high tensionn.adj.

1674 M. Hale Difficiles Nugæ 181 The Body of the Air, or at least of the Atmosphere, consists of a great many little crooked filaments like Springes, which when extended to a greater straightness than is suitable to them, as in its high tension or rarifaction, indeavour regaining of their natural curvitude.

1806 A. P. Buchan in J. Sinclair Coll. Papers Athletic Exercises 49 That state of extreme fulness of blood and high tension of fibre, which is calculated to enable a man to exert his full strength for a short period may not be that condition of body most consistent with permanent health.

1833 M. Faraday in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 123 516 I was anxious..to obtain some idea of the conducting power of ice and solid salts by electricity of high tension.

1877 Telegr. Jrnl. 5 289/2 (heading) On the effects produced by electric currents of high tension.

1885 W. Roberts Urinary & Renal Dis. (ed. 4) iii. iv. 472 During this prenephritic stage, high tension is produced by the contraction of the muscular walls of the arterioles.

1929 R. H. Clapperton & W. Henderson Mod. Paper-making xvi. 246 Many defects in the paper..will..cause a break at the reeler, owing to the high tension of the paper as it passes from the roll to the reeler bar.

2011 Daily Tel. 27 July 19/5 Some types of knitting..require the yarn to be knitted at a high tension to create a weatherproof garment.

1847 Artizan Feb. 26/2 With either high or low tension Electricity,..where two or more paths are open to the action of Electricity, in a current form over solid bodies, the charge becomes in all cases divided.

1889 Daily News 7 Oct. 3/1 Mr. Crompton does not say that the high tension system will not succeed. He says both will succeed; but that the low tension system is safer and cheaper.

1898 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. V. 1024 Sir W. Broadbent considers that this modified high tension pulse is almost constant in mitral stenosis.

1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 11 Apr. 10/5 Gillis came in contact with a 30,000 volt high tension wire.

1924 A. J. Allmand & H. J. T. Ellingham Princ. Appl. Electrochem. (ed. 2) xi. 178 Use has been made of the Scott transformer to obtain low voltage two-phase current from a three-phase high tension supply.

1956 W. S. Burroughs Let. 26 Feb. (1993) 309 Pure energy without emotional content finally tears through the body, throwing him about like a man in contact with high-tension wires.

2005 Rhythm Feb. 88/1 The lugs are full-length, high-tension examples that bear some resemblance to those found on the old Superstar kits.

1913 Outlook 6 Dec. 767/1 The high tension life of our great cities in its effects on business men.

1959 D. Cooke Lang. Music iv. 183 The high-tension ‘current’ of Beethoven's emotion, we may say, had to be converted into a high-tension rhythmic energy.

1978 S. King Stand xliv. 509 A guy like Rich couldn't even get all the high-tension booze he wanted; guys like Rich were just winos.

2002 Electronic Gaming Monthly Feb. 166/2 There's an endless supply of gorgeous, high-tension firefights where you'll fire thousands of rounds at hundreds of bullet-fodder.