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To brandish; to move to and fro; to swing; as, to vibrate a sword or a staff.

To vibrate. [Obs.] Cockeram.

To vibrate back or in return. -- Re`vi*bra"tion, n.

xis of oscillation, of a pendulum, a right line passing through the center about which it vibrates, and perpendicular to the plane of vibration. -- Axis of polarization, the central line around which the prismatic rings or curves are arranged. Brewster. -- Axis of revolution (Descriptive Geom.), a straight line about…

ected. -- Beam center (Mach.), the fulcrum or pin on which the working beam of an engine vibrates. -- Beam compass, an instrument consisting of a rod or beam, having sliding sockets that carry steel or pencil points; -- used for drawing or describing large circles. -- Beam engine, a steam engine having a working bea…

To thrill; to vibrate; to penetrate. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

To vibrate or move quickly; as, a bird flutters its wings.

of air, when the impulse given to it suffices only to make a part of the string or column vibrate; overtones.

f toy or rude musical instrument, as a tube inside of which is a stretched string made to vibrate by singing or humming into the tube.

To vibrate as a balance does before resting in equilibrium; hence, to be poised. Their parts all liberate on too nice a beam. Clifton.

the finger; -- said of the string of an instrument, as of a violin, when it is allowed to vibrate throughout its whole length.

To move backward and forward; to vibrate like a pendulum; to swing; to sway.

stylus attached to some point of the membrane records the movements of the latter, as it vibrates, upon a moving cylinder or plate.

tinfoil, wax, paraffin, etc., above which is a thin plate carrying a stylus. As the plate vibrates under the influence of a sound, the stylus makes minute indentations or undulations in the soft material, and these, when the cylinder or disk is again turned, set the plate in vibration, and reproduce the sound.…

ruck by a single pulse of the air, which makes the eardrum and the other membranous parts vibrate according to the nature and species of the stroke. Burke. Pulse glass, an instrument consisting to a glass tube with terminal bulbs, and containing ether or alcohol, which the heat of the hand causes to boil; -- so called…

To shake, vibrate, or quiver, either from not being solid, as soft, wet land, or from violent convulsion of any kind; as, the earth quakes; the mountains quake. " Over quaking bogs." Macaulay.

To tremble; to vibrate; to shake. Sir I. Newton.

To continue to sound or vibrate; to resound. The assertion is still ringing in our ears. Burke.

rward, as a body resting on a support beneath; as, to rock a cradle or chair; to cause to vibrate; to cause to reel or totter. A rising earthquake rocked the ground. Dryden.

To tremble; to vibrate; to quiver; to shake, as from cold or fear. Prometheus is laid On icy Caucasus to shiver. Swift. The man that shivered on the brink of sin, Thus steeled and hardened, ventures boldly in. Creech.