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reciprocating |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Reciprocate \Re*cip"ro*cate\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Reciprocated}; p. pr & vb n. {Reciprocating}.] [L. reciprocatus p. p. of reciprocare. See {Reciprocal}.] To move forward and backward alternately; to recur in vicissitude; to act interchangeably; to alternate. One brawny smith the puffing bellows plies, And draws and blows reciprocating air. --Dryden. {Reciprocating engine}, a steam, air, or gas engine, etc., in which the piston moves back and forth; -- in distinction from a rotary engine, in which the piston travels continuously in one direction in a circular path. {Reciprocating motion} (Mech.), motion alternately backward and forward, or up and down as of a piston rod. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: reciprocating adj : moving alternately backward and forward [syn: {reciprocatory}]
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