recombinationn.
/ˌriːkɒmbᵻˈneɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌriˌkɑmbəˈneɪʃ(ə)n/ 1. The action or an act of recombining, or of being recombined; the result of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > condition or state of being combined > [noun] > action or fact of combining > again
recombination1783
1783 tr. T. Bergman Ess. Usefulness Chem. 15 All chemical operations are reducible to analysis or synthesis, that is, to discombination, as it may be called, and recombination of substances.
1847 A. De Morgan Formal Logic xi. 218 It is good against those who confound analysis and recombination of existing materials with introduction of them.
1873 J. A. Symonds Stud. Greek Poets xi. 344 A complete revision and recombination of all pre-existing anthologies.
1939 K. Burke Let. 24 Dec. in Sel. Corr. K. Burke & M. Cowley (1988) 227 I share your feeling that there is another cultural recombination (or dispersion?) taking place now.
1965 Amer. Anthropologist 67 203 A recombination of pre-existent elements..is an invention regardless of how many times it has been independently conceived.
1995 New Yorker 27 Mar. 59/1 All our ideas and feelings are to be found there [sc. in the O.E.D.], in the endless recombinations of our words.
2.
a. Physics. The coming together of ions and electrons to form (or re-form) neutral atoms, often with the emission of a photon; (Astronomy) the coming together of electrons and nuclei in the early universe (105 to 106 years after the Big Bang) to form atoms of hydrogen and helium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > atomic physics > [noun] > formation of neutral atoms
recombination1890
1890 Proc. Royal Soc. 1889–90 47 535 As the gases rise from the flame they will remain conductors until the recombination of ions is complete.
1911 E. Rutherford in Encycl. Brit. XXII. 794/1 If a sufficiently strong field is used, the ions are all swept to the electrodes before appreciable loss of their number can occur by recombination.
1962 Guardian 10 July 9/5 Atoms in the atmosphere would be broken up in extremely large numbers, so that this recombination light would be visible even to the naked human eye.
1971 B. A. Lengyel Lasers (ed. 2) iii. 212 The general laws of emission and absorption of radiation are as valid for recombinations as they are for ordinary intra-atomic transitions.
1981 E. R. Harrison Cosmology xviii. 349/2 From this decoupling epoch (also known as the recombination epoch because protons and electrons recombine to form hydrogen atoms) comes directly the cosmic radiation that we now observe.
1997 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 12 June 16/2 Almost all electrons and nuclei became bound into atoms, in what astronomers call the epoch of recombination.
2002 Geophysics in UK (Royal Astron. Soc.) 16/3 Thermospheric winds spread these molecules and chemical reactions form molecular ions, then neutral particles through dissociative recombination.
b. The coming together of electrons and holes in a semiconductor, often with the emission of a photon.
ΚΠ
1933 Proc. Royal Soc. A. 140 521 The equal rates of increase of electrons and holes by transport to any neighbourhood must be exactly balanced by the increased rate of recombination owing to the slight excess of electrons and holes present there.
1954 C. Zwikker Physical Prop. Solid Materials xiii. 230 The quenching photons raise electrons from the crystal lattice..to the copper ions..and thus inhibit the recombination effect.
1995 New Scientist 29 July 18/3 LEDs..have fallen prey to an effect called Auger recombination—in which electrons and holes recombine without producing light.
3. Genetics. The rearrangement of genetic material, or of the corresponding heritable characteristics, by natural or artificial means; esp. the generation of a new combination of existing genes by the exchange of segments between chromosomes, as (in sexual reproduction) by crossing over during meiosis between pairs of homologous chromosomes derived from each parent. Also: the biochemical processes involved in this. Cf. recombinant adj. and n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > [noun] > changes or actions of genes or chromosomes > recombination
recombination1903
parasexuality1958
the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > [noun] > changes or actions of genes or chromosomes > cross-over
recombination1903
chiasma1911
crossing-over1912
crossover1912
interference1916
1903 Science 25 Sept. 405/1 In some cases of this sort, as in coat-color of mammals, the hybrid character probably results from a recombination of the characters seen in one or both parents.
1923 E. B. Wilson Physical Basis of Life 14 The conception of the chromosomes as linear aggregates..affords a complete explanation of the genetic phenomena known as linkage and recombination by ‘crossing-over’.
1939 C. D. Darlington Evol. Genetic Syst. xiv. 77 This recombination we now see is more profound than Weismann imagined. It extends beyond the chromosomes to the genes. The number of units capable of recombination is not five or even fifty, but five thousand or fifty thousand.
1946 J. Lederberg & E. L. Tatum in Nature 19 Oct. 558/1 (title) Gene recombination in Escherichia coli.
1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Aug. 985/2 Recombination was an idea that Darwin had lacked in his attempt to explain how natural selection and breeding were connected.
1986 D. Botstein & D. Shortle in D. E. Koshland Biotechnol. i. 17 Recombination between gene sequences on the plasmid and the homologous sequences on the [host cell] genome must occur.
2004 Science 11 June 1590/1 Two research teams have found..key differences [between chimps and humans]..in the locations of DNA recombination hotspots: places where matching chromosomes exchange DNA much more frequently than normal.
Compounds
recombination line n. Physics a spectral line corresponding to the energy released when an ion recombines with an electron to form a neutral atom.
ΚΠ
1928 Harvard Coll. Observatory Circular No. 335. 20 The forbidden lines N1 and N2 of O III, unlike the recombination lines of H and He, are emitted after excitation to the 1D level.
1975 W. H. Tucker Radiation Proc. in Astrophysics vi. 229 Radio recombination lines have been observed from hydrogen, helium and carbon in the frequency range between 400 and 10,000 MHz.
2007 Jrnl. Physics B 40 4079 The observation of radio recombination lines from atomic levels of increasing principal quantum number n..has provided an incentive to compare measured spectral line widths with predictions in theory.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1783