| compressive strength | The maximum compression a material can withstand without failure. (12 Dec 1998) |
|---|---|
| hand strength | Force exerted when gripping or grasping. (12 Dec 1998) |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| night | Origin: OE. Night, niht, AS. Neaht, niht; akin to D. Nacht, OS. & OHG. Naht, G. Nacht, Icel. Ntt, Sw. Natt, Dan. Nat, Goth. Nachts, Lith. Naktis, Russ. Noche, W. Nos, Ir. Nochd, L. Nox, noctis, gr, Skr. Nakta, nakti. Cf. Equinox, Nocturnal. 1. That part of the natural day when the sun is beneath the horizon, or the time from sunset to sunrise; especially, the time between dusk and dawn, when there is no light of the sun, but only moonlight, starlight, or artificial light. "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night." (Gen. I. 5) 2. Hence: Darkness; obscurity; concealment. "Nature and nature's laws lay hid in night." (Pope) Intellectual and moral darkness; ignorance. A state of affliction; adversity; as, a dreary night of sorrow. The period after the close of life; death. "She closed her eyes in everlasting night." (Dryden) A lifeless or unenlivened period, as when nature seems to sleep. "Sad winter's night". Night is sometimes used, especially. With participles, in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, night-blooming, night-born, night-warbling, etc. Night by night, Night after night, nightly; many nights. "So help me God, as I have watched the night, Ay, night by night, in studying good for England." (Shak) Night bird. <medicine> A bird of ill omen that cries in the night; especially, the bittern. Night rule. A tumult, or frolic, in the night; as if a corruption, of night revel. Such conduct as generally rules, or prevails, at night. "What night rule now about this haunted grove?" (Shak) Night sight. <medicine> See Nyctolopia. Night snap, a night thief. Night soil, human excrement; so called because in cities it is collected by night and carried away for manure. Night spell, a charm against accidents at night. <zoology> Night swallow, the sedge warbler (Acrocephalus phragmitis); called also night singer. Night watch. A period in the night, as distinguished by the change of watch. A watch, or guard, to aford protection in the night. Night watcher, one who watches in the night; especially, one who watches with evil designs. Night witch. Same as Night hag, above. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| night blindness | Failure or imperfection of vision at night or in dim light, with good vision only on bright days. (12 Dec 1998) |
| night-blooming | Blooming in the night. Night-blooming cereus. <botany> See Note under Cereus. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| night care | Institutional night care of patients. (12 Dec 1998) |
| night hospital | A special facility, or an arrangement within a hospital setting, providing treatment and lodging at night for patients able to work in the community during the day. Compare: day hospital. (05 Mar 2000) |
| night myopia | In dark adaptation the eye becomes more sensitive to shorter wave lengths (Purkinje shift), and visual acuity depends on parafoveal blue cones. Shorter wavelengths come into focus in front of the retina, and this chromatic aberration accounts for some of the relative myopia that a normal eye experiences at night; much of the remainder is due to an increase in accommodative tone in the dark. Pathologic myopia, progressive myopia marked by fundus changes, posterior staphyloma, and subnormal corrected acuity. Synonym: degenerative myopia, malignant myopia. Prematurity myopia, myopia observed in infants of low birth weight or in association with retrolental fibroplasia. (05 Mar 2000) |
| night pain | Denoting especially the osteocopic pains of syphilis occurring at night. Synonym: night pain. Origin: nyct-+ G. Algos, pain (05 Mar 2000) |
| night sight | <ophthalmology> Day blindness, defective vision in a bright light. Origin: Gr. Hemera = day, alaos = blind (18 Nov 1997) |
| night sweats | Profuse sweating at night, occurring in pulmonary tuberculosis and other chronic debilitating affections with low-grade fever. (05 Mar 2000) |
| night-terrors | A disorder allied to nightmare, occurring in children, in which the child awakes screaming with fright, the distress persisting for a time during a state of saemiconsciousness. Synonym: pavor nocturnus, sleep terror. (05 Mar 2000) |
| night vision | Vision when the eye is dark-adapted. See: dark adaptation, dark-adapted eye. Synonym: night vision, rod vision, scotopia, twilight vision. (05 Mar 2000) |