levitation

See also: lévitation

English
A hoax originally introduced as a demonstration of telekinesis by French spirit photographer Édouard Isidore Buguet (1840-1901).

Etymology

levitate +‎ -ion, from Latin levitas (“lightness”), patterned in English on gravitate.

Pronunciation
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

levitation (countable and uncountable, plural levitations)

  1. The raising of something, such as a body, without apparent physical cause, allegedly using the power of the mind
  2. The suspension of something via technical means without any mechanical support, such as by magnetism
    • 1972, Lytle Robinson, chapter 4, in Edgar Cayceʼs Story of the Origin and Destiny of Man, USA: Berkley Publishing Corporation, page 90:
      It was erected by the application of those universal laws and forces of nature which cause iron to float. By the same laws, gravity may be overcome or neutralized, and stone made to float in air. The Pyramid was thus built by levitation, abetted by song and chanting, much in the same manner in which the Druids of England set up their huge stones at a later period.

Translations
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Further reading

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