vibration
(vaɪˈbreɪʃən)
[ad. L. vibrātiōn-, vibrātio, n. of action f. vibrāre to vibrate. So F. vibration, It. vibrazione, Sp. vibracion, Pg. vibra{chook}āo.]
† 1. (See quots. and cf. vibrate v. 6.) Obs.—0
| 1656 Blount Glossogr., Vibration, a brandishing, shaking, or wagging, as men do drawn swords, when they threaten others. |
2. a. The action on the part of a pendulum or similarly suspended body of moving or swinging to and fro; oscillation.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 191 The most probable way for the effecting of this, is that which was first suggested by Doctor Christopher Wren, namely, by Vibration of a Pendulum. 1700 Moxon Math. Dict., Vibration, the Motion of a Pendulum in a Clock, which moves in the long sort a Secant in Time backward and forward. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Vibration, is the Swing or Motion of a Pendulum; or of a Weight hung by a String on a Pin. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIV. 119/2 Whence the lengths of pendulums are as the forces and the squares of the times of vibration. 1822 Webster Imison's Sci. & Art I. 80 The vibration of bodies when suspended must have been long observed. 1830 Kater & Lardner Mech. x. 129 When the alternation [of motion] is constant and regular, it is called oscillation or vibration, as in pendulums and balance-wheels. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VI. 14/2 The time of vibration depends entirely on the length of the pendulum. |
b. A single instance of this.
| 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 442 The Pendulum was this Day adjusted,..there having been but 58 vibrations in a Minute, the other Day. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 191 Let this Ball be suspended by this String, being extended to such a length, that the space of every Vibration may be equal to a second Minute of time. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., The Proportions of the Vibrations of Pendulums. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XIV. 118/1 The point or axis of suspension of a pendulum is that point about which it performs its vibrations. 1803 J. Imison Sci. & Art I. 124 Each swing that it [i.e. a pendulum] makes, is called a vibration, or oscillation. 1812–6 Playfair Nat. Phil. (1819) I. 129 The time of one vibration of the pendulum in seconds. Ibid., The times of the vibrations of pendulums are as the square roots of their lengths. 1895 R. H. Pinkerton Theoretical Mechanics (ed. 5) 103 The acceleration of gravity is proportional to the square of the number of vibrations of the same pendulum in a given time. |
3. a. Physics. The rapid alternating or reciprocating motion to and fro, or up and down, produced in the particles of an elastic body by the disturbance of equilibrium; the motion in the particles of a sonorous body by which sound is produced.
| 1656 tr. Hobbes' Elem. Phiilos. (1839) 527 When the string of a lute or viol is stricken, the vibration, that is, the reciprocal motion of that string in the same strait line, causeth like vibration in another string which hath like tension. a 1721 Prior Dial. betw. Locke & Montaigne Wks. 1907 II. 243 The vibration of the Air and its Undulation. 1794 R. J. Sulivan View Nat. I. 168 An æther,..rendered luminous, by a vibration occasioned by the planetary motion. 1802 Paley Nat. Theol. iii, The office of the drum of the ear is to spread out an extended surface, capable of receiving the impressions of sound, and of being put by them into a state of vibration. 1869 Tyndall in Fortn. Rev. 1 Feb. 247 The plane of vibration of the polarized light turns suddenly through an angle of 90°. 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 100 Its amplitude of vibration or distance between its extreme positions. |
| attrib. 1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 751/1 Vibration Figures, are certain figures, formed by sand or very dry saw-dust, on a vibrating surface, which is connected with the sensation of sound in our organs of hearing. |
b. A single movement of this kind.
| 1666 Pepys Diary 8 Aug., A certain number of vibrations proper to make any tone. 1731 S. Hales Stat. Ess. I. 143 Which perspiration is effected by the brisk rarifying vibrations of warmth. 1748 Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xx, But still their trembling ears retain'd The deep vibrations of his witching song. 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 406 The height of the longitudinal vibrations is..inversely as the length of the sonorous body. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xviii. 153 When the particles of elastic bodies are suddenly disturbed by an impulse, they return to their natural position by a series of isochronous vibrations. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) II. xi. 244 Each vibration asserts its individual rights; and all are at last shaken forth into the air by a second sound-board. |
| fig. 1847 Emerson Repr. Men, Shaks. Wks. (Bohn) I. 358 Ben Jonson..had no suspicion of the elastic fame whose first vibrations he was attempting. 1863 Geo. Eliot Romola xxxviii, The words arose within him, and stirred innumerable vibrations of memory. 1866 ― F. Holt (1888) 8 Vibrations that make human agonies are often a mere whisper in the roar of hurrying existence. |
c. spec. A supposed movement of this kind in the nerves, regarded as the means by which external impressions are conveyed to the mind.
Obs. exc. Hist.| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Madness, Confused Vibrations of the Nerves, and a remarkable Energy of Imagination. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. i. 11 External Objects impressed upon the Senses occasion, first in the Nerves,..and then in the Brain, Vibrations of the small..medullary Particles. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xii. 95 Those more or less pleasing vibrations of the optic nerves, which serve to inform the mind. 1777 Priestley Matt. & Spir. (1782) I. x. 120 The vibrations of the brain are [not] themselves the perceptions. 1801 Belsham Philosphy of Mind §4. 38 The theory of vibrations suggested by Sir Isaac Newton, [and] adopted and amplified by Dr. Hartley,..assumes that the nerves are continuations of the medullary substance of the brain, that impressions made upon the organs of sense produce vibrations in the minute particles of the nerves. 1829 Carlyle Misc. (1857) II. 104 Hartley's vibrations and vibratiuncles. 1857 [see vibratiuncle]. |
d. transf. An intuitive signal about a person or thing; (
pl.) atmosphere. Usu.
pl. (Now somewhat
colloq.)
