Wiktionary
alt. 1 (context transitive physics English) To limit the number of possible values of a quantity, or states of a system, by applying the rules of quantum mechanics 2 (context transitive telecommunications English) To approximate a continuously varying signal by one whose amplitude can only have a set of discrete values 3 (context transitive music English) To shift each beat in a rhythmic pattern to the nearest beat of a given resolution (eighth note, sixteenth note, etc.), or to adjust the frequency or pitch of a note to the nearest perfect tone in a given musical scale vb. 1 (context transitive physics English) To limit the number of possible values of a quantity, or states of a system, by applying the rules of quantum mechanics 2 (context transitive telecommunications English) To approximate a continuously varying signal by one whose amplitude can only have a set of discrete values 3 (context transitive music English) To shift each beat in a rhythmic pattern to the nearest beat of a given resolution (eighth note, sixteenth note, etc.), or to adjust the frequency or pitch of a note to the nearest perfect tone in a given musical scale
WordNet
v. telecommunications: approximate (a signal varying continuously in amplitude) by one whose amplitude is restricted to a prescribed set of discrete values [syn: quantise]
apply quantum theory to; restrict the number of possible values of (a quantity) or states of (a physical entity or system) so that certain variables can assume only certain discrete magnitudes that are integral multiples of a common factor; "Quantize gravity" [syn: quantise]
Usage examples of "quantize".
There are aspects of evolution that are perfectly continuous, and aspects that are quantized or discontinuous, and emphasizing exclusively one or the other leads to pathological heterarchy and pathological hierarchy, respectively.
We have no way of even detecting the gravity due to one gram of water, let alone measure it to see if it's quantized.
If you wanted a man to quantize a nonlinear field, diagonalize a messy Hamiltonian, or dream up a delicate new observational test for theories of kernel creation, you couldn't possibly do better than McAndrew.
When the motion of a string is quantized, its possible vibrational states are represented by vectors in a Hilbert space, much as for any quantum-mechanical system.
Frankly, I think the gravitational change with miniaturization is evidence enough that gravitation cannot be quantized, that it is fundamentally nonquantum in nature.
Although the observational evidence has been there for twenty years, conventional astronomy has never really accepted that the redshifts are quantized, and has tried strenuously to find arguments to show that there is no quantization.
From somewhere in the interstices between spacetimes, from deep in the quantized fabric of the continuum, she had reached out with that pitifully fleeting message for me.
Not the mechanics of it— the way high Skip suppresses most of your normal appearances in the quantized Universe and lets you cross into parallel timelines.