| 释义 |
elastic, a. and n.|ɪˈlæstɪk|
[ad. mod.L. elasticus, a. Gr. ἐλαστικός that drives, propulsive, impulsive, f. ἐλα- stem of ἐλαύνειν to drive.
The L. word, together with the related elater, occurs, app. as a novelty, in Pecquet's Dissertatio Anatomica (1651), where elastica virtus denotes the ‘impulsive force’ of the atmosphere, which the Torricellian experiment (1643) had shown to be the cause of the phenomena previously ascribed to ‘Nature's horror of a vacuum’.]
A. adj.
†1. Pertaining to or causing the ‘spontaneous’ expansion of air or gases; in phrase elastic force (elastic virtue, elastic faculty, elastic power, etc.). Now merged in 3.
1653tr. Pecquet's Anatomical Exper. 122 The Spontaneous dilatation [of the air] enerveth the power of the Elastick (impulsive) faculty [Orig. 1651 virtutis Elasticæ]..But the other, which is extraneous to the Air, viz., from the accession of heat, will make it firm. 1656More Antid. Ath. ii. ii. (1712) 45 There is an Elastick power in the Air. 1669W. Simpson Hydrol. Chym. 129 The air of the convex part must of necessity have a strong pressure or elastick force to return into the concave thereof.
†2. Of air or gas: Possessing the property of spontaneous expansion. Now merged in 3.
The ultimate particles of air were by some supposed to act like a coiled spring; hence the word came to express the characteristic property of a spring, as in the early instances of sense 3.
1681tr. Willis's Rem. Med. Wks. Voc., Elastick, that goeth off with a force like gunpowder, or spreads forcibly forth with a jerk. 1732Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 279 Wind is elastick and rarify'd [? air] pent up in some vessel of the body.
3. a. Of material substances, whether solid, liquid, or gaseous: That spontaneously resumes (after a longer or shorter interval) its normal bulk or shape after having been contracted, dilated, or distorted by external force. (In this sense elastical appears to be somewhat older.) Also of motions, forces, etc.: Characteristic of an elastic body. Also elastic collision (G. elastisch used in this sense, e.g. by Franck and Hertz 1913, in Verh. d. Deut. Physik. Ges. XV), a collision between two particles in which the total kinetic energy is conserved; elastic constant, a constant that expresses the reaction of a material to stress; elastic fluids: still often used specifically for gases (cf. 2), though liquids are now known to be perfectly elastic according to the mod. definition; elastic hysteresis = hysteresis 2; elastic limit: (see quot. 1864); elastic modulus = modulus of elasticity; elastic scattering, the scattering of particles without loss of kinetic energy; elastic strain, a temporary deformation of a material under strain; elastic wave, a wave consisting of elastic deformations propagated through a medium.
‘Elasticity of shape’ belongs to solids only; ‘elasticity of bulk’ to bodies of all kinds. In the case of gases the ‘normal bulk’ to which they tend is indefinitely great. The strict modern use as applied to solids dates from James Bernouilli's memoir of 1694; respecting the earlier instances see note to sense 2.
1674Petty Dupl. Proportion 3 An Appendix, to what is said of Springs and other Elastique bodies. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. vii. 224 The Air is now certainly known to consist of elastic or springy Particles. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 162 Every body that strikes against another produces a sound..simple, and but one in bodies which are not elastic. 1791Cowper Iliad v. 117 At once he bent Against Tydides his elastic bow. 1794Schmeisser Min. I. 290 Elastic Bitumen..is of a brown color, has no lustre, and is very elastic. 1800Vince Hydrostat. (1806) Def. 1 An elastic fluid is one, whose dimensions are diminished by increasing the pressure. 1847Emerson Repr. Men, Montaigne Wks. (Bohn) I. 340 We want some coat woven of elastic steel. 1848R. Mallet in Trans. R. Irish Acad. XXI. 97 The determination of the time of transit of the elastic wave through the earth's crust. 1864Q. Jrnl. Sc. I. 63 The elastic limit, that is the extent to which their particles may be relatively displaced without fracture or other permanent alteration. 1871Tyndall Fragm. Sc. I. i. 11 The atoms recoil, in virtue of the elastic force. 1872Baker Nile Tribut. xi. 197 The elastic boughs sprang back with dangerous force. 1884Everett tr. Deschanel's Nat. Philos. 138 The name of elastic fluids is often given to gases. 