VELOCITY • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Velocity

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/vəlˈɑsəti/ Listen

noun

Velocity n. (pl. velocities)

1.

Quickness of motion; swiftness; speed; celerity; rapidity; as, the velocity of wind; the velocity of a planet or comet in its orbit or course; the velocity of a cannon ball; the velocity of light. Note: In such phrases, velocity is more generally used than celerity. We apply celerity to animals; as, a horse or an ostrich runs with celerity; but bodies moving in the air or in ethereal space move with greater or less velocity, not celerity. This usage is arbitrary, and perhaps not universal.

2.

(Mech.) Rate of motion; the relation of motion to time, measured by the number of units of space passed over by a moving body or point in a unit of time, usually the number of feet passed over in a second. See the Note under Speed.

Angular velocity. See under Angular.

Initial velocity, the velocity of a moving body at starting; especially, the velocity of a projectile as it leaves the mouth of a firearm from which it is discharged.

Relative velocity, the velocity with which a body approaches or recedes from another body, whether both are moving or only one.

Uniform velocity, velocity in which the same number of units of space are described in each successive unit of time.

Variable velocity, velocity in which the space described varies from instant to instant, either increasing or decreasing; in the former case called accelerated velocity, in the latter, retarded velocity; the acceleration or retardation itself being also either uniform or variable.

Virtual velocity. See under Virtual. Note: In variable velocity, the velocity, strictly, at any given instant, is the rate of motion at that instant, and is expressed by the units of space, which, if the velocity at that instant were continued uniform during a unit of time, would be described in the unit of time; thus, the velocity of a falling body at a given instant is the number of feet which, if the motion which the body has at that instant were continued uniformly for one second, it would pass through in the second. The scientific sense of velocity differs from the popular sense in being applied to all rates of motion, however slow, while the latter implies more or less rapidity or quickness of motion.

Synonyms: Swiftness; celerity; rapidity; fleetness; speed.

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Etymology of 'Velocity'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Velocity" Quotes from Famous Books

... furious lunge with his weapon, but, instead of entering Duncan's body, it got fixed in the opposite bank of the ditch. In withdrawing it, he bent his head forward, when the helmet, rising, exposed the back of his neck, upon which Duncan's battle-axe descended with the velocity of lightning, and with such terrific force as to sever Maclean's head from his body. This, it is said, was the turning-point of the struggle, for the Macdonalds, seeing the brave leader of their van falling, at once retreated, and gave up all for lost. The hero was ever ...

— History Of The Mackenzies • Alexander Mackenzie

... FROM WEST TO EAST, crossing and recrossing the middle of the annular circle. "Some stars will depart more, others less, from either side of the circumference of equilibrium, according to the places in which they are situated, and according to the direction and the velocity with which they are put in motion. Our sun is probably one of those which depart furthest from it, and descend furthest into the empty space within the ring." {6} According to this view, a time may come when we shall be much more in the thick of the stars of our astral system than we are now, ...

— Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation • Robert Chambers

... automatics missing one mark were certain to find another, perhaps four or five in a row, such was their velocity and power of penetration. Where shells made gaps and tore holes in the human mass, the automatics cut with the regularity of the driven teeth of a comb. The men who escaped all the forms of slaughter and staggered on to the ruins of the redoubt, pressed their weight ...

— The Last Shot • Frederick Palmer

... of it! There's a big difference between a shot flying away from you with all its muzzle velocity, and another one which is coming towards you and only needs a slight deflection to strike the magnet. Besides, by breaking the circuit I can take off the influence when I am firing my own broadside. Then I connect, ...

— The Stark Munro Letters • J. Stark Munro

... appears to equal that of the overshot wheel. But the economy in the turbine is accompanied by some conditions which render it peculiarly valuable. In a water-wheel you cannot have great economy of power without very slow motion, and hence where high velocity is required at the working point, a train of mechanism is necessary, which causes a material loss of force. Now, in the turbine the greatest economy is accompanied by rapid motion, and hence the connected machinery may be rendered much less complex. In the turbine also a change in the ...

— Thomas Davis, Selections from his Prose and Poetry • Thomas Davis

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