funicularadj.n.

1662 R. Boyle Def. Doctr. Spring & Weight of Air (title page) Wherewith the Objector's Funicular Hypothesis is also examin'd.

1662 R. Boyle Def. Doctr. Spring & Weight of Air ii. ii. 35 'Tis very unlikely that the space which our Adversary would have replenish'd with his Funicular substance, should be full of little highly-stretcht strings, that lay fast hold of the Surfaces of all contiguous bodies, and alwayes violently endeavour to pull them inwards.

1709 F. Hauksbee Physico-mech. Exper. iii. 70 The Objections of the Favourers of Suction and the Funicular Hypothesis.

1737 J. Rowning Compend. Syst. Nat. Philos. (ed. 3) iv. 87 Linus's funicular Hypothesis (as it was called) though it seemed to solve all other Phenomena, relating to the Suspension of the Mercury, was with justice rejected.

1820 J. C. Robertson & T. Byerley Percy Anecd. 94 Father Linus, plunging still deeper in mysticism and absurdity, gravely proposed the funicular hypothesis, which attributes the suspension of the mercurial column to the agency of certain invisible small threads!

1887 Proc. Lit. & Philos. Soc. Liverpool 41 117 When Linus did try to give a theory, it was a curiosity. His main attempt at an explanation..was the funicular theory.

1965 S. G. Brush Kinetic Theory I. Introd. 5 Remember that the funicular hypothesis was an example of the type of pseudo-mechanical explanation of physical phenomena that used to be quite popular in the early days of science.

2011 P. R. Anstey John Locke & Nat. Philos. iv. 80 Take for instance Boyle's assessment of Linus' funicular hypothesis, namely that an invisible string held up the column of mercury in the Torricellian apparatus.

1764 S. Clark Easy Introd. Theory & Pract. Mech. 141 If the first side AC, and last BQ, of any funicular polygon ACDPQB, formed by the forces K, L, M, &c. acting in the directions KC, LD, &c. be produced until they intersect, as in T; [etc.].

1823 J. Leslie Elements Nat. Philos. I. 152 This arrangement [of cords and pulleys] has been called The Funicular System.

1868 Leeds Mercury 6 Jan. 3/6 Mr Agudio has produced a ‘Funicular locomotive’, which does not promise much.

1870 Morning Republican (Little Rock, Arkansas) 24 Mar. To say that a man was ‘suspended by a funicular cord until respiration ceased’, may be all well enough if those we were conversing with understood the meaning of the sentence; but to compress all that into one word, ‘hung’ would give force to the expression.

1881 Daily News 17 Aug. 7/3 It is a wooden seat..hanging from a bar fixed to two small wheels which run on a steel rope stretched some 60ft. or more above the surface of the river... It is the most charming ‘funicular’ way I ever saw.

1959 Financial Times 31 Oct. 4/2 This funicular system opens up the possibility of putting in 40,000 feet of downhill running—say, an Everest and a-half—between breakfast and tea.

1977 Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev. 57 280 Frequent rains and landslides delayed work on the funicular system designed for the ascent.

2013 N.Y. Mag. 22 Apr. 53/3 The sloping streets of..Valparaíso..are best traversed by a network of a dozen-plus funicular elevators, or ascensores.

1816–20 T. Green Universal Herbal I. 279/1 This [sc. Cephalanthus Procumbens] is a thick shrub, with many long funicular branches.

1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 702/1 The parietes of the foot [of a conchiferous mollusc] are preserved in immediate communication by means of a great number of small muscles..to which Poli has given the name of funicular muscles.

1845 R. B. Todd & W. Bowman Physiol. Anat. I. 70 Funicular, rounded cords of white fibrous tissue.

1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. ii. vi. 318 The annexed woodcut represents a remarkably fine example..of..the knotted funicular torc.

1882 A. P. di Cesnola Salaminia v. 54 Separated by a funicular border, the frieze or scene running round centre offers more relation with Greek art.

1910 Proc. Somersetshire Archaeol. & Nat. Hist. Soc. 15 79 All French gold torcs of the funicular type were probably derived from our Islands.

1931 D. P. Dobson Archaeol. Somerset iv. 88 One form [of torque] common in Somerset is the funicular variety.

1954 Bull. Board Celtic Stud. 16 51 It is funicular, with recurved terminals, and is made by twisting a bar of cruciform section to the right.

1880 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 June 966/1 The funicular sheaths were much thickened and fibroid.

1881 A. Flint Treat. Princ. Med. (ed. 5) 735 The name funicular sclerosis is given to sclerosis following certain definite columns of the cord, such as lateral and posterior spinal sclerosis.

