dogge. Ape. Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge? 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 233 How⁓ever as they are, they [their Physitians] passe for a generation usefull and requisite. 1641 Trapp Theol. Theol. 140 There have beene a generation..that have attempted to take armes against Heaven. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iii, Then the whole generation of him are so in love with bagpipes and puppet-shews! 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 216 They could not brook the fighting in conjunction with this wicked generation [the Irish]. 1727 Boyer Dict. Angl.-Fr., Generation (or a great many),..there is a whole generation of them. |
7. attrib. and Comb., as generation-conscious adj.; generation gap (cf. gap n.1 6 a).
| 1930 R. Macaulay Staying with Relations iv. 57 ‘I remember an air raid,’ said Julian. ‘They woke me up and carried me down to the basement. I am the air raid generation.’ ‘They're terribly generation-conscious,’ Adrian explained. 1934 R. Campbell Broken Record 50 Quarrelling with my father made me generation-conscious. 1967 Boston Globe 18 May 10/1 He acknowledged that the ‘generation gap’ is difficult both for the younger and the older generations. 1968 Guardian 25 Oct. 14/6 There is a generation gap in attitude but not in the way this family treat each other. 1969 W. Garner Us or Them War xxi. 167 He said, ‘Patti, whatever becomes of the generation gap?’ She said, ‘I jumped across...’ 1971 K. Dick Ivy & Stevie 54 Generally, poets in her [sc. Stevie Smith's] age group..do not escape criticism from what is journalistically termed ‘generation-gap’ censure. |
Hence geneˈrational a., pertaining to generations.
| 1894 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 116 At this stage in the development of the generational system, the parent gives but the beginnings of life. 1947 Wellek & Warren Theory Lit. xviii. 259 The largest reputations survive generational tastes: Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare..and Tennyson have a permanent..position. 1956 Wyndham Lewis Red Priest xxvi. 217 You are younger than I am, and probably are in a different generational stream. 1964 Punch 9 Sept. 382/2 The generational gap is even more extended at student level. 1971 Guardian 9 Feb. 8/7 The generational outbursts against humanity. |