Gravitation

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Gravitation \Grav"i*ta"tion\, n. [Cf. F. gravitation. See
     Gravity.]
     1. The act of gravitating.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Pysics) That species of attraction or force by which all


        bodies or particles of matter in the universe tend toward
        each other; called also {attraction of gravitation},
        {universal gravitation}, and {universal gravity}. See
        {Attraction}, and {Weight.}
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Law of gravitation}, that law in accordance with which
        gravitation acts, namely, that every two bodies or
        portions of matter in the universe attract each other with
        a force proportional directly to the quantity of matter
        they contain, and inversely to the squares of their
        distances.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  gravitation
       n 1: (physics) the force of attraction between all masses in the
            universe; especially the attraction of the earth's mass
            for bodies near its surface; "the more remote the body
            the less the gravity"; "the gravitation between two
            bodies is proportional to the product of their masses
            and inversely proportional to the square of the distance
            between them"; "gravitation cannot be held responsible
            for people falling in love"--Albert Einstein [syn: {gravity},
             {gravitational attraction}, {gravitational force}]
       2: movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction;
          "irrigation by gravitation rather than by pumps" [ant: {levitation}]
       3: a figurative movement toward some attraction; "the
          gravitation of the middle class to the suburbs"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  63 Moby Thesaurus words for "gravitation":
     G, G suit, adduction, affinity, allurement, apogeotropism,
     attractance, attraction, attractiveness, attractivity, capillarity,
     capillary attraction, cascade, cataract, centripetal force, chute,
     collapse, comedown, crash, debacle, declension, declination,
     defluxion, descending, descension, descent, down, downbend,
     downcome, downcurve, downfall, downflow, downgrade, downpour,
     downrush, downtrend, downturn, downward trend, drag, draw, drop,
     dropping, fall, falling, geotropism, graviton, gravity,
     inclination, magnetism, mass, mutual attraction, plummeting,
     pounce, pull, pulling power, rapids, specific gravity, stoop,
     swoop, sympathy, traction, tug, waterfall
  
  

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  GRAVITATION, n.  The tendency of all bodies to approach one another
  with a strength proportion to the quantity of matter they contain --
  the quantity of matter they contain being ascertained by the strength
  of their tendency to approach one another.  This is a lovely and
  edifying illustration of how science, having made A the proof of B,
  makes B the proof of A.