motion
/ˈməʊʃ(ə)n
/noun
1 [mass noun] The action or process of moving or being moved: the laws of planetary motion a cushioned shoe that doesn’t restrict motion flowing blonde hair that was constantly in motion...
- Sir Isaac Newton formulated a single law of gravitation based on Kepler's three laws of planetary motion.
- Johannes Kepler formulated the laws of planetary motion, but died in relative poverty and obscurity in 1631.
- For Darwin, matter is not static but is constantly in motion, dynamic, so the universe itself is bursting with life, motion, energy.
Synonyms
movement, moving, locomotion, rise and fall, shifting, stirring, to and fro, toing and froing, coming and going;
progress, passage, passing, transit, course, flow, going, travel, travelling;
motility, mobility
1.1 [count noun] A gesture: she made a motion with her free hand...
- Mrs. Benson held the storm door firmly shut and smiled saccharinely at the girls while making shooing motions with her free hand.
- Would they understand a summoning gesture as ‘come here’ or a pushing-away motion as ‘go away’?
- In a delicate motion Maria placed her free hand on Erik's, soaking in the warmth of his skin.
Synonyms
gesture, gesticulation, movement, signal, sign, indication;
wave, nod;
body language, kinesics
1.2 [count noun] A piece of moving mechanism: the earliest engines had the Gresley conjugated motion for the middle cylinder
2A formal proposal put to a legislature or committee: opposition parties tabled a no-confidence motion...
- He would not be able to live down the embarrassment in the event of someone telephoning him, as it was he who proposed the motion at committee to ban mobiles.
- He planned to propose a motion to City of York Council, calling on it to back the campaign.
- Later on Tuesday, Curley made a motion to defer further consideration of the health budget until his questions could be answered.
Synonyms
proposal, proposition, submission, recommendation, suggestion
2.1 Law An application for a rule or order of court: often the defendant contributes to the length of proceedings by filing many procedural motions...
- Over the next several years, there were many motions for temporary court orders relating to custody and access.
- On March 15, the defense had to file a motion for a court order to force the prosecution to turn over the rest of the evidence.
- The Attorney General opposed the motion for substitution on procedural grounds.
3British An evacuation of the bowels: 73% of the patients had fewer than three bowel motions a day her mother put on her nappy for her to pass a motion...
- We excluded children who had had more than four bowel motions in the 24 hours before admission.
- Symptoms include frequent bowel motions, a sense of fullness and often headache and anxiety.
- It may also turn your urine very dark; bowel motions become pale.
verb [with object and adverbial of direction]
Direct or command (someone) with a movement of the hand or head: he motions her towards the lift [with object and infinitive]: he motioned the young officer to sit down...
- No doubt he had our best interests at heart as he motioned us towards the downward-bound funicular.
- She acknowledged my return with a wave, motioning me to sit down at my desk.
- A friend of Delia's, Ben Lewis, spots us and waves madly, motioning us to sit down with him.
Synonyms
gesture, gesticulate, signal, sign, direct, indicate;
wave, beckon, nod
Phrases
go through the motions
set in motion
Derivatives
motional
- Molecular dynamics techniques are simulations, but are capable of providing detailed insight into the motions that occur during molecular recognition and how motional properties of biomolecules change upon binding.
- The English construction with fronted motional adverbial - Along came Jones, There goes the neighborhood, Into the valley of death rode the four hundred - has been studied for a long time.
- At lower temperatures, with increasing dehydration, lipids gradually lose all remaining degrees of motional freedom, and spectra become very broad and unresolved.
Origin
Late Middle English: via Old French from Latin motio(n-), from movere 'to move'.