Fluxion

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The act of flowing. Cotgrave.

2. The matter that flows. Wiseman.

3. Fusion; the running of metals into a fluid state.

4. An unnatural or excessive flow of blood or fluid toward any organ; a determination.

5. A constantly varying indication. Less to be counted than the fluxions of sun dials. De Quincey.

6. The infinitely small increase or decrease of a variable or flowing quantity in a certain infinitely small and constant period of time; the rate of variation of a fluent; an incerement; a differential. (b) pl.

7. A method of analysis developed by Newton, and based on the conception of all magnitudes as generated by motion, and involving in their changes the notion of velocity or rate of change. Its results are the same as those of the differential and integral calculus, from which it differs little except in notation and logical method.