a. [f. prec. + -AL.] Of or pertaining to translation. a. Belonging to, or consisting in, translation from one language into another.
1813. E. Henderson, Lett., in Life (1859), 119. A translational exhibition of a certain notable portion of the Old Testament.
1869. Contemp. Rev., Feb., 134. Mr. Paley’s editorial and translational labours.
1907. Salmon, Hum. Element in Gosp., 244. Many of the variations in our Greek Gospels are simply translational.
b. Physics. Consisting in onward motion, as distinct from rotation, vibration, oscillation, etc.
1867. Thomson & Tait, Nat. Phil., I. I. § 107. Imagine this circle to be the inner edge of a fixed ring in space (directionally fixed, that is to say, but having the same translational motion as the earth’s centre).
1898. Sir W. Crookes, Addr. Brit. Assoc., 25. The total energy of both the translational and internal motions of the molecules locked up in quiescent air at ordinary pressure and temperature is about 140,000 foot-pounds in each cubic yard of air.
