1.
[syn: gravity, gravitation, gravitational attraction, gravitational force]
2. movement downward resulting from gravitational attraction;
- Example: "irrigation by gravitation rather than by pumps"
3. a figurative movement toward some attraction;
- Example: "the gravitation of the middle class to the suburbs"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
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, gravitation,
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"
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
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.