What is "agility"

Agility \A*gil"i*ty\, n. [F. agili['e], L. agilitas, fr. agilis.]

1. The quality of being agile; the power of moving the limbs quickly and easily; nimbleness; activity; quickness of motion; as, strength and agility of body.

   They . . . trust to the agility of their wit.
   --Bacon.

   Wheeling with the agility of a hawk.
   --Sir W. Scott.

2. Activity; powerful agency. [Obs.]

   The agility of the sun's fiery heat.
   --Holland.

early 15c., from Old French agilité (14c.), from Latin agilitatem (nominative agilitas) "mobility, nimbleness, quickness," from agilis, from agere "to move" (see act (n.)).

n. 1 (context uncountable English) The quality of being agile; the power of moving the limbs quickly and easily; nimbleness; activity; quickness of motion; as, strength and agility of body. 2 (context countable English) A faculty of being agile in body, mind, or figuratively.

n. the gracefulness of a person or animal that is quick and nimble [syn: legerity, lightness, lightsomeness, nimbleness]

• Agility is a physical trait of an animal or person, and a component of physical fitness. It is the ability to change the body's position and direction with speed and precision.

Agility may also refer to:

In Sport:

• Dog agility, a sport for dogs in which they must be quick-moving and nimble.
• Rabbit agility, a sport for rabbits.
• Rat agility, a sport for rats.

In Business:

• Business Agility An agile firm (one that demonstrates agility) has the capabilities and processes to respond to unexpected environmental changes.
• Agility, a conceptual framework in computing
• Anystream Agility, enterprise-based media encoding software.

Agility or nimbleness is the ability to change the body's position efficiently, and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. Agility is the ability to change the direction of the body in an efficient and effective manner and to achieve this requires a combination of

• balance – the ability to maintain equilibrium when stationary or moving (i.e. not to fall over) through the coordinated actions of our sensory functions (eyes, ears and the proprioceptive organs in our joints);
• static balance – the ability to retain the centre of mass above the base of support in a stationary position;
• dynamic balance – the ability to maintain balance with body movement;
• speed - the ability to move all or part of the body quickly;
• strength - the ability of a muscle or muscle group to overcome a resistance; and lastly,
• coordination – the ability to control the movement of the body in co-operation with the body's sensory functions (e.g., in catching a ball [ball, hand, and eye coordination]).

In sports, agility is often defined in terms of an individual sport, due to it being an integration of many components each used differently (specific to all of sorts of different sports). Sheppard and Young (2006) defined agility as a "rapid whole body movement with change of velocity or direction in response to a stimulus".

Agility is also an important attribute in many role playing games, both computer games and pen-and-paper or tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons. Agility may affect the character's ability to evade an enemy's attack or land their own, move more quickly, navigate uneven terrain, or engage in stealthy activities such as lockpicking or pickpocketing.