*generat*

a. [ L. degeneratus, p. p. of degenerare to degenerate, cause to degenerate, fr. degener base, degenerate, that departs from its race or kind; de- + genus race, kind. See Kin relationship. ] Having become worse than one's kind, or one's former state; having declined in worth; having lost in goodness; deteriorated; degraded; unworthy; base; low. [ 1913 Webster ]

Faint-hearted and degenerate king. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

A degenerate and degraded state. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Degenerate from their ancient blood. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

These degenerate days. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

I had planted thee a noble vine . . . : how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? Jer. ii. 21. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Degenerated; p. pr. & vb. n. Degenerating. ] 1. To be or grow worse than one's kind, or than one was originally; hence, to be inferior; to grow poorer, meaner, or more vicious; to decline in good qualities; to deteriorate. [ 1913 Webster ]

When wit transgresseth decency, it degenerates into insolence and impiety. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Biol.) To fall off from the normal quality or the healthy structure of its kind; to become of a lower type. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a person who has declined from a high standard, especially a sexual deviate; -- usually used disparagingly or opprobriously of persons whose sexual behavior does not conform to the norms of accepted morals. [ PJC ]

2. a person or thing that has fallen from a higher to a lower state, or reverted to an earlier type or stage of development or culture. RHUD [ PJC ]

adv. In a degenerate manner; unworthily. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Degeneracy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. dégénération. ] 1. The act or state of growing worse, or the state of having become worse; decline; degradation; debasement; degeneracy; deterioration. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our degeneration and apostasy. Bates. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Physiol.) That condition of a tissue or an organ in which its vitality has become either diminished or perverted; a substitution of a lower for a higher form of structure; as, fatty degeneration of the liver. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Biol.) A gradual deterioration, from natural causes, of any class of animals or plants or any particular organ or organs; hereditary degradation of type. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The thing degenerated. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Cockle, aracus, . . . and other degenerations. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

Amyloid degeneration,
Caseous degeneration, etc. See under Amyloid, Caseous, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Biol.) A believer in the theory of degeneration, or hereditary degradation of type; as, the degenerationists hold that savagery is the result of degeneration from a superior state. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Undergoing or producing degeneration; tending to degenerate. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) A generator having its revolving part carried on the shaft of the driving engine. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Generated p. pr. & vb. n. Generating. ] [ L. generatus, p. p. of generare to generate, fr. genus. See Genus, Gender. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To beget; to procreate; to propagate; to produce (a being similar to the parent); to engender; as, every animal generates its own species. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To cause to be; to bring into life. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To originate, especially by a vital or chemical process; to produce; to cause. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whatever generates a quantity of good chyle must likewise generate milk. Arbuthnot. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Math.) To trace out, as a line, figure, or solid, by the motion of a point or a magnitude of inferior order. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. generacioun, F. génération, fr.L. generatio. ] 1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of animals. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or vital; production; formation; as, the generation of sounds, of gases, of curves, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny; offspiring. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age. [ 1913 Webster ]

This is the book of the generations of Adam. Gen. v. 1. [ 1913 Webster ]

Ye shall remain there [ in Babylon ] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations. Baruch vi. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

All generations and ages of the Christian church. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Race; kind; family; breed; stock. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Geom.) 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; as, the generation of a line or curve by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Biol.) The aggregate of the functions and phenomene which attend reproduction. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are four modes of generation in the animal kingdom: scissiparity or by fissiparous generation, gemmiparity or by budding, germiparity or by germs, and oviparity or by ova. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alternate generation (Biol.), alternation of sexual with asexual generation, in which the products of one process differ from those of the other, -- a form of reproduction common both to animal and vegetable organisms. In the simplest form, the organism arising from sexual generation produces offspiring unlike itself, agamogenetically. These, however, in time acquire reproductive organs, and from their impregnated germs the original parent form is reproduced. In more complicated cases, the first series of organisms produced agamogenetically may give rise to others by a like process, and these in turn to still other generations. Ultimately, however, a generation is formed which develops sexual organs, and the original form is reproduced. --
Spontaneous generation (Biol.), the fancied production of living organisms without previously existing parents from inorganic matter, or from decomposing organic matter, a notion which at one time had many supporters; abiogenesis. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. F. génératif. ] Having the power of generating, propagating, originating, or producing. “That generative particle.” Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] 1. One who, or that which, generates, begets, causes, or produces. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An apparatus in which vapor or gas is formed from a liquid or solid by means of heat or chemical process, as a steam boiler, gas retort, or vessel for generating carbonic acid gas, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Mus.) The principal sound or sounds by which others are produced; the fundamental note or root of the common chord; -- called also generating tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Elec.) Any machine that transforms mechanical into electrical energy; a dynamo. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

