Category:Retardation

Re`tar*da"tion, n. Etym: [l. retardatio: cf. F. retardation.]

1. The act of retarding; hindrance; the act of delaying; as, the Retardation of the motion of a ship; -- opposed to ant: acceleration. The retardations of our fluent motion. De quinsey.

2. That which retards; an obstacle; an obstruction. Hills, sloughs, and other terrestrial retardations. Sir w. Scott.

3. (mus.)

Defn: the keeping back of an approaching consonant chord by Prolonging one or more tones of a previous chord into the Intermediate chord which follows; -- differing from suspension by Resolving upwards instead of downwards.

4. The extent to which anything is retarded; the amount of retarding Or delay. Retardation of the tide. (a) the lunitidal interval, or the Hour angle of the moon at the time of high tide any port; the Interval between the transit of the moon and the time of high tide Next following. (b) the age of the tide; the retard of the tide. See Under retard, n.