generation

noun

Etymology: Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.

1. The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.

   “The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations […]”

2. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.

   “So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.”

   “Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.”

3. Race, family; breed.

   “Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?”

4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit.

   “This is the book of the generations of Adam - Genesis 5:1”

   “Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations - Baruch 6:3”

5. Descendants, progeny; offspring.
6. The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time.

   “Before the independence of India the books of Dr P. K. Yadav presented a fundamental challenge to the accepted ideas of race relations that, two generations later, will be true of the writings of the radical writers of the 1970s.”

7. A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology.

   “The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.”

8. 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, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

   “the generation of a line or curve”

9. A group of people born in a specific range of years and whose members can relate culturally to one another.

   “Generation X grew up in the eighties, whereas the generation known as the millennials grew up in the nineties.”

10. A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.

    “People sometimes dispute which generation of Star Trek is best, including the original and The Next Generation.”

11. A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy.

    “With one-inch C format or half-inch Betacam used in the component mode, quality loss through additional generations is not such a problem. In this situation, it would be usual to make the necessary alterations while re-recording onto a third generation master […]”

    “Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality.”

12. A single iteration of a cellular automaton rule on a pattern.

    “It runs for 17331 generations before stabilizing as 136 blinkers, 109 blocks, 65 beehives, 18 loaves, 18 boats, 7 ships, 4 tubs, 3 ponds, 2 toads, and 40 gliders.”

    “The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations)”