ELASTIC • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Elastic

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/ɪlˈæstɪk/ Listen

adjective

Elastic adj.

1.

Springing back; having a power or inherent property of returning to the form from which a substance is bent, drawn, pressed, or twisted; springy; having the power of rebounding; as, a bow is elastic; the air is elastic; India rubber is elastic. "Capable of being drawn out by force like a piece of elastic gum, and by its own elasticity returning, when the force is removed, to its former position."

2.

Able to return quickly to a former state or condition, after being depressed or overtaxed; having power to recover easily from shocks and trials; as, elastic spirits; an elastic constitution.

Elastic bitumen. (Min.) See Elaterite.

Elastic curve.

(a)

(Geom.) The curve made by a thin elastic rod fixed horizontally at one end and loaded at the other.

(b)

(Mech.) The figure assumed by the longitudinal axis of an originally straight bar under any system of bending forces.

Elastic fluids, those which have the property of expanding in all directions on the removal of external pressure, as the air, steam, and other gases and vapors.

Elastic limit (Mech.), the limit of distortion, by bending, stretching, etc., that a body can undergo and yet return to its original form when relieved from stress; also, the unit force or stress required to produce this distortion. Within the elastic limit the distortion is directly proportional to the stress producing it.

Elastic tissue (Anat.), a variety of connective tissue consisting of a network of slender and very elastic fibers which are but slightly affected by acids or alkalies.

Gum elastic, caoutchouc.

noun

Elastic n. An elastic woven fabric, as a belt, braces or suspenders, etc., made in part of India rubber. (Colloq.)

See images of 'Elastic'

Etymology of 'Elastic'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Elastic" Quotes from Famous Books

... who crowded for orders with reference to her removal early on the morrow, began now to divert the current of their lady's thoughts from the consideration of her own particular situation, which, as the prospect presented nothing pleasant, with the elastic spirit of youth, she willingly postponed ...

— The Betrothed • Sir Walter Scott

... loosened the bonds of the cross and sprinkled the way of salvation with sand. From the hard, unlovely, stern religion of the poor he had evolved a pleasant religion for the rich; it was easy, charming, elastic, adapting itself to things and to people, to all the ways and manners of society, to its customs and habits, and even to its prejudices. Of the idea of God he had made something quite comfortable ...

— Rene Mauperin • Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt

... of these three species, I see the number of larvae put out to nurse vary in so elastic a fashion that I must abandon all idea of proportionate adjustment. The mother, without troubling unduly whether there be an excess or a dearth of provisions for her family, has filled the cells as her fancy prompted, or rather according to the number of ripe ovules contained in her ...

— The Life of the Fly - With Which are Interspersed Some Chapters of Autobiography • J. Henri Fabre

... the thing still in our minds. To think of the pure wells bubbling and flashing, by day and by night, in the hot summer weather, when the smell of the wood lies warm in the sun; on cold winter nights under moon and stars, for ever casting up the bright elastic jewel, that men call water, and feeding the flowing stream that wanders to the sea. I was very full of gratitude to the pure maiden saint that lent her name to the well and I am sure she never had a more devout ...

— The Thread of Gold • Arthur Christopher Benson

... cleanly and convenient apparatus is a cork nipple, upon the plan of M. Darbo, of Paris, fixed in the sucking-bottle.[FN9] The cork, being of a particularly fine texture, is supple and elastic, yielding to the infant's lips while sucking, and is much more durable than the ...

— The Maternal Management of Children, in Health and Disease. • Thomas Bull, M.D.

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