VIBRA'TION, noun [Latin vibro.]

1. The act of brandishing; the act of moving or state of being moved one way and the other in quick succession.

2. In mechanics, a regular reciprocal motion of a body suspended; a motion consisting of continual reciprocations or returns; as of the pendulum of a chronometer. This is frequently called oscillation. The number of vibrations in a given time depends on the length of the vibrating body; a pendulum three feet long, makes only ten vibrations while one of nine inches makes twenty. The vibrations of a pendulum are somewhat slower at or near the equator than in remote latitudes. The vibrations of a pendulum are isochronal in the same climate.

3. In physics, alternate or reciprocal motion; as the vibrations of the nervous fluid, by which sensation has been supposed to be produced, by impressions of external objects propagated thus to the brain.

4. In music, the motion of a chord, or the undulation of any body, by which sound is produced. The acuteness, elevation and gravity of sound, depend on the length of the chord and its tension.