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Perpetual motion   /pərpˈɛtʃuəl mˈoʊʃən/   Listen
noun
Motion  n.  
1.
The act, process, or state of changing place or position; movement; the passing of a body from one place or position to another, whether voluntary or involuntary; opposed to rest. "Speaking or mute, all comeliness and grace attends thee, and each word, each motion, forms."
2.
Power of, or capacity for, motion. "Devoid of sense and motion."
3.
Direction of movement; course; tendency; as, the motion of the planets is from west to east. "In our proper motion we ascend."
4.
Change in the relative position of the parts of anything; action of a machine with respect to the relative movement of its parts. "This is the great wheel to which the clock owes its motion."
5.
Movement of the mind, desires, or passions; mental act, or impulse to any action; internal activity. "Let a good man obey every good motion rising in his heart, knowing that every such motion proceeds from God."
6.
A proposal or suggestion looking to action or progress; esp., a formal proposal made in a deliberative assembly; as, a motion to adjourn. "Yes, I agree, and thank you for your motion."
7.
(Law) An application made to a court or judge orally in open court. Its object is to obtain an order or rule directing some act to be done in favor of the applicant.
8.
(Mus.) Change of pitch in successive sounds, whether in the same part or in groups of parts. "The independent motions of different parts sounding together constitute counterpoint." Note: Conjunct motion is that by single degrees of the scale. Contrary motion is that when parts move in opposite directions. Disjunct motion is motion by skips. Oblique motion is that when one part is stationary while another moves. Similar or direct motion is that when parts move in the same direction.
9.
A puppet show or puppet. (Obs.) "What motion's this? the model of Nineveh?" Note: Motion, in mechanics, may be simple or compound. Simple motions are: (a) straight translation, which, if of indefinite duration, must be reciprocating. (b) Simple rotation, which may be either continuous or reciprocating, and when reciprocating is called oscillating. (c) Helical, which, if of indefinite duration, must be reciprocating. Compound motion consists of combinations of any of the simple motions.
Center of motion, Harmonic motion, etc. See under Center, Harmonic, etc.
Motion block (Steam Engine), a crosshead.
Perpetual motion (Mech.), an incessant motion conceived to be attainable by a machine supplying its own motive forces independently of any action from without. According to the law of conservation of energy, such perpetual motion is impossible, and no device has yet been built that is capable of perpetual motion.
Synonyms: See Movement.


adjective
Perpetual  adj.  Neverceasing; continuing forever or for an unlimited time; unfailing; everlasting; continuous. "Unto the kingdom of perpetual night." "Perpetual feast of nectared sweets."
Circle of perpetual apparition, or Circle of perpetual occultation. See under Circle.
Perpetual calendar, a calendar so devised that it may be adjusted for any month or year.
Perpetual curacy (Ch. of Eng.), a curacy in which all the tithes are appropriated, and no vicarage is endowed.
Perpetual motion. See under Motion.
Perpetual screw. See Endless screw, under Screw.
Synonyms: Continual; unceasing; endless; everlasting; incessant; constant; eternal. See Constant.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Perpetual motion" Quotes from Famous Books



... mountains of Georgia, the neighborhood of Constantinople, the holy city of Jerusalem, and the spicy groves of Arabia Felix. Instead of resigning himself to the luxury of his harem, the shepherd king, both in peace and war, was in action and in the field. By the perpetual motion of the royal camp, each province was successively blessed with his presence; and he is said to have perambulated twelve times the wide extent of his dominions, which surpassed the Asiatic reign of Cyrus and the caliphs. Of these expeditions, the most pious and splendid was the pilgrimage ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 5 • Edward Gibbon
... traveled hard, and had heaps of negroes all contracted for, and everything going along just right, he couldn't get the laws passed and down the whole thing tumbled. And there in Kentucky, when he raked up that old numskull that had been inventing away at a perpetual motion machine for twenty-two years, and Beriah Sellers saw at a glance where just one more little cog-wheel would settle the business, why I could see it as plain as day when he came in wild at midnight and hammered us out of bed and told the whole thing in a whisper with the doors bolted ...
— The Gilded Age, Complete • Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
... rose quickly, as if to take note of the tapestries and count the rafters, but gained the door before anyone else, and relaxing his sphincter in advance, he hummed a tune on his way to the retreat; arrived there he was compelled, like La Balue, to murmur words of excuse to this student of perpetual motion, shutting the door with as promptitude as he opened it; and he came back burdened with an accumulation which seriously impeded his private channels. And in the same way went to guests one after the other, without being able to unburden themselves of their sauces, ...
— Droll Stories, Volume 1 • Honore de Balzac
... behavior; for everything used to be so plain among them. She would even have tried for some comfort from Willie, whose mind was very large upon all social questions. But Willie had solved at last the problem of perpetual motion, according to his own conviction, and locked himself up with his model all day; and the world might stand still, so long as that went on. "Oh, what would I give ...
— Mary Anerley • R. D. Blackmore
... branches, jerking their tiny bodies from twig to twig in the shrubbery, hanging head downward, like a nuthatch, and most industriously feeding every second upon the tiny insects and larvae hidden beneath the bark and leaves. They seem to be the feathered expression of perpetual motion. And how dainty and charming these tiny sprites are! They are not at all shy; you may approach them quite close if you will, for the birds are simply too intent on their business to be ...
— Bird Neighbors • Neltje Blanchan


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