vibrationn.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. 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's Math. made Easie (ed. 3) 177 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 Lexicon Technicum I Vibration, is the Swing or Motion of a Pendulum; or of a Weight hung by a String on a Pin.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 119/2 Whence the lengths of pendulums are as the forces and the squares of the times of vibration.

1822 T. Webster Imison's Elem. Sci. & Art I. 80 The vibration of bodies when suspended must have been long observed.

1830 H. Kater & D. Lardner Treat. Mechanics 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.

1667 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 2 442 The Pendulum was this Day adjusted,..there having been but 58 vibrations in a Minute, the other Day.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. 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 Lexicon Technicum I. (at cited word) The Proportions of the Vibrations of Pendulums.

1797 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 118/1 The point or axis of suspension of a pendulum is that point about which it performs its vibrations.

1803 Imison's Elements Sci. & Art (new ed.) I. 124 Each swing that it [i.e. a pendulum] makes, is called a vibration, or oscillation.

1812 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. I. 123 The time of one vibration of the pendulum in seconds.

1812 J. Playfair Outl. Nat. Philos. I. 123 The times of the vibrations of pendulums are as the square roots of their lengths.

1895 R. H. Pinkerton Theoret. Mech. (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.

1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Madness Confused Vibrations of the Nerves, and a remarkable Energy of Imagination.

1749 D. 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 W. Hogarth Anal. Beauty xii. 95 Those more or less pleasing vibrations of the optic nerves, which serve to inform the mind.

1777 J. Priestley Disquis. Matter & Spirit viii. 91 The vibrations of the brain are [not] themselves the perceptions.

1801 T. Belsham Elem. Philos. 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 T. Carlyle in Edinb. Rev. June 446 Hartley's vibrations and vibratiuncles.

1862 F. D. Maurice Mod. Philos. viii. §43. 478 Through what vibrations or vibratiuncles that conviction came to him we do not care to enquire.

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 £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 J. 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.

1919 J. Conrad Arrow of Gold iv. ii. 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 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xv. [Circe] 478 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 the 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 C. Miller & K. 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.

1650 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans 36 What Emanations, Quick vibrations, And bright stirs are there?

1676 J. 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 P. B. Shelley St. Irvyne ii. 51 In long vibrations shudder'd the ground.

1849 C. 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 J. Phillips Vesuvius ix. 254 Accompanied by tremors or vibrations in the rocks.

1785 T. Jefferson Let. 1 Sept. in Papers (1953) VIII. 461 The late proceedings seem to be producing a decisive vibration in our favour.

1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1779 II. 299 This was a fair exhibition of that vibration between pious resolutions and indolence.

1851 ‘L. Mariotti’ Italy in 1848 iii. 171 It is of little importance..to talk about the perpetual vibrations of Charles Albert's weak mind at this period.

1864 J. H. Burton Scot Abroad I. iv. 170 There was the same restlessness and fickleness.., the same vibration between anarchy and abject submission.

1882 G. Bancroft Hist. Formation Constit. U.S.A. II. 354 In Virginia there had been a great vibration of opinion.

1860 M. F. Maury Physical Geogr. Sea (ed. 8) 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.