1. an act, process, or instance of changing place movement
a pendulum in motion
2. an active or functioning state or condition
set the divorce proceedings in motion
3. an impulse or inclination of the mind or will
the fundamental motions of humanity to good or evil
— T. S. Eliot
4. a proposal for action especially a formal proposal made in a deliberative assembly
made a motion that the meeting be adjourned
5. an application made to a court or judge to obtain an order, ruling, or direction
His motion for a new trial was denied.
6. a puppet show
7. puppet
8. mechanism
9. an act or instance of moving the body or its parts gesture
signaled with a motion of his arm
10. activities, movements
taking advantage of the night to conceal his motions
11. melodic change of pitch
12. running parallel to the line of scrimmage before the snap
13. to signal by a movement or gesture
the pitcher motioned to the catcher
14. to direct by a motion
motioned me to the seat
15. Sir Andrew 1952– British poet; poet laureate (1999–2009)
16. an act or process of moving
17. a movement of your body or of a part of your body
18. a formal suggestion or proposal that is made at a meeting for something to be done
19. to make a movement of your hand, head, etc., that tells someone to move or act in a certain way
20. an act or process of changing place or position movement
We felt the swaying motion of the train.
21. a movement of the body or its parts
… the motion of his arms was not unlike the flapping of a pair of wings.
— Washington Irving, “Sleepy Hollow”
22. a formal plan or suggestion for action offered according to the rules of a meeting
She made a motion to adjourn.
23. to direct or signal by a movement or sign
Instantly she set the bird down and motioned everyone away …
— Carolyn Keene, The Double Jinx Mystery
24. an act, process, or instance of changing place movement
25. an evacuation of the bowels
26. the matter evacuated —often used in plural
blood in the motions
— Lancet
27. a proposal for action especially a formal proposal made in a legislative assembly
made a motion to refer the bill to committee
28. an application made to a court or judge to obtain an order, ruling, or direction
a motion to arrest judgment also a document containing such an application
29. the initiative of a court to issue an order, ruling, or direction
the court is given discretion to order a pretrial conference either on its own motion or at the request of a party
— J. H. Friedenthal et al. — motion for a more definite statement a motion that is filed before an answer and that requests the court to order the plaintiff to clarify allegations in the complaint because the claims are so vague or ambiguous that an answer cannot reasonably be framed
30. a motion made after pleadings have been entered that requests the court to issue a judgment at that point — compare summary judgment at judgment sense 1a Note: Under Rule 12(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, if matters outside of the pleadings are presented to the court when a motion for judgment on the pleadings is made, the motion will be treated as a motion for summary judgment.
31. a usually pretrial motion that requests the court to issue an interlocutory order which prevents an opposing party from introducing or referring to potentially irrelevant, prejudicial, or otherwise generally inadmissible evidence until the court has finally ruled on its admissibility
32. a motion in a civil trial to remove from a pleading an insufficient defense or any redundant, immaterial, impertinent, or scandalous matter
33. a motion in a criminal trial to exclude evidence from the record
34. a pretrial motion requesting the court to exclude evidence that was obtained illegally and especially in violation of Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendment protections
35. a motion that makes multiple requests
filing an omnibus motion to dismiss and for a more definite statement
— Department of Ins. of Florida v. Coopers & Lybrand, 570 So. 2d 369 (1990)
36. move
motioned for a summary judgment