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It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. |
VIBRA'TION, n. [L. vibro.]
The act of vibrating, or the
state of being vibrated, or in vibratory motion; quick motion to and fro;
oscillation, as of a pendulum or musical string.
As a harper lays his open palm A limited reciprocating motion
of a particle of an elastic body or medium in alternately opposite
directions from its position of equilibrium, when that equilibrium has been
disturbed, as when a stretched cord or other body produces musical notes,
or particles of air transmit sounds to the ear. The path of the particle
may be in a straight line, in a circular arc, or in any curve
whatever.
* Vibration and oscillation are both used, in mechanics, of the swinging, or rising and falling, motion of a suspended or balanced body; the latter term more appropriately, as signifying such motion produced by gravity, and of any degree of slowness, while the former applies especially to the quick, short motion to and fro which results from elasticity, or the action of molecular forces among the particles of a body when disturbed from their position of rest, as in a spring. Amplitude of vibration, the maximum displacement of a vibrating particle or body from its position of rest. -- Phase of vibration, any part of the path described by a particle or body in making a complete vibration, in distinction from other parts, as while moving from one extreme to the other, or on one side of the line of rest, in distinction from the opposite. Two particles are said to be in the same phase when they are moving in the same direction and with the same velocity, or in corresponding parts of their paths. | ||||||||