In some instances more or less identical with the
fig. use of sense 3 b.
| 1899 O. Wilde Importance of being Earnest i. 28 There is very little music in the name Jack, if any at all, indeed. It does not thrill. It produces absolutely no vibrations. 1901 Chambers's Jrnl. Apr. 263/1 There is a man in Denver, Thomas J. Shelton who is said to be making his {pstlg}10,000 a year by selling what he calls ‘vibrations’... Mr Shelton's ‘vibrations’..he himself explains as being a special force of his inner consciousness, which can be sent through space to purchasers by his mere act of will; and claims for the ‘vibrations’ so sent a subtle power capable of influencing a man in any direction that may be desired. 1919 Conrad Arrow of Gold iv. ii. 157 The Blunt atmosphere, the reinforced Blunt vibration stealing through the walls... Nothing to me, of course—the movements of Mme. Blunt, mère. Ibid. 164, I listened deferentially to the end yet with every nerve in my body tingling in hostile response to the Blunt vibration, which seemed to have got into my very hair. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 497 You can rub shoulders with a Jesus, a Gautama, an Ingersoll. Are you all in this vibration? 1934 M. Allingham Death of Ghost i. 23 Other people's pictures in his studio—it's sacrilege, isn't it? The vibrations won't be right. 1956 R. M. Lester Towards Hereafter ii. 36 When I had a sitting with a medium who was obviously on the same vibration as myself the results were first⁓class. 1957 J. Kerouac On Road ii. vi. 146 Something curiously unsympathetic and cold between them was really a form of humor by which they communicated their own set of subtle vibrations. 1968 T. Wolfe Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test ii. 20 Something's getting up tight, there's bad vibrations. 1971 J. Mandelkau Buttons v. 62 William showed me upstairs to what was going to be my ‘home’ for the next few weeks and let me wander around the house bumping into people and picking up on the vibrations. 1977 Miller & Swift Words & Women i. 4 Names do seem to give off vibrations of a sort. 1979 N. Mailer Executioner's Song ii. ii. 525 Stupor on top of old woe was the sad vibration Dennis was getting from Maximum. |
4. a. In wider sense: Movement to and fro or up and down,
esp. when quick and more or less continuous; a quivering, swaying, or tremulous motion of any kind.
| 1681 tr. Willis' Rem. Med. Wks. Vocab., Vibration, a shaking, striking or quavering. 1725 N. Robinson The. Physick 83 An increas'd Motion of the Blood, arising from a Vibration of the Vessels. 1822 Shelley Lines Bay of Lerici 16 Feeling ever—oh! too much!—The soft vibration of her touch. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 251 Our brig had just mounted the floe, and as we stood on the ice watching her vibration, it seemed so certain that she must come over on her beam-ends. 1870 Dickens E. Drood x, There was a vibration in the old lady's cap. 1901 D. B. Hall & Ld. A. Osborne Sunshine & Surf ii. 17 The vibration and smells of the modern steamer. |
| attrib. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 678 Massage, vibration-massage, electrolysis and the constant current are said to give excellent results in suitable cases. |
b. An instance of this; a quiver or tremor.
| 1655 Vaughan Silex Scint., Midnight (1858) 54 What Emanations, Quick Vibrations, And bright Stirs are there! 1676 Glanvill Ess. iii. 27 He will perceive the Quick⁓silver to descend from the Tube into the subjacent Vessell, till it comes to 29 Digits or thereabouts; there, after some Vibrations, it ordinarily rests. 1811 Shelley St. Irvyne, Sister Rosa xviii, In long vibrations shuddered the ground. 1849 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 298 The vibrations and noise [are] much less than in other boats on the same high-pressure principle. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. ix. 254 Accompanied by tremors or vibrations in the rocks. |
5. a. The action or fact of vacillating or varying in respect of conduct or opinion; an instance of this; a changing or swinging round.
| 1785 Jefferson Corr. (1829) I. 300 The late proceedings seem to be producing a decisive vibration in our favor. 1791 Boswell Johnson (1904) II. 301 This was a fair exhibition of that vibration between pious resolutions and indolence. 1848 Gallenga Italy (1851) 171 It is of little importance..to talk about the perpetual vibrations of Charles Albert's weak mind at this period. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. iv. 170 There was the same restlessness and fickleness.., the same vibration between anarchy and abject submission. 1882 Bancroft Hist. Const. U.S.A. II. 354 In Virginia there had been a great vibration of opinion. |
b. Variation in extent, etc.
| 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea vi. §329 The breadth of the calms of Cancer is also variable... The extreme vibration of this zone is between the parallels of 17° and 38° north. |
6. Electr. (See
quot.)
| 1842 Francis Dict. Arts, Vibration, in electricity, is known as a quantity of the fluid intermediate between a spark and a shock. |
7. Comb. vibration-proof adj.;
vibration damper = damper 4 c;
spec. a device for counteracting torsional vibration in a crankshaft.
| 1932 Motoring Encycl. 183/1 Special forms of frictional clutch on the front end of the crankshaft to reduce engine vibration are dealt with under the heading Vibration Damper. 1936 Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 87 Vibration-damper, of an overhead line. A device attached to a conductor, and designed to suppress vibrations caused by the action of wind. 1952 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 64/1 Most of the risk of deterioration can be eliminated by using vibration-dampers under machinery. 1961 [see damper 4 c]. 1968 R. H. Bacon Car v. 66 (caption) Crankshaft torsional vibration damper, fan belt pulley and camshaft drive. |
| 1917 C. C. Turner Aircraft of To-Day vii. 114 The compass..must be carried in a vibration-proof bed. |