1944 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 26 Feb. 296/1 In the group classified as ‘funicular myelopathy’ the symptoms were those due to damage of the posterior sensory spinal tracts.

1991 Brain Res. 541 242 (caption) The branch point occurs at the border separating the gray matter from the funicular white matter.

2007 Exper. Neurol. 205 522/2 Dorsal funicular lesions at the thoracic level did not produce detectable changes in limb contact patterns.

1880 T. Hincks Hist. Brit. Marine Polyzoa I. p. xxxvi The funicular cord (in such a form as Bowerbankia..) attaches itself to the wall of the cell immediately over the perforated plate or septum.

1927 Q. Rev. Biol. 2 403/2 These have a series of intercommunicating channels which are formed by means of strands of funicular tissue that pass through pores perforating the calcareous ectocyst.

1979 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (1982) vi. 95/2 From the base of the stomach a thread, the funiculus, connects to a main funicular tube running along the stolon and connecting all the zooids.

2010 Biol. Bull. 219 221/1 Funicular tissue is associated with minute communication pores in the zooid walls.

1889 Cent. Dict. Funicular,..II. n. The funicular polygon.

1933 E. G. Phillips Introd. Course Mech. ix. 159 In every terminated side of the funicular there will be a pair of equal and opposite forces.

1963 Perspecta 8 67 (caption) The polygon of forces corresponds to this funicular C, its strings being parallel to the midpoints of the vertical divisions of the funicular.

2003 L. F. Troyano Bridge Engin. viii. 507 This line is the funicular of the load system which is defined precisely as the shape a flexible wire takes when a system of forces is applied to it.

1824 Edinb. Philos. Jrnl. 11 153 In all these funicular curves, whether catenary, parabola, or any other figure, it is a general property that the horizontal tension is proportional to the radius of curvature at the vertex.

1914 W. B. Gordon Text-bk. Mech. 63 The line of which these are the differential equations is called a funicular curve.

2010 M. Denny Super Structures v. 154 If..the deck mass is much less than the arch mass, the funicular curve will be very close to our old friend the catenary.

1801 Encycl. Brit. Suppl. II. 183/1 When the two hanging parts of the rope are not parallel, but inclined in any angle, the force necessary for balancing the weight is to the weight as the side is to the diagonal of the parallelogram formed by the directions of the three ropes. Varignon calls this the funicular machine or power. Our sailors call it the swigg.

1825 W. Emerson Princ. Mech. (new ed.) 316 Every rope in a ship is a funicular machine, and the method used to belay a tack, or that of fastening the cords round a loaded waggon, is but the action of the funicular power.

1910 Appleton's New Pract. Cycl. IV. 223/1 The classifications are the lever, the inclined plane, the jointed links (called also the funicular machine, and also the ‘toggle joint’), and the hydrostatic press.

2014 C. C. Gillispie & R. Pisano Lazare & Sadi Carnot (ed. 2) iii. 58 One discussion that took into account the weight of the lines in a funicular machine represented the first hint of what Carnot later developed into the main emphasis of his theory of machines.

1764 S. Clark Easy Introd. Theory & Pract. Mech. 141 If the first side AC, and last BQ, of any funicular polygon ACDPQB, formed by the forces K, L, M, &c. acting in the directions KC, LD, &c. be produced until they intersect, as in T; [etc.].

1857 W. Whewell Hist. Inductive Sci. (ed. 3) II. vi. i. 13 Stevin..applies his principle of equilibrium to cordage, pullies, funicular polygons.

1935 A. H. G. Palmer & K. S. Snell Mechanics vi. 93 By means of a funicular polygon, find the reactions on the supports A and B of a beam with dimensions and loading as shown in the figure.

2010 E. Allen & W. Zalewski Form & Forces ii. 48/3 Because the cable is loaded with discrete vertical forces 20 ft apart, its funicular polygon will be made up of straight-line segments whose horizontal projections are each 20 ft long.

1874 Graphic 9 May 442/1 The funicular railway will commence at the foot of the mountain, and will be divided into two sections.

1977 N. Shepherd Living Mountain in Grampian Quartet (2001) ii. 11 The inaccessibility of this loch is part of its power. Silence belongs to it. If jeeps find it out, or a funicular railway disfigures it, part of its meaning will be gone.

2003 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 27 Sept. 44 Bridgnorth is the proud owner of one of the last surviving funicular railways in Britain. What it does is take people up the 118 feet from Low Town to High Town over the space of 200 feet of track in a couple of minutes.