Vī-brā'tion, n.

n. [Fr. vibration, Sp. vibracion, Pg. vibração, It. vibrazione, Lat. vibratio.]

1. 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 cord.
2. (Physics.) A limited reciprocating motion of the particles of an elastic body or medium in alternately opposite directions from their positions of equilibrium, when that equilibrium has been disturbed, as of a stretched cord or other body in producing musical notes, or of particles of air in transmitting sounds to the ear.

☞ 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, or in corresponding parts of their paths.