celerity

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Noun 1.3.1 Translations

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

French célérité > Latin celeritas > Latin celer, fast, swift.

[edit] Pronunciation

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[edit] Noun

celerity (uncountable)

1. (in literary usage) Speed.

   "disposing of the parsnip wine with a celerity which might have been due to eagerness but, to Harriett, rather suggested a reluctance to let the draught linger on the palate." —Dorothy Sayers

   "The phantoms, for so they then seemed, were flitting on the other side of the deck, and, with a noiseless celerity, were casting loose the tackles and bands of the boat which swung there." — Moby Dick, chapter 48

2. (oceanography) The speed of individual waves (as opposed to the speed of groups of waves).

[edit] Translations