torsionn.
/ˈtɔːʃən/ 1.
a. The action of twisting, or turning a body spirally by the operation of contrary forces acting at right angles to its axis; also the twisted condition produced by this action; twist. angle of torsion n. (a) the angle through which one end of a rod or other body is twisted while the other end is held fast; (b) Geometry the infinitesimal angle between two consecutive osculating planes of a tortuous curve. balance of torsion n. = torsion-balance: see Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > twisting or rotary
torsion1543
momentum1610
torque1884
twist1891
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [noun] > condition of being twisted spirally > fact or action of
torsion1543
the world > space > shape > curvature > coil > [noun] > condition of being twisted spirally
twist1711
winding1711
torsion1807
tortility1835
1543 B. Traheron tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. i. vi. f. 179v/1 Yf the dislocation be lytle, so that the bone be not out all togyther, it is called dislocation not complete, and it is it, which commenly is called torsion, or wresting.
1658 E. Phillips New World Eng. Words Torsion, a wresting, or wringing of any thing.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. 140 Torsion, or twisting, consists in the lateral displacement, or detrusion, of the opposite parts of a solid, in opposite directions, the central particles only remaining in their natural state.
1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. 141 The force of torsion, as it is determined by experiment, varies simply as the angle of torsion.
1814 R. Buchanan Ess. Shafts of Mills 24 (note) Journals, or journeys, are gudgeons subject to torsion.
1834 Nat. Philos. (Libr. Useful Knowl.) III. Hist. Astron. xxi. 105/2 By means of a delicate instrument, called the balance of torsion, the attraction of a leaden sphere, eight inches in diameter, was made sensible.
1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 106 With very short filaments like those of wool, cotton, and cachemire, a thread of the greatest length may be formed by torsion.
1859 J. Tomes Syst. Dental Surg. 163 Torsion, or twisting of the central incisors upon their axis, is far from rare.
1867 W. Thomson & P. G. Tait Treat. Nat. Philos. I. i. §608 The fundamental principle that spiral springs act chiefly by torsion seems to have been first discovered by Binet in 1814.
b. A twisting of the body or a part of it; contortion, distortion. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > deformity > [noun] > contortion
torsion1660
screw1684
screwing1738
1660 F. Brooke tr. V. Le Blanc World Surveyed 89 They ejulate, weep, and lament with exotick gestures, and tortions.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VII. 242 During the flexions and torsions of the vertebral column.
c. Surgery. The twisting of the cut end of an artery to stop hæmorrhage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > surgery > stopping haemorrhage > [noun] > by torsion
torsion1835
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 224/2 The successful employment of torsion of the arteries as a means of suppressing hæmorrhage.
1876 T. Bryant Pract. Surg. (ed. 2) II. xvii. 5 What bleeding takes place can usually be checked by cold, styptics or torsion.
d. Botany. The condition of being twisted spirally.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > growth, movement, or curvature of parts > [noun] > torsion or nutation
intorsion1760
resupination1760
nutation1789
torsion1875
circumnutation1880
1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. 772 A distinction must be drawn between two kinds of torsion; firstly, that of erect organs; and secondly, that of organs..in a horizontal or oblique position. In the former case the torsion results from internal conditions of growth, and especially from the outer layers growing more rapidly than the inner ones.
e. Mathematics. The degree to which a curve departs from being planar at any given point, measured by the rate of change of the angle of the osculating plane or the binormal with respect to distance along the curve; radius of torsion, the reciprocal of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > number > geometry > curve > [noun] > torsion
torsion1862
1862 G. Salmon Treat. Analytic Geom. Three Dimensions xi. 269 The angle made with each other by two consecutive osculating planes..we shall call the angle of torsion, and denote by dη.
1862 G. Salmon Treat. Analytic Geom. Three Dimensions xi. 270 Following the analogy of the radius of curvature which is ds/dθ, the later French writers denote the quantity ds/dη by the letter r, and call it the radius of torsion.
1939 Burington & Torrance Higher Math. vi. 711 Torsion is agreed to be positive when the rotation (with s increasing) of the binormal increases in the same sense as that of a right-handed screw traveling in the direction of t.
1978 E. C. Young Vector & Tensor Anal. ii. 106 The torsion of a plane curve is zero, just as the curvature of a straight line is zero.
f. Zoology. The twisting of the visceral hump of gastropod molluscs through 180 degrees when the embryo reaches a certain stage of development.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Gastropoda > [noun] > member of > parts of > visceral hump > twisting of
torsion1888
1888 G. Rolleston & W. H. Jackson Forms Animal Life (ed. 2) 475 In..the Streptoneura, the posterior union of the visceral nerves..is situated dorsally to the intestine, and the loop is therefore twisted with the torsion of the visceral dome.
1930 G. R. de Beer Embryol. & Evol. vii. 53 The limpet develops into a more or less symmetrical Veliger larva which suddenly undergoes a twist through 180°, the process of torsion occupying two or three minutes.
