Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for VE-LOC'I-TY
VE-LOC'I-TY, n. [Fr. velocité; L. velocitas, from velox, swift, allied to volo, to fly.]
- Swiftness; celerity; rapidity; as, the velocity of wind; the velocity of a planet or comet in its orbit or course; the velocity of a cannon ball; the velocity of light. In these phrases, velocity is more generally used than celerity. We apply celerity to animals; as, a horse or an ostrich runs with celerity, and a stream runs with rapidity or velocity; but bodies moving in the air or in ethereal space, move with greater or less velocity, not celerity. This usage is arbitrary, and perhaps not universal.
- In philosophy, velocity is that affection of motion by which a body moves over a certain space in a certain time. Velocity is in direct proportion to the space over which a body moves. Velocity is absolute or relative; absolute, when a body moves over a certain space in a certain time; relative, when it has respect to another moving body. Velocity is also uniform or equal; or it is unequal, that is, retarded or accelerated.
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