Moment /(?)/

Mo·ment

Moment

n.
  1. A minute portion of time; a point of time; an instant; as, at that very moment.
    In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.
    — 1 Cor. xv. 52.
  2. Impulsive power; force; momentum.
    The moments or quantities of motion in bodies.
    — Berkley.
    Touch, with lightest moment of impulse, His free will.
  3. Importance, as in influence or effect; consequence; weight or value; consideration.
    Matters of great moment.
    It is an abstruse speculation, but also of far less moment and consequence of us than the others.
  4. An essential element; a deciding point, fact, or consideration; an essential or influential circumstance.
  5. An infinitesimal change in a varying quantity; an increment or decrement. (Math.) [Obs.]
  6. Tendency, or measure of tendency, to produce motion, esp. motion about a fixed point or axis. (Mech.)

Phrases & Compounds
Moment of a couple
the product of either of its forces into the perpendicular distance between them.
Moment of a force
With respect to a point, the product of the intensity of the force into the perpendicular distance from the point to the line of direction of the force
Moment of inertia
of a rotating body, the sum of the mass of each particle of matter of the body into the square of its distance from the axis of rotation; -- called also moment of rotation and moment of the mass.
Statical moment
the product of a force into its leverage; the same as moment of a force with respect to a point, line, etc.
Virtual moment
See under Virtual.