undulatory, a.
(ˈʌndjʊlətərɪ)
[ad. mod.L. type *undulātōri-us: cf. undulate v. and -ory. So Sp. and Pg. undulatorio, It. ondulatorio, F. ondulatoire.]
1. Of motion: Characterized by successive rise and fall after the manner of waves.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Undulation, The Undulatory Motion of the Air, is supposed the..Cause of Sound. 1759 Phil. Trans. LI. 531 The motion here appeared to be very deep, and was rather undulatory than tremulous. 1832 Brewster Nat. Magic iv. (1833) 78 A tempest at sea is imitated, by having the sea on one slider, and the ships on other sliders, to which an undulatory movement is communicated. 1879 R. H. Elliot Written on Forehead xvi, The translator..tells us that breadth across the hips..would give an undulatory motion to their walk. |
b. Exhibiting, or acting with, undulating motion.
| 1794 R. J. Sulivan View Nat. I. 169 An elastic fluid..would cause an undulatory diffusion of the luminous particles. 1813 J. Thomson Lect. Inflam. 525 This air..gives an elastic undulatory sensation to the fingers. 1882 Gd. Words June 382 Vast masses of white cumulus clouds..piled up as in great undulatory breaking billows. |
c. undulatory theory (also undulatory hypothesis, † undulatory system), the theory that light consists in an undulatory movement of an elastic medium pervading space.
| 1802 Young in Phil. Trans. XCII. 13 That prepossession which I before entertained for the undulatory system of light. 1827–8 Herschel in Encycl. Metrop. (1845) IV. 449 General Statement of the Undulatory Theory of Light. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xxi. 190 These intervals determine the lengths of the waves on the undulatory hypothesis. |
2. = undulating ppl. a. 2 and 2 b.
| 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 220 The other moccasin snake is..of a pale grey, sky-coloured ground, with brown undulatory ringlets. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xiv, In wooded undulatory districts. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 51 An undulatory rising ground. 1884 in H. Thompson Tumours Bladder 94 The deep limit of the growth is clearly defined, convex, undulatory or lobular in character. |
3. fig. = undulating ppl. a. 1 c.
| 1897 M. L. Hughes Medit. Fever 99 The remittent..type of pyrexia of the undulatory or malignant varieties. |