[ noun ] distance travelled per unit time <noun.time>
Velocity \Ve*loc"i*ty\, n.; pl. {Velocities}. [L. velocitas, from velox, -ocis, swift, quick; perhaps akin to v?lare to fly (see {Volatile}): cf. F. v['e]locit['e].] 1. Quickness of motion; swiftness; speed; celerity; rapidity; as, the velocity of wind; the velocity of a planet or comet in its orbit or course; the velocity of a cannon ball; the velocity of light.
Note: In such phrases, velocity is more generally used than celerity. We apply celerity to animals; as, a horse or an ostrich runs with celerity; but bodies moving in the air or in ethereal space move with greater or less velocity, not celerity. This usage is arbitrary, and perhaps not universal.
2. (Mech.) Rate of motion; the relation of motion to time, measured by the number of units of space passed over by a moving body or point in a unit of time, usually the number of feet passed over in a second. See the Note under {Speed}.
{Angular velocity}. See under {Angular}.
{Initial velocity}, the velocity of a moving body at starting; especially, the velocity of a projectile as it leaves the mouth of a firearm from which it is discharged.
{Relative velocity}, the velocity with which a body approaches or recedes from another body, whether both are moving or only one.
{Uniform velocity}, velocity in which the same number of units of space are described in each successive unit of time.
{Variable velocity}, velocity in which the space described varies from instant, either increasing or decreasing; -- in the former case called accelerated velocity, in the latter, retarded velocity; the acceleration or retardation itself being also either uniform or variable.
{Virtual velocity}. See under {Virtual}.
Note: In variable velocity, the velocity, strictly, at any given instant, is the rate of motion at that instant, and is expressed by the units of space, which, if the velocity at that instant were continued uniform during a unit of time, would be described in the unit of time; thus, the velocity of a falling body at a given instant is the number of feet which, if the motion which the body has at that instant were continued uniformly for one second, it would pass through in the second. The scientific sense of velocity differs from the popular sense in being applied to all rates of motion, however slow, while the latter implies more or less rapidity or quickness of motion.
Eyes glaze over when monetarists talk about base money, velocity or purchasing power parity.
If velocity rises for some reason, 4% growth in money could translate into economic growth plus inflation that well exceeds 4%.
Between 1984 and 1992, broad money's velocity of circulation fell from 1.56 to 0.95 -a decline of around 6 per cent a year, (see chart).
Amnesty International and the lawyers committee questioned the use of high velocity bullets by the Israeli forces as well as the use of plastic bullets which the two organizations said can be lethal.
One cause of male infertility is low sperm motility, an inability of the sperm to propel themselves with the velocity needed for fertilization.
The navigation system is designed to provide the United States and allied land, sea and air forces with worldwide three-dimensional position and velocity information.
"It achieved earth-escape velocity and is now heading outbound toward the sun," said Brian Welch, spokesman for Johnson Space Center in Houston.
But now experiments like Mr. Heiblum's indicate it may be possible to raise the velocity of electrons another fivefold, making gallium arsenide 25 times faster than silicon.
At that velocity, even a dime-sized object can cause great damage in a collision.
However, the "velocity of growth in earnings obviously cannot continue," as company income increases, he said.
"Because of the strong upward velocity that we're seeing, interest rates on certificates of deposit are certain to increase for the next several weeks," says Mr. Heady.
The new theory applied only to a special state of matter, that of uniform motion; that is, motion in a straight line at a constant velocity.
If real economic growth were to be 10 per cent a year and velocity were to stabilise, this would indeed be consistent with inflation of 10 per cent. Unfortunately, recent growth of the money supply has been much faster than 20 per cent.
He demonstrates the importance of velocity by driving a large nail into a piece of plywood with his hand wrapped in a towel.
Weather officials reported the wind velocity 41,000 feet up was 104 mph, a condition that could seriously damage the wings of a shuttle passing through and cause the vehicle to break up.
These create two air flows, one of low velocity which flows over the surface of the frescoes, and a second which effectively bathes visitors with a 'shower' of clean air at floor level, where the air is extracted.
And even if it were able to prepare suddenly an adequate defense, in Russian eyes its velocity would be nothing but provocative.
Eight people were wounded last New Year's by slugs that plummeted back to the Earth, hitting the ground at near-muzzle velocity.
In addition, the velocity of circulation could start to rise on a sustained basis.
This increased demand allowed the Fed to accommodate much higher levels of monetary growth without overheating the economy, and directly led to the velocity declines of the past few years.
Mission controllers ordered Voyager 2 to increase velocity and change direction slightly Tuesday as the spacecraft began to come under the influence of the gravity tug of Neptune some 21 million miles away.
The government seems to have assumed that the velocity of money, the rate at which it circulates, would not change.
Could the problem of the extremely sluggish U.S. money growth solve itself through an acceleration of velocity, as many people hope and believe?
But over the past year, the velocity of Soviet money appears to have accelerated as confidence in the ruble has fallen.