generation

Noun

generation (countable and uncountable, plural generations)

1. The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
   • The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations […]1832, Charles Lyell, chapter XIII, in Principles of Geology […] , volume II, London: John Murray, page 210
2. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.
   • So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
   • Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted...
3. (US, dialectal) Race, family; breed.
   • Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit.
   • {{RQ:KJV|passage=This is the book of the generations of Adam|Genesis|5|1}
   • All generations and ages of the Christian church[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
5. (Nigeria, obsolete) Descendants, progeny; offspring.
6. The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time.
   • Before the independence of India the books of Dr P. K. Yadav presented a fundamental challenge to the accepted ideas of race relations that, two generations later, will be true of the writings of the radical writers of the 1970s.2008, Edgar Thorpe, Objective English
7. A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology.
   • The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital, Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers
8. The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.
   • the generation of a line or curve
9. A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.
   • Generation X grew up in the eighties, whereas the generation known as the millennials grew up in the nineties.
10. A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.
    • People sometimes dispute which generation of Star Trek is best, including the original and The Next Generation.
11. A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy.
    • With one-inch C format or half-inch Betacam used in the component mode, quality loss through additional generations is not such a problem. In this situation, it would be usual to make the necessary alterations while re-recording onto a third generation master […]2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book
    • Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality.2002, Keith Jack, Vladimir Tsatsoulin, Dictionary of Video and Television Technology, page 131
12. A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.
    • It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.1989 November 20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
    • The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations)1999 June 15, hexatron, “A new hexagonal CA with a new glider”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)