Machinery. the premature spontaneous burning of a fuel–air mixture in an internal-combustion engine due to the high temperature of air compressed in a cylinder.
Origin: 1670–80; < ML dētonātiōn- (s. of dētonātiō), equiv. to L dētonāt(us) (see detonate) + -iōn--ion
[det-n-ey-shuh
n] 