retrogradation
(rɛtrəʊ-, riːtrəʊgrəˈdeɪʃən)
[ad. L. retrōgradātio, n. of action f. retrōgradāre: see retrograde a. So F. rétrogradation, Sp. retrogradacion, It. retrogradazione.]
1. a. Astr. The apparent backward motion of a planet in the zodiac; motion of a heavenly body from east to west; a case or instance of this.
| 1554 F. van Brunswike tr. De Montulmo's Facies Cœli E vj, Mars..signifieth that mortal war shall happen amongest men, and the more because of his retrogradacion. 1583 R. Harvey Astrol. Disc. A 8 b, Saturne shal be retrocedent also, beginning his retrogradation the 25th day of June. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 12 The starres themselues are thought to returne more speedily in their retrogradation, than in their direct course forward. a 1641 Bp. R. Montagu Acts & Mon. (1642) 124 The Retrogradation of the Sun in Ezechias time. 1670 Cudworth Serm. 1 John ii. 3–4 (ed. 3) 58 These upper Planets..have their Stations and Retrogradations as well as their direct motion. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. (1726) I. 449 Of the greatest Elongation of the Planets from the Sun, their Direction, Station, and Retrogradation. 1755 B. Martin Mag. Arts & Sci. 83, I have no Occasion to ask concerning his Conjunctions, Oppositions, Retrogradations, &c. 1839 Moseley Astron. liv. (1854) 169 This retrogradation will continue until about the 28th. 1861 Lewis Astron. Anc. iii. 14 The theory of epicycles accounted by circular movements for the stations and retrogradations of the planets. |
| fig. 1603 Florio Montaigne ii. xii. (1632) 301 There is no more retrogradation, trepidation,..than they have fained..in this poore seely little body of man. c 1630 Donne Serm. lxxii. 731 There is a Going behind Christ, which is a Casting out of his presence without any future following, and that is a fearefull Station, a fearefull Retrogradation. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. v. 140 No such ebbings and flowings, no such diversity of stations and retrogradations as that love hath in us. |
b. The backward movement of the lunar nodes on the ecliptic.
| 1727–38 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Retrogradation of the nodes, is a motion of the line of the nodes, whereby it continually shifts its situation from east to west, contrary to the order of the signs. 1855 Brewster Newton I. xii. 328 He showed that the retrogradation of the nodes..arose from one of the elements of the solar force being exerted in the plane of the ecliptic, and not in the plane of the moon's orbit. |
2. The action or process of going back towards some point in investigation or reasoning.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 141/2 As you shall find it by retrogradation from the 32 verse vnto the first of the fift chapter of Genesis. 1637 A. Warwick Spare Min. (ed. 6) 110 What's a City to a Shire? What a Shire to the whole Island?..And so by a retrogradation how little, how nothing is this poor glory? 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 349 Then by Retrogradation orderly one might come to the said Aequation. 1799 W. Tooke View Russian Emp. I. 481 Without being able, whatever retrogradations we might make, to discover their first generation. 1819 Foster Ess. Evils Pop. Ignorance 7 You cannot perform in imagination a series of acts of unlearning, realizing to yourselves, throughout the retrogradation [etc.]. |
3. a. The action or fact of moving or drawing back or backwards; retirement, retreat.
| 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xx. (1658) 222 Atoms..in a motion of retrogradation back to their own north pole. a 1646 J. Gregory Posthuma (1650) 37 The most visible part,..that which would bee most of all observed was the Retrogradation of the shadow. 1748 Richardson Clarissa IV. xxxvii. 229 She..did it before she was aware, Lady-pride, Belford! — Recollection, then Retrogradation! 1790 Phil. Trans. LXXXI. 22, I have said above, that hemp and gut have only a very little retrogradation. 1821 New Monthly Mag. II. 60 The retrogradation of the American Indians upon their woods and wildernesses. 1843 Sedgwick Let. in Clark & Hughes Life (1890) II. 63 Never having once fallen during my retrogradations before the face of the Queen. |
b. Physical Geogr. The landward retreat of a beach or coastline caused by wave-erosion.
| 1922 C. A. Cotton Geomorphol. N.Z. i. xxviii. 391 This process is termed progradation (as contrasted with retrogradation, the cutting-back of a coast by marine erosion). 1937 Wooldridge & Morgan Physical Basis of Geogr. xxi. 332 Retrogradation comprises not only beach recession but the general recession of the coastline under wave-attack. 1954 W. D. Thornbury Princ. Geomorphol. xvii. 442 Retrogradation of a shore line may go on so rapidly that small streams are unable to keep pace in downcutting with the rate of sea-cliff recession. As a result, these streams enter the sea from hanging valleys. 1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 941/2 During retrogradation, a wide belt of beach ridges with their overlying dunes..may be rapidly removed. |
4. † a. Reversion from one state to another. Obs.
| 1639 Sir R. Baker in Spurgeon Treas. David Ps. li. 7 How, then, is it possible that my sins which are as red as scarlet should ever be made as white as snow? Indeed such retrogradation is no work of human art. |
b. The action, fact, or condition of falling back in development; retrogression, decline.
In first quot. directly transf. from sense 1.
| 1748 Hartley Observ. Man ii. i. 29 We ought to suppose ourselves in the Centre of the System, and to try..to reduce all apparent Retrogradations to real Progressions. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 360 Improvement admits of frequent intermissions and retrogradations. 1794 G. Adams Nat. & Exp. Philos. IV. xxxvii. 29 A similar instance of the retrogradation of science occurs in the history of the microscope. 1814 Ann. Reg. Pref. p. iv, The singular mixture of advance and retrogradation which the events of the year have exhibited. 1849 H. Miller Footpr. Creat. ix. (1874) 173 It indicates, not the starting point from which the race of creation began, but the stage of retrogradation beyond it. 1873 H. Rogers Orig. Bible ix. (1875) 378 Amidst all the fluctuations and apparent retrogradations of the world. |