Librate

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Slava
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Librate

Postby Slava » Tue Sep 28, 2010 8:45 am

GWoTD for Sept. 26, 2010:

• librate •


Pronunciation: lye-breyt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive

Meaning: 1. To wobble up and down or vibrate in reaching balance, as an old mechanical scale or a beam on a pivot might do. 2. To hover motionless or be poised in a vibrating action.

Notes: Today's Good Word supports a healthy family. The noun is libration and the adjective, libratory, refers to an up and down motion of something coming into balance, as the libratory motion of the surface of the sea.

In Play: One of the best ways to apply this verb is in the description of a bird holding itself motionless in flight by the vibration of its wings: "We were captivated by the way the gull librated above our heads, hoping we might proffer a crumb or two from our lunch." We see libration all around us, though: "Milton gently dozed off, hypnotized by the libration of his children on the see-saw."

Word History: This word goes back to Latin libra "pound (= 12 ounces in ancient Rome), scales", the origin of the Zodiac sign of the scales, Libra. This word does not seem to be semantically related to either liber "book" (whence library) or liber "free" (whence liberty) despite the phonetic and orthographical similarities—these similarities appear to be pure happenstance.

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Slava
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Re: LIBRATE

Postby Slava » Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:14 pm

It sometimes feels as if we should be able to use this when speaking of temperatures. One day it's 90+, the next barely breaks 60, and then back up. As it's not trying to find a balance, though, I don't expect it fits.

I saw a sparrow today, trying to librate as a hummingbird and feed at a flower. Maybe in a million years they'll be able to.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

bbeeton
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Re: LIBRATE

Postby bbeeton » Thu Jul 01, 2021 7:13 pm

There are also the libration points (or Lagrange points) in celestial mechanics, where a third body in such a position relative to two larger gravitational bodies will remain in a stable position. Useful for positioning artificial satellites, for instance, and a valuable concept for many science fiction stories.

damoge
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Re: Librate

Postby damoge » Fri Jul 02, 2021 12:15 pm

bbeeton, Thanks! very useful that!!

Debby
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bnjtokyo
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Re: Librate

Postby bnjtokyo » Fri Jul 02, 2021 9:03 pm

The James Webb Space Telescope will be heading for the L2 Lagrange point later this year, assuming it is not again delayed. The L2 Lagrange point with respect to the earth is the one about 1,500,000 km away from the earth and directly away from the sun.
(Sun . . 1 AU . . Earth . . 1,500,000km . . L2)
(Not to scale)

LukeJavan8
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Re: Librate

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat Jul 03, 2021 12:16 pm

Isn't someone supposed to be putting a telescope on the
dark side of the moon? Maybe in my senility I just dreamed that.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


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