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Displacement

1. The act of displacing, or the state of being displaced; a putting out of place. The quantity of anything, as water, displaced by a floating body, as by a ship, the weight of the displaced liquid being equal to that of the displacing body.

2. (Science: psychology) The process by which an emotional or behavioural response that is appropriate for one situation appears in another situation for which it is inappropriate.

3. (Science: chemistry) The process of extracting soluble substances from organic material and the like, whereby a quantity of saturated solvent is displaced, or removed, for another quantity of the solvent.

4. (Science: mechanics) piston displacement, the volume of the space swept through, or weight of steam, water, etc, displaced, in a given time, by the piston of a steam engine or pump.

Origin: cf. F. Deplacement.