5. (Math.) a mathematical entity which, when subjected to an operation, yields another mathematical entity; also, a generatrix. [ PJC ]

n.; pl. L. Generatrices E. Generatrixes [ L. ] (Geom.) That which generates; the point, or the mathematical magnitude, which, by its motion, generates another magnitude, as a line, surface, or solid; -- called also describent.

. A machine built as an induction motor and driven above synchronous speed, thus acting as an alternating-current generator; -- called also asynchronous generator. Below synchronism the machine takes in electrical energy and acts as an induction motor; at synchronism the power component of current becomes zero and changes sign, so that above synchronism the machine (driven for this purpose by mechanical power) gives out electrical energy as a generator. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Ingenerat p. pr. & vb. n. Ingenerating ] To generate or produce within; to beget; to engender; to occasion; to cause. Mede. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those noble habits are ingenerated in the soul. Sir M. Hale. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ingeneratus, p. p. of ingenerare. See engender ] Generated within; inborn; innate; as, ingenerate powers of body. W. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those virtues were rather feigned and affected . . . than true qualities ingenerate in his judgment. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Act of ingenerating. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An unregenerate state. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

. The combination consisting of a generator and a driving motor mechanically connected, usually on a common bedplate and with the two shafts directly coupled or combined into a single shaft. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

v. t. [ L. progeneratus, p. p. of progenerare to beget; pro forth, forward + generare to generate. ] To beget; to generate; to produce; to procreate; as, to progenerate a race. [ R. ] Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. progeneratio. ] The act of begetting; propagation. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. regeneratus, p. p. of regenerare to regenerate; pref. re- re- + generare to beget. See Generate. ] 1. Reproduced. [ 1913 Webster ]

The earthly author of my blood,
Whose youthful spirit, in me regenerate,
Doth with a twofold vigor lift me up. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) Born anew; become Christian; renovated in heart; changed from a natural to a spiritual state. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To generate or produce anew; to reproduce; to give new life, strength, or vigor to. [ 1913 Webster ]

Through all the soil a genial fferment spreads.
Regenerates the plauts, and new adorns the meads. Blackmore. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) To cause to be spiritually born anew; to cause to become a Christian; to convert from sin to holiness; to implant holy affections in the heart of. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, to make a radical change for the better in the character or condition of; as, to regenerate society. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being rgenerate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. regeneratio: cf. F. régéneration. ] 1. The act of regenerating, or the state of being regenerated. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Theol.) The entering into a new spiritual life; the act of becoming, or of being made, Christian; that change by which holy affectations and purposes are substituted for the opposite motives in the heart. [ 1913 Webster ]

He saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Chost. Tit. iii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Biol.) The reproduction of a part which has been removed or destroyed; re-formation; -- a process especially characteristic of a many of the lower animals; as, the regeneration of lost feelers, limbs, and claws by spiders and crabs. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Physiol.) (a) The reproduction or renewal of tissues, cells, etc., which have been used up and destroyed by the ordinary processes of life; as, the continual regeneration of the epithelial cells of the body, or the regeneration of the contractile substance of muscle. (b) The union of parts which have been severed, so that they become anatomically perfect; as, the regeneration of a nerve. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to regeneration; tending to regenerate; as, regenerative influences. H. Bushnell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Regenerative furnace (Metal.), a furnace having a regenerator in which gas used for fuel, and air for supporting combustion, are heated; a Siemens furnace. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. So as to regenerate. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, regenerates. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mech.) A device used in connection with hot-air engines, gas-burning furnaces, etc., in which the incoming air or gas is heated by being brought into contact with masses of iron, brick, etc., which have been previously heated by the outgoing, or escaping, hot air or gas. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having power to renew; tending to reproduce; regenerating. G. S. Faber. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. retro- + generative. ] Begetting young by retrocopulation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Turbine, and Generator. ] An electric generator or dynamo which is combined on one frame with a turbomotor, by which it is driven. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

{ } a. Not regenerated; not renewed in heart; remaining or being at enmity with God. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Unregeneracy. [ 1913 Webster ]