librate
nounEtymology From Medieval Latin lībrāta, from Latin lībra (“pound”).
1
Historical A piece of land having a value of one pound per year.
librate
verb/ˈlaɪbɹeɪt/
Etymology First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin lībrātus, perfect passive participle of lībrō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from lībra (“a balance”).
1
To oscillate (like the beam of a balance).
- Their parts all librate on too nice a beam.1796, William Cliffton, The Group:
- The currently observed orbital resonances at the 2:1 mean motion commensurabilities involving Io-Europa and Europa-Ganymede are such that the resonance variables #92;theta#95;1#61;#92;lambda#95;1-2#92;lambda#95;2#43;#92;omega#95;1 and #92;theta#95;3#61;#92;lambda#95;2-2#92;lambda#95;3#43;#92;omega#95;2 librate about 0° and #92;theta#95;2#61;#92;lambda#95;1-2#92;lambda#95;2#43;#92;omega#95;2 librates about 180°, all with small amplitude.2002 October 18, S. J. Peale, Man Hoi Lee, “A Primordial Origin of the Laplace Relation Among the Galilean Satellites”, in Science, volume 298, number 5593, →DOI, page 594:
2
Figuratively To waver or deliberate between two opposing thoughts or choices.
- But she winds about him coil after coil of her glittering rhetoric, in which reason holds its own as it librates with specious feeling.1924, Herbert Weir Smyth, “VI. Orestea. I: Agamemnon”, in Aeschylean Tragedy, page 168:
3
To be poised; to balance oneself.
- Her playful Sea-horse […] His watery way with waving volutes wins, / Or listening librates on unmoving fins.1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, page 138:
4
Obsolete To place in a balance; to weigh.
- Related terms
- libration