generation

Etymology

From Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre, present active infinitive of generō (“to beget, generate”). Compare generate.

noun

1. The act of creating something or bringing something into being; production, creation.
2. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation.
3. (now US, dialectal) Race, family; breed.
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
   All generations and ages of the Christian church - Richard Hooker
5. (obsolete) 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. 2008, Edgar Thorpe, Objective English
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. 2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital, Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers
8. (geometry) 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. (television) A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy and thus further degraded in quality.
    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 […] 2014, K. G. Jackson, G. B. Townsend, TV & Video Engineer's Reference Book
    Each generation away from the original or master produces increased degradation in the image quality. 2002, Keith Jack, Vladimir Tsatsoulin, Dictionary of Video and Television Technology, page 131
12. (cellular automata) 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. 1989-11-20, Dean Hickerson, “Life: glider gun origin”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
    The glider is fast--it moves 2 cells every 3 generations. There is also a spinning thing (sixty degrees every 21 generations) 1999-06-15, hexatron, “A new hexagonal CA with a new glider”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)
    In B37/S23, it goes symmetrical after 10 ticks, and produces a familiar pair of B-heptominoes after 23 ticks (the next generation after this can be found in the rotor of a standard B3/S23 p46 oscillator): 2008-06-25, Dave Greene, “Life: B37/S23 - A Chaotic Universe.”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet)