generation
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˌd͡ʒɛnəˈɹeɪʃən/
rhymes: -eɪʃən
Forms: form: generations
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.
Senses: examples: text: The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations […]
ref: 1832, Charles Lyell, chapter XIII, in Principles of Geology […] , volume II, London: John Murray, page 210:
glosses: The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
examples: text: So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
text: According to that Cabaliſticall Dogma: If Abram had not had this Letter [i.e., ה (he)] added unto his Name he had remained fruitleſſe, and without the power of generation: […] So that being ſterill before, he received the power of generation from that meaſure and manſion in the Archetype; and was made conformable unto Binah.
ref: 1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter V.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 192:
glosses: The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.
examples: text: Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?
ref: c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: Race, family; breed.
examples: This is the book of the generations of Adam - Genesis 5:1
Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations - Baruch 6:3
All generations and ages of the Christian church - Richard Hooker
glosses: A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit.
glosses: Descendants, progeny; offspring.
examples: text: Before the independence of India the books of Dr P. K. Yadav presented a fundamental challenge to the accepted ideas of race relations that, two generations later, will be true of the writings of the radical writers of the 1970s.
ref: 2008, Edgar Thorpe, Objective English:
glosses: The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time.
examples: text: The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.
ref: 2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital, Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers:
glosses: A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology.
examples: text: the generation of a line or curve
topics: geometry
mathematics
sciences
glosses: The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.
examples: text: Generation X grew up in the eighties, whereas the generation known as the millennials grew up in the nineties.
glosses: A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.
examples: text: People sometimes dispute which generation of Star Trek is best, including the original and The Next Generation.
glosses: A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.
examples: text: With one-inch C format or half-inch Betacam used in the component mode, quality loss through additional generations is not such a problem. In this situation, it would be usual to make the necessary alterations while re-recording onto a third generation master […]
ref: 2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book:
text: Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality.
ref: 2002, Keith Jack, Vladimir Tsatsoulin, Dictionary of Video and Television Technology, page 131:
topics: broadcasting
media
television
glosses: A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy.
examples: text: It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.
ref: 1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations)
ref: 1999 June 15, hexatron, “A new hexagonal CA with a new glider”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
text: In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator):
ref: 2008 June 25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):
topics: cellular-automata
computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.
Hyponyms: alternate generation
Beat Generation
equivocal generation
Facebook generation
Generation Jones
Generation X
Generation Y
Generation Z
Greatest Generation
lost generation
me generation
microgeneration
MSN generation
MTV generation
next generation
Nintendo generation
sandwich generation
Silent Generation
Spock generation
spontaneous generation
Stolen Generation
Derived terms: aerogeneration
autogeneration
beat generation
biogeneration
cogeneration
congeneration
cybergeneration
electrogeneration
first-generation
generational
generation effect
generationer
generation gap
generationism
generation loss
generationology
generation ship
generation time
generationwide
greatest generation
hydrogeneration
intergeneration
intrageneration
multigeneration
neogeneration
new-generation
next-generation
next generation networking
once-in-a-generation
organs of generation
overgeneration
Peter Pan generation
photogeneration
pregeneration
regeneration
second-generation
second-harmonic generation
snowflake generation
strawberry generation
subgeneration
trigeneration
undergeneration
Windrush generation
World War II generation
X generation
Related terms: generate