1886J. Milne Earthquakes iii. 44 An earthquake consists of elastic waves of compression and distortion. 1909Cent. Dict. Suppl., Elastic hysteresis, an effect, analogous to magnetic hysteresis in iron, observed in the relation of strain to stress when the stress to which an elastic body is subjected is alternately increased and diminished. 1913Proc. R. Soc. A. LXXXVIII. 299 We shall suppose for the sake of generality that the collision of ion and molecule is not perfectly elastic, an assumption which allows roughly for a possible loss of energy on collision. 1925Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst. CXI. 589 Ultimately the whole question of the tensile strength of metals and of the elastic limit resolves itself into an investigation of variation with temperature. 1927H. N. Russell et al. Astronomy II. xvii. 551 After colliding with the far more massive atom the electron may be found moving at the same speed as before; such a collision is called elastic. 1930Engineering 14 Feb. 231/3 This must not be so high as to cause heating of the piece by elastic hysteresis. 1930A. W. Judge Engineering Materials III. i. 12 It will be seen, then, that the elastic strains occurring in engineering work are very small indeed. 1930Rutherford et al. Radiations from Radioactive Substances v. 134 The difficulties..may be illustrated by the distinction made to-day between an ‘elastic’, and ‘non-elastic’ collision of an electron with an atom. 1931Discovery Apr. 123/1 Elastic waves travel through different rocks at different velocities. 1933Physical Rev. XLIII. 112 (heading) Elastic scattering of electrons by mercury atoms. 1936F. Foster Mech. Testing Metals & Alloys i. 2 If, after the application and removal of the load, the strain disappears completely, the material is said to be perfectly elastic and the strain is then referred to as elastic strain. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 284/1 Elastic modulus. 1941in M. Gowing Brit. & Atomic Energy 1939–1945 (1964) App. II. 403 The diffraction effect (elastic scattering) is confined mainly to small angles. 1948Sci. News VII. 14 For rubber, firmness therefore depends on the nearly constant ratio of pressure to amount of deformation, which is called an ‘elastic modulus’. 1950Engineering CLXX. 97/2 The links..will break before the elastic limit of..the guide apparatus is reached. 1955H. B. G. Casimir in W. Pauli Niels Bohr 122 The elastic constants in the superconducting state are not appreciably different from those in the normal state. 1955Gloss. Terms Radiology (B.S.I.) 14 Elastic scattering, in which the scattered radiation has the same quantum energy as the incident radiation. 1958W. K. Mansfield Elem. Nuclear Phys. iv. 30 When the neutrons are deflected the collisions are called elastic, since the kinetic energy is conserved and the collisions can be treated by the normal dynamics of billiard ball collisions. 1966New Scientist 5 May 296/3 An electromagnetic interaction between the electron and the nucleus can cause the electron to veer off in its path at some angle while the interacting nucleus recoils in a different direction. This phenomenon is called ‘elastic scattering’.
b. transf. Of motion: Resembling that of an elastic body; springy.
1848Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life (1879) II. iii. 116 Her light, elastic, continually lively motions.
c. fig. Of feelings, temperaments, etc., hence, also, of persons: Not permanently or easily depressed; buoyant.
1778H. More Florio ii. 193 Th' elastic spirits nimbly bound. 1816J. Scott Vis. Paris (ed. 5) 3 An elastic spirit, anxious to overleap distance. 1822Carlyle Misc. (1857) I. 145 This elastic little urchin. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 429 Those elastic spirits..had borne up against defeat. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 116 The elastic temperament of Mr. Skirlaugh.
4. a. (Partly attrib. use of the n.) In popular language, esp.: That can be stretched without permanent alteration of size or shape. Applied to fabrics, or articles made of them, containing threads or thin strips of rubber usually covered by a woven material. † elastic gum [= Fr. gomme élastique]: india-rubber; elastic web: cloth woven with india-rubber threads so as to stretch; elastic boots: boots with elastic web at the sides. So elastic sides, of elastic boots; also attrib., as elastic side boots, and ellipt. = such boots; elastic-sided adj. Also elastic band (band n.2 2); elastic stocking, a remedial stocking made partly of rubber.
