vibration

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act of vibrating.
2. n. The condition of being vibrated.
3. n. Physics A rapid linear motion of a particle or of an elastic solid about an equilibrium position.
4. n. Physics A periodic process.
5. n. A single complete vibrating motion; a quiver.
6. n. Slang A distinctive emotional aura or atmosphere regarded as being instinctively sensed or experienced. Often used in the plural: "Miami gives off the same vibrations, the same portent of disaster, but with a difference” ( James Atlas).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of vibrating; a movement to and fro; oscillation; hence, fluctuation in general: as, avibration of opinion.
2. n. In physics, an oscillating, reciprocating, or any kind of stationary motion made by a body, as a pendulum, musical cord, elastic plate, or mass of air, when forced from the position, figure, or volume of equilibrium, under the influence of forces of restitution. When the reciprocating movement is comparatively slow, as that of a pendulum, which is produced by the action of gravity on the whole mass of the body, the term oscillation is commonly used, while the term vibration is generally confined to a motion with rapid reciprocations or revolutions, as that of a sonorous body, which proceeds from the attractions (with perhaps some repulsions) of the molecules of the body on each other when a disturbance takes place in their state of equilibrium. In the case of a vibrating string or rod, the vibrations are distinguished as transverse or longitudinal, according to the direction of the oscillating movement relatively to the length of the sonorous body. The term vibration is also applied to the motion (generally an elliptical revolution) which is produced among the particles of a fluid or ethereal medium when their equilibrium is disturbed by any impulse, by which means waves or undulations are caused. In all cases one complete vibration means the double movement of the particle or vibrating body to and fro about the position of equilibrium, while the movement forward and backward on one side only is a half-vibration. The laws of vibratory motion form the foundation of the theories devised by modern science to account for the phenomena of acoustics and optics. See sound, and undulatory theory of light (under light, 1), also cuts under nodal and sonometer.
3. n. In medicine, same as fremitus.
4. n. In natural history, movement to and fro, especially when quick, continuous, regular, and of little amplitude; a quivering or shivering motion; tremulousness; tremor: as, the vibration of aspen-leaves on their compressed petioles in the breeze; the vibration of the ear-drum under sound-waves; the vibration of a fly's wings in flight. The word is also somewhat specifically applied to ciliary action, or the motion of microscopic bodies, as cilia, fiagella, vibracula, vibrios, spermatic filaments, and the like, vibration being the most obvious activity of such objects, and a usual means of locomotion, of ingestion of food, etc.

Wiktionary

1. n. The act of vibrating or the condition of being vibrated
2. n. physics Any periodic process, especially a rapid linear motion of a body about an equilibrium position
3. n. A single complete vibrating motion
4. n. slang An instinctively sensed emotional aura or atmosphere; vibes

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. 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.
2. n. (Physics) 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.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the act of vibrating
2. n. (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean
3. n. a distinctive emotional aura experienced instinctively
4. n. a shaky motion