vibrate

From Latin vibrātus, perfect passive participle of vibrō (“agitate, set in tremulous motion”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *weyp- (“to oscillate, swing”) or *weyb-.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /vaɪˈbɹeɪt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪ.bɹeɪt/

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• Rhymes: -eɪt

vibrate (third-person singular simple present vibrates, present participle vibrating, simple past and past participle vibrated)

1. (intransitive) To shake with small, rapid movements to and fro.
   • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], OCLC 21345056, page 5:

     When "God save the King!" resounded through the stately abbey, the banners vibrating with the mighty music, I felt quite enthusiastic in my loyalty.

2. (intransitive) To resonate.

   Her mind was vibrating with excitement.

3. (transitive) To brandish; to swing to and fro.

   to vibrate a sword or a staff

4. (transitive) To mark or measure by moving to and fro.

   a pendulum vibrating seconds

5. (transitive) To affect with vibratory motion; to set in vibration.
   • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

     Breath vocalized, i.e., vibrated or undulated, may […] impress a swift, tremulous motion.

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 879237670, page 81:

     Star to star vibrates light: may soul to soul / Strike thro' a finer element of her own?

6. (transitive, slang, dated) To please or impress someone.
   • 1949, Ladies' Home Journal (volume 66, page 115)

     And if he wants to give you high praise, he'll answer, "That vibrates me"; "That has a large charge"; or "That's oogley."

   • 1961, Congressional Record

     […] standing side by side under a Grecian column, tapping their feet in unison and saying such things as "Hot-diggety,” “Razz-ma-tazz," “That vibrates me," and other expressions of praise current in their youth.

7. (intransitive, music) To use vibrato.

vibrate (uncountable)

1. The setting, on a portable electronic device, that causes it to vibrate rather than sound any (or most) needed alarms.

   Please put your cellphones on vibrate for the duration of the meeting.

• vibrate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• vibrate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

• vrbaite

vibrate

1. inflection of vibrare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

vibrate f pl

1. feminine plural of vibrato

• brevità, trabevi, verbita

vibrāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of vibrō