| 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) |
| Arneth formula | The normal, approximate ratio of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, based on the number of lobes in the nuclei, as follows: 1 lobe, 5%; 2 lobes, 35%; 3 lobes, 41%; 4 lobes, 17%; 5 lobes, 2%. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Bazett's formula | A formula for correcting the observed Q-T interval in the electrocardiogram for cardiac rate: corrected Q-T = Q-T sec/✓R -R sec. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Bernhardt's formula | <nutrition> A formula used to calculate the ideal weight, in kilograms, for an adult; it is the height in centimeters times the chest circumference in centimeters divided by 240. (14 Aug 2000) |
| Black's formula | A translation of Pignet's formula into British measurements: F = (W + C) -H; F is the empirical factor, W is the weight in pounds, C the chest girth in inches at full inspiration, and H the height in inches; a man is classed as very strong when F is over 120, strong between 110 and 120, good 100 to 110, fair 90 to 100, weak 80 to 90, very weak under 80. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Broca's formula | A fully developed man (30 years old) should weigh as many kilograms as he is centimeters in height over and above 1 meter. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Van Slyke's formula | The value obtained when the square root of the urine flow (when below 2 ml/min) is multiplied by the urine urea concentration and divided by the whole blood urea concentration; represents an old empirical adjustment for the effect of low urine flow on urea excretion; sometimes corrected for body size by dividing by some function of body weight or surface area. Later, plasma concentration was substituted for blood concentration in the calculation. The normal value is about 54 ml/min per 1.73 m2 in an adult person. Synonym: Van Slyke's formula. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Mall's formula | A formula for determining the age (in days) of a human embryo; calculated as the square root of its length (measured from vertex to breech) in millimeters multiplied by 100. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Ranke's formula | A = grams of albumin per liter of a serous fluid: then, A = (sp. Gr. -1000) × 0.52 -5.406. (05 Mar 2000) |