1781Cavallo in Phil. Trans. LXXI. 519 Common vitriolic ether..could not affect elastic gum. 1793Schmeisser Ibid. LXXXIII. 165, I have..fixed the tube into the stopper by means of a thin piece of elastic gum. 1802Henry Ibid. XCIII. 31 A transfer bottle of elastic gum. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz 1st Ser. (1836) I. ii. 15 Elastic waistcoats, bosom friends, and warm stockings, poured in upon the curate. c1835in A. Adburgham Shops & Shopping (1964) iii. 27 Madame L. begs also to recommend her highly approved elastic Parisian corsets. 1839Ure Dict. Arts s.v., Elastic bands. The manufacture of braces and garters, with threads of caoutchouc..seems to have originated..in Vienna. 1846A. Bain Brit. Pat. 11,480 5 In order to support..the paper I employ elastic bands of india rubber. 1851Great Exhib. Catal. II. iii. xvi. 525/1 Elastic side, dress, and other boots. Ibid. xx. 579/2 Corset..made to fasten in the front with patent spring clasp, and gauze elastic sides... Boots and shoes, with elastic sides, made by sewing pieces of India-rubber to the upper leather and then to the sole. 1855J. H. Newman Let. in M. Trevor Newman: Light in Winter (1962) 63 My accident of the autumn not being well I had just been obliged to put on my elastic stocking again. 1856R. Gardiner Handbk. Foot 48 The introduction of elastic⁓web for the sides of boots, is a very important improvement. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Elastic-bands, belts, braces, gaiters, &c., made with threads of caoutchouc, either naked or covered. 1859Jephson Brittany i. 5 A pair of moderately strong French elastic boots. a1877Knight Dict. Mech. I. 776/2 Elastic-fabric loom, one having mechanical devices for stretching the rubber threads or shirrs, and holding them at a positive tension while the fabric is woven. 1880Encycl. Brit. XII. 842/1 The threads used in making elastic webbing are usually cut from spread sheets. 1899Somerville & ‘Ross’ Irish R.M. 295 Narrow feet in elastic-sided cloth boots. 1902M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 30 A man with a soft felt hat and elastic-sided boots. 1922V. Woolf Jacob's Room vii. 136 One pair of elastic stockings for Mrs. Page, widow, aged sixty-three. 1928Galsworthy Swan Song ii. vi. 157 He's made millions..out of the elastic band—has some patent for making them last only just long enough. 1937F. Stark Diary 25 Nov. in Winter in Arabia (1940) 29 The cook, who, in elastic-sided boots, announces dinner. 1970Focus June 10/2 Elastic waistband means ordinary elastic is sewn on at the waist.
b. fig. Of immaterial things: That can be ‘stretched’ or expanded to suit circumstances; flexible, accommodating.
1859Bright Sp. India 1 Aug., The revenue of India is not elastic. 1864Ld. Pollock in Morning Star 12 Jan., A lax or elastic interpretation of a criminal statute. 1866Crump Banking viii. 164 Currency laws..will never make capital so elastic..any more than, etc. 1874Morley Compromise (1886) 150 A certain elastic relativity of dogma. 1884Church Bacon ix. 212 The new ideas..would want a much more elastic..instrument than Latin. Mod. He seems to have a very elastic conscience.
c. Anat. elastic tissue: one of the varieties of areolar or connective tissue. elastic fibre, a fibre of a kind present in certain types of connective tissue and cartilage, characterized by being branched, easily stretched, and giving tissue a yellow colour when present in bulk.
1849A. H. Hassall Microsc. Anat. Human Body I. xvii. 331 Acetic acid applied to a portion of mixed cellular tissue, at once allows the elastic fibres to be clearly seen. 1861Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. i. 41 Elastic Tissue is composed of homogeneous fibres. 1876Quain Anat. (ed. 8) ii. 67 Yellow or Elastic Tissue. 1968Passmore & Robson Compan. Med. Stud. I. xxix. 10 The lung's elastic fibres form a system of branching springs.
†5. In etymological sense: Propulsive. Obs. (nonce use).
1712Blackmore Creation iv, By what elastic engines did she rear The starry roof, and roll the orbs in air?
B. n. Elastic cord or string, usually woven with india-rubber.
1847in H. Howe Hist. Collect. Ohio 48 With the elastics supplied by the ladies, for a halter..the young dog passed from the shores of time. 1863E. B. Drifting Clouds 140 Adèle had been enquiring for a piece of elastic for her hat. 1886W. Hooper Sk. Academic Life 13 The thorough-going prim man will always place a circle of elastic round his hair previous to putting on his college cap. |