catenary

Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • adjective Relating to a chain; like a chain.
  • noun The curve formed by a rope or chain of uniform density and perfect flexibility, hanging freely between two points of suspension, not in the same vertical line.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

  • noun A system of overhead power lines that provide trains, trolleys, buses, etc., with electricity, having a straight conductor wire and a bowed suspension cable.

Examples

  • The term catenary comes from the curve created by the sagging of a wire or chain between two points.

    The Overhead Wire

  • Get the N.E. corridors speeds ups by replacing catenary from the 1930’s, better superelevation, equipment et al. That’s only a start as the rest of the country needs upgrading as well.

    Obama Rides the Rails to Power - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com

  • A catenary is a cross between a cat and a canary, and if you keep one you must discipline it strongly to make sure it does not eat itself.

    Making Light: Open thread 136

  • These cables would be as much as fifteen inches in diameter and each would hang over the river in what is known as a catenary curve, that perfect natural form taken by any rope or cable suspended from two points, which in this case were the summits of the two stone towers.

    The Great Bridge

  • To eliminate any possibility of the trolley wire breaking, a strong steel cable, called a catenary, was slung just above the trolley wire.

    Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails

  • The catenary is a physical curve, sometimes identified as the funicular curve, rather than a formally geometric curve, a physical curve which lies at the center of the most crucial foundations of modern European physical science, including such outcomes as the Leibniz-Jean Bernouilli development of the crucial physical principle of a universal physical principle of least action.

    LaRouche's Latest

Note

The word 'catenary' comes from a Latin word meaning 'chain'.