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more about generation
generation |
4 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Generation \Gen`er*a"tion\, n. [OE. generacioun F. g['e]n['e]ration, fr.L. generatio.] 1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of animals. 2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or vital; production; formation; as the generation of sounds, of gases, of curves, etc 3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny; offspiring. 4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age. This is the book of the generations of Adam. --Gen. v. 1. Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations. --Baruch vi 3. All generations and ages of the Christian church. --Hooker. 5. Race; kind family; breed; stock. Thy mother's of my generation; what's she if I be a dog? --Shak. 6. (Geom.) 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; as the generation of a line or curve by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line a sphere by a semicircle, etc 7. (Biol.) The aggregate of the functions and phenomene which attend reproduction. Note: There are four modes of generation in the animal kingdom: scissiparity or by fissiparous generation, gemmiparity or by budding, germiparity or by germs, and oviparity or by ova. {Alternate generation} (Biol.), alternation of sexual with asexual generation, in which the products of one process differ from those of the other -- a form of reproduction common both to animal and vegetable organisms. In the simplest form the organism arising from sexual generation produces offspiring unlike itself agamogenetically. These however, in time acquire reproductive organs, and from their impregnated germs the original parent form is reproduced. In more complicated cases, the first series of organisms produced agamogenetically may give rise to others by a like process, and these in turn to still other generations. Ultimately, however, a generation is formed which develops sexual organs, and the original form is reproduced. {Spontaneous generation} (Biol.), the fancied production of living organisms without previously existing parents from inorganic matter, or from decomposing organic matter, a notion which at one time had many supporters; abiogenesis. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: generation n 1: all the people living at the same time or of approximately the same age [syn: {coevals}, {contemporaries}] 2: group of genetically related organisms constituting a single step in the line of descent 3: the normal time between successive generations; "they had to wait a generation for that prejudice to fade" 4: the act of propagating [syn: {multiplication}, {propagation}] From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]: generation An attempt to classify the degree of sophistication of programming languages. See {First generation language} -- {Fifth generation language}. (1995-06-15) From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: Generation Gen. 2:4, "These are the generations," means the "history." 5:1, "The book of the generations," means a family register, or history of Adam. 37:2, "The generations of Jacob" = the history of Jacob and his descendants. 7:1, "In this generation" = in this age. Ps 49:19, "The generation of his fathers" = the dwelling of his fathers, i.e., the grave. Ps 73:15, "The generation of thy children" = the contemporary race. Isa. 53:8, "Who shall declare his generation?" = His manner of life who shall declare? or rather = His race, posterity, shall be so numerous that no one shall be able to declare it In Matt. 1:17, the word means a succession or series of persons from the same stock. Matt. 3:7, "Generation of vipers" = brood of vipers. 24:34, "This generation" = the persons then living contemporary with Christ. 1 Pet. 2:9, "A chosen generation" = a chosen people. The Hebrews seem to have reckoned time by the generation. In the time of Abraham a generation was an hundred years, thus: Gen. 15:16, "In the fourth generation" = in four hundred years (comp. verse 13 and Ex 12:40). In Deut. 1:35 and 2:14 a generation is a period of thirty-eight years.
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