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