collision

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈlɪʒ.ən/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle French collision and directly Late Latin collīsiō (“a dashing together”),^[2][3][4] from the past participle stem of Latin collīdō (“to strike together”) (see collide).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of forcibly striking or dashing together: probably before 1425, in a translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[2] 1432–50 in the OED.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The meeting of two vowels with elision of one is from 1552, and the harsh coming together of sounds from 1635.^[5] Figuratively, a clash of opposed ideas or interests is from 1662, and mere coming into contact from 1664.^[5] In computing, two records assigned the same place in memory were a collision from 1968, and simultaneous transmission by several nodes of a network from 1982.^[5]

Timeline

• 1432–50 – a striking together.^[5]
• 1552 – elision of vowels.^[5]
• 1662 – a clash of ideas.^[5]
• 1879 – collision bulkhead (nautical).^[5]
• 1968 – collision (computing).^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A violent impact of moving objects; a crash.
2. A conflict of opposed ideas, wishes or interests.
3. (physics) An event in which particles come close together, resulting in a change of momentum or an exchange of energy.
4. (computing) The simultaneous transmission of data by more than one node of a network.

Word family

• collisional
• collisionally
• anticollision
• collision course
• elastic collision

Related words

• collide
• allision
• elide
• elision
• lesion

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press