vibrate

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪt

Verb

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], “The Coronation”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, 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.

   • 1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 706:

     The tender roared along vibrating vigorously; braking had resulted in "flats" on most of its tyres.

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: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:

     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, 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.
8. (transitive, slang) To pleasure someone using a vibrator.
   • 1999 March 27, PeterW, “Jack with Jill”, in alt.jokes.limericks‎^[1] (Usenet):

     Downstairs in the living-room Jill
     Was vibrating herself for a thrill.

Related terms

• vibrant
• vibratile
• vibration
• vibratiuncle
• vibrative
• vibrato
• vibrator

 

Translations

to move with small movements rapidly

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Basque: dardaratu
• Bulgarian: трептя (bg) (treptja), вибрирам (bg) (vibriram)
• Catalan: vibrar (ca)
• Dutch: trillen (nl)
• Esperanto: vibri
• Finnish: värähdellä (fi), väristä (fi); täristä (fi)
• French: vibrer (fr)
• Galician: vibrar (gl)
• Georgian: ვიბრირება (vibrireba), თრთოლა (trtola), რხევა (rxeva), რყევა (rq̇eva)
• German: vibrieren (de)
• Hungarian: vibrál (hu)
• Italian: vibrare (it)
• Japanese: 震う (ja), 震わせる
• Jarai: mơgơi
• Kapampangan: kingking
• Khmer: ញ័រ (km) (ñɔə)
• Latin: vibrō
• Macedonian: тре́пери (tréperi), вибри́ра (vibríra)
• Maori: neneke, tōiri, tōiriiri
• Norwegian: vibrere (no)
• Piedmontese: vibré
• Polish: wibrować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: vibrar (pt)
• Romanian: vibra (ro)
• Russian: вибри́ровать (ru) impf (vibrírovatʹ)
• Spanish: vibrar (es)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Vietnamese: rung (vi)

to resonate

• Bulgarian: резонирам (bg) (rezoniram)
• Finnish: väristä (fi), värähdellä (fi)
• Japanese: 響く (ja)
• Macedonian: резони́ра (rezoníra)
• Polish: rezonować impf

to brandish; to swing to and fro

• Bulgarian: размахвам (bg) (razmahvam)
• Finnish: heiluttaa (fi), heilutella (fi)

to mark or measure by moving to and fro

to set in vibration

• Finnish: väristää (fi), värisyttää (fi)
• Japanese: 震わせる

Noun

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.

   Synonym: vibrate mode

Translations

setting

• Bulgarian: вибрация (bg) f (vibracija)
• Finnish: värinähälytys, värinätoiminto
• German: Vibration (de) f
• Macedonian: вибра́ција f (vibrácija), вибри́рање n (vibríranje)
• Romanian: vibrare (ro) f

Further reading

• “vibrate”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “vibrate”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• vrbaite

Italian

Etymology 1

Verb

vibrate

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

Etymology 2

Participle

vibrate f pl

1. feminine plural of vibrato

Anagrams

• brevità, trabevi, verbita

Latin

Verb

vibrāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of vibrō

Spanish

Verb

vibrate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of vibrar combined with te