| strength | 1. The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power; as, strength of body or of the arm; strength of mind, of memory, or of judgment. "All his [Samson's] strength in his hairs were." (Chaucer) "Thou must outlive Thy youth, thy strength, thy beauty." (Milton) 2. Power to resist force; solidity or toughness; the quality of bodies by which they endure the application of force without breaking or yielding; in this sense opposed to frangibility; as, the strength of a bone, of a beam, of a wall, a rope, and the like. "The brittle strength of bones." 3. Power of resisting attacks; impregnability. "Our castle's strength will laugh a siege to scorn." 4. That quality which tends to secure results; effective power in an institution or enactment; security; validity; legal or moral force; logical conclusiveness; as, the strength of social or legal obligations; the strength of law; the strength of public opinion; strength of evidence; strength of argument. 5. One who, or that which, is regarded as embodying or affording force, strength, or firmness; that on which confidence or reliance is based; support; security. "God is our refuge and strength." (Ps. Xlvi. 1) "What they boded would be a mischief to us, you are providing shall be one of our principal strengths." (Sprat) "Certainly there is not a greater strength against temptation." (Jer. Taylor) 6. Force as measured; amount, numbers, or power of any body, as of an army, a navy, and the like; as, what is the strength of the enemy by land, or by sea? 7. Vigor or style; force of expression; nervous diction; said of literary work. "And praise the easy vigor of a life Where Denham's strength and Waller's sweetness join." (Pope) 8. Intensity; said of light or colour. "Bright Phoebus in his strength." (Shak) 9. Intensity or degree of the distinguishing and essential element; spirit; virtue; excellence; said of liquors, solutions, etc.; as, the strength of wine or of acids. 10. A strong place; a stronghold. On, or Upon, the strength of, in reliance upon. "The allies, after a successful summer, are too apt, upon the strength of it, to neglect their preparations for the ensuing campaign." . Synonym: Force, robustness, toughness, hardness, stoutness, brawniness, lustiness, firmness, puissance, support, spirit, validity, authority. See Force. Origin: OE. Strengthe, AS. Strengu, fr. Strang strong. See Strong. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| strength-duration curve | A graph relating the intensity of an electrical stimulus to the length of time it must flow to be effective. See: chronaxie, rheobase. (05 Mar 2000) |
| ionic strength | Symbolised as g/2 or I and set equal to 0.5σmizi2, where mi equals the molar concentration and zi the charge of each ion present in solution; if molar concentrations (ci) are used instead of molality (and the solution is dilute), then I == 0.5(1/ρo)σcizi2 where ρo is the density of the solvent; a number of biochemically important events (e.g., protein solubility and rates of enzyme action) vary with the ionic strength of a solution. (05 Mar 2000) |
| tensile strength | The maximum stress a material subjected to a stretching load can withstand without tearing. (12 Dec 1998) |
| yield strength | The amount of stress at which a permanent (plastic) deformation in a component becomes measurable (usually taken as 0.2% permanent strain). (05 Mar 2000) |
| ultimate strength | The maximum stress achieved prior to failure of a component on a single application of the load. (05 Mar 2000) |
| fatigue strength | The stress level below which a particular component will survive an indefinite number of load cycles (typically about 50% of the ultimate strength of the component). (05 Mar 2000) |
| abstracting and indexing | Shortening or summarizing of documents; assigning of descriptors for referencing documents. (12 Dec 1998) |
| academies and institutes | Organizations representing specialised fields which are accepted as authoritative; may be non-governmental, university or an independent research organization, e.g., national academy of sciences, brookings institution, etc. (12 Dec 1998) |
| accounts payable and receivable | Short-term debt obligations and assets occurring in the regular course of operational transactions. (12 Dec 1998) |
| aged, 80 and over | A person 80 years of age and older. (12 Dec 1998) |
| algae and fungi | Algae represent a group of spore-propagating plants, unicellular or undifferentiated into root, stem, and leaf. They include seaweed and many unicellular fresh water plants, most of which contain chlorophyll. They account for about 90% of the earth's photosynthetic activity. Fungi are eukaryotic, heterotrophic organisms that live as saprobes or parasites and include mushrooms, yeasts, smuts, molds, etc. They lack chlorophyll. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alkyl and aryl transferases | <enzyme> A somewhat heterogeneous class of enzymes that catalyze the transfer of alkyl or related groups (excluding methyl groups). Registry number: EC 2.5 (12 Dec 1998) |
| allergy and immunology | A medical specialty concerned with the hypersensitivity of the individual to foreign substances and protection from the resultant infection or disorder. (12 Dec 1998) |
| alligators and crocodiles | Large, long-tailed reptiles, including caimans, of the order loricata. (12 Dec 1998) |