[f. LEVITATE v. (see -ATION).]
1. The action or process of levitating or rising in virtue of lightness. Opposed to GRAVITATION 1.
1668. H. More, Div. Dial., I. ix. (1713), 18. There being no such hard Pressure, no Levitation or Gravitation.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xii. § 6 (1819), 206. The lungs also of birds contain in them a provision distinguishingly calculated for … levitation.
b. The action or process of rising, or raising (a body), from the ground by ‘spiritualistic’ means.
1875. Fam. Herald, 13 Nov., 29/2. Levitation is an old claim of the marvellous, as old as Pythagoras.
1881. Times, 30 March, 11/6. Levitation … or moving at will, with no effort but the desire, and wholly independent of the laws of gravitation, is a universal dream.
1888. Besant, Herr Paulus, 89. The séances, manifestations, levitations [etc.].
† 2. The action or process of becoming lighter; also, the quality of being comparatively light; BUOYANCY, Obs.
1686. Goad, Celest. Bodies, II. v. 221. The Currents in the Sea, as all Tides, are made by Levitation of the Humid Body.
1739. Labelye, Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge, 25. The Sides must rise by their own Levitation or Buoyancy.
