Ro‐ta″tion (?), n. [L. rotatio: cf. F. rotation.] 1. The act of turning, as a wheel or a solid body on its axis, as distinguished from the progressive motion of a revolving round another body or a distant point; thus, the daily turning of the earth on its axis is a rotation; its annual motion round the sun is a revolution.
2. Any return or succesion in a series.
Moment of rotation. See Moment of inertia, under Moment. — Rotation in office, the practice of changing public officers at frequent intervals by discharges and substitutions. — Rotation of crops, the practices of cultivating an orderly succession of different crops on the same land.