Oscillate definition | Dictionary.com

os⋅cil⋅late

[os-uh-leyt]

verb, -lat⋅ed, -lat⋅ing.

–verb (used without object)

1.	to swing or move to and fro, as a pendulum does.

2.	to vary or vacillate between differing beliefs, opinions, conditions, etc.: He oscillates regularly between elation and despair.

3.	Physics. to have, produce, or generate oscillations.

4.	Mathematics. (of a function, sequence, etc.) to tend to no limit, including infinity: The sequence 0, 1, 0, 1, … oscillates.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to cause to move to and fro; vibrate.

Origin:
1720–30; < L oscillātus (ptp. of oscillāre to swing, ride on a swing), equiv. to oscill(um) a swing + -ātus -ate ¹

Synonyms:
1. See swing ¹ . 2. fluctuate, waver.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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os·cil·late (ŏs'ə-lāt')

intr.v. os·cil·lat·ed, os·cil·lat·ing, os·cil·lates

To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm.
To waver, as between conflicting opinions or courses of action; vacillate: "The court has oscillated over the decades from more liberal to less, more conservative to less, depending upon who was president at the time of vacancies" (Gordon J. Humphrey). See Synonyms at swing.
Physics To vary between alternate extremes, usually within a definable period of time.

[Latin ōscillāre, ōscillāt-, from ōscillum, swing, probably from ōscillum, small mask of Bacchus, diminutive of ōs, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots.]
os'cil·la'tor n., os'cil·la·to'ry (-lə-tôr'ē, -tōr'ē) adj.

Word History: The rather dry word oscillate may become a bit less dry when we learn its story. It is possible that it goes back to the Latin word ōscillum, a diminutive of ōs, "mouth," meaning "small mouth." In a passage in the Georgics, Virgil applies the word to a small mask of Bacchus hung from trees to move back and forth in the breeze. From this word ōscillum may have come another word ōscillum, meaning "something, such as a swing, that moves up and down or back and forth." And this ōscillum was the source of the verb ōscillāre, "to ride in a swing," and the noun (from the verb) ōscillātiō, "the action of swinging or oscillating." The words have given us, respectively, our verb oscillate, first recorded in 1726, and our noun oscillation, first recorded in 1658. The next time one sees something oscillating, one might think of that small mask of Bacchus swinging from a pine tree in the Roman countryside.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oscillate

Os"cil*late\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Oscillated; p. pr. & vb. n. Oscillating.] [L. oscillare to swing, fr. oscillum a swing, a little mask or puppet made to be hung from trees and swing in the wind, prob. orig., a little mouth, a dim. from os mouth. See Oral, and cf. Osculate.]

1. To move backward and forward; to vibrate like a pendulum; to swing; to sway.

2. To vary or fluctuate between fixed limits; to act or move in a fickle or fluctuating manner; to change repeatedly, back and forth.

The amount of superior families oscillates rather than changes, that is, it fluctuates within fixed limits. --Dc Quincey.

Main Entry: os·cil·late
Pronunciation: 'äs-&-"lAt
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Forms: -lat·ed;-lat·ing
1 : to swing backward and forward like a pendulum
2 : to move or travel back and forth between two points —os·cil·la·to·ry /'äs-&-l&-"tOr-E, -"tor-/ adjective

oscillate os·cil·late (ŏs'ə-lāt')
v. os·cil·lat·ed, os·cil·lat·ing, os·cil·lates

To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm.
To vary between alternate extremes, usually within a definable period of time.

os'cil·la'tor n.
os'cil·la·to'ry (-lə-tôr'ē) adj.

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