Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RO-TA'TION, n. [L. rotatio, from roto, to turn; rota, a wheel.]

1. The act of turning, as a wheel or solid body on its axis, as distinguished from the progressive motion of a body revolving round another body or a distant point. Thus the daily turning of the earth on its axis, is a rotation; its annual motion round the sun is a revolution.
2. Vicissitude of succession; the course by which officers or others leave their places at certain times, and are succeeded by others; applied also to a change of crops.