3. To originate, especially by a vital or chemical process; to produce; to cause. Whatever generates a quantity of good chyle must likewise generate milk. Arbuthnot.
4. (Math.)
Defn: To trace out, as a line, figure, or solid, by the motion of a point or a magnitude of inferior order.
GENERATION Gen`er*a"tion, n. Etym: [OE. generacioun, F. génération, fr.L. generatio.]
1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of animals.
2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or vital; production; formation; as, the generation of sounds, of gases, of curves, etc.
3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny; offspiring.
4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age. This is the book of the generations of Adam. Gen. v. 1. Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations. Baruch vi. 3. All generations and ages of the Christian church. Hooker.
5. Race; kind; family; breed; stock. Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog Shak.
6. (Geom.)