1972 M. S. Gardiner Biol. Invertebr. ii. 59/2 Torsion appears to be a reversible process, for in some genera the anus and the organs on either side of it lie posteriorly and the nerve commissures are untwisted.
g. Chemistry. Restricted rotation of an atom or group about a bond joining it to another atom.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > chemistry > isomerism > [noun] > stereo-isomerism > optical isomerism > optical rotation > restricted rotation
torsion1932
1932 Physical Rev. 40 445 (heading) The torsion oscillator-rotator in the quantum mechanics.
1978 Nature 14 Dec. 674/1 Although in some cases, rotation of a rigid molecular structure cannot lead to superposition, this may be possible as a result of torsion about certain bonds.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > pain > pain in specific parts > [noun] > in stomach or bowels
womb achea1398
gnawing1398
torsionc1425
colicc1440
frettingc1440
the wormc1500
wringc1500
griping1526
wresting?1543
wringing?1550
bellyache1552
torment1578
colic passion1586
wind-colic1593
belly-thrawe1595
belly-grinding1597
fret1600
gripe1601
wrenching1607
mulligrubsa1625
bellywarka1652
torminaa1655
efferation1684
stomach-ache1763
gastrodynia1804
guts-ache1818
stony colic1822
wame-ill1829
gastralgia1834
tummy ache1926
c1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula 78 It availeþ..to euery inflacion of þe wombe, and to ventosite of it, and torcions, i.[e.] gryndyng.
1543 B. Traheron tr. J. de Vigo Most Excellent Wks. Chirurg. i. iii. f. 100/1 Knowen by the great payne, and torsyon or grypynge of the bellie.
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §39 All Purgers have in them a raw Spirit, or Winde; which is the principall Cause of Tortion in the Stomach, & Belly.
1689 J. Moyle Abstr. Sea Chyrurg. iii. vii. 109 Sometimes there is..intolerable tortion of the Bowels.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations, as torsion arm, torsion axis, torsion circle, torsion pendulum, torsion screw, torsion spring.
ΚΠ
1831 J. Holland Treat. Manuf. Metal I. 199 It does not appear that these torsion nails have ever found much favour.
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magn. §215 The angle through which the electrical force twisted the torsion-arm.
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magn. §725 The torsion-screw, which turns the torsion-head round a vertical axis.
1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockmakers' Handbk. (new ed.) 265 Small clocks..are made with torsion pendulums.
1901 Mar. M. Ogilvie-Gordon in Nature 24 Jan. 294/1 I wrote my paper on the ‘Torsion-structure of the Dolomites’ in 1898.
C2.
torsion-balance n. an instrument for measuring minute horizontal forces, consisting of a wire or filament having a horizontal arm to the end of which the force is applied so as to make it revolve and twist the wire, etc., through an angle proportional to the twisting moment of the force.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [noun] > twisting or rotary > instrument measuring
torsion-balance1837
1837 D. Brewster Treat. Magnetism 15 The torsion balance, for measuring small forces.
1873 J. C. Maxwell Treat. Electr. & Magn. §38 The torsion-balance was devised by Michell for the determination of the force of gravitation between small bodies, and was used by Cavendish for this purpose.
torsion bar n. a bar that is subject to torque; spec. one in the suspension of some motor vehicles, fixed to the frame at one end and the wheel assembly at the other so that up-and-down motion of the latter tends to twist the bar and is thereby absorbed.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > parts of machines > other parts > [noun] > other specific parts
armOE
button?1561
running gear1663
relax1676
collar1678
drumhead1698
long arm1717
drum1744
press cloth1745
head1785
absorber1789
bearing plate1794
crown1796
rhodings1805
press box1825
alternator1829
cushion1832
saw tooth1835
shoe1837
keyboard1839
returner1839
cross-head1844
channel shoe1845
baster1846
water port1864
shifter1869
magazine1873
entry port1874
upsetter1875
mechanism1876
tapper1876
tension bar1879
buttonholer1882
take-up1884
auger1886
instrument panel1897
balancer1904
torsion bar1937
powerhead1960
1937 Daily Herald 15 Jan. 16/6 The action of the torsion-bar controlled shock-absorbers preventing roll and pitch.
1978 L. Pryor Viper viii. 150 He'd nodded and set to work ordering adjustments to the tires, wings and torsion bars.
1983 Sci. Amer. Jan. 120/2 The strength of the gravitational force is measured from the magnetic force that is required to prevent the rotation of a torsion bar when an additional mass is brought close to it.
torsion-basin n. Geology a basin formed by torsion of the earth's crust in any region.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hollow or depression > [noun] > large hollow or basin
hollow1553
howe1584
lake-basin1833
bolson1838
basinc1854
terr-oceanic basin1859
bowl1860
torsion-basin1899
cuvette1907
foredeep1909
1899 Mar. M. Ogilvie-Gordon in Nature 7 Sept. 445/1 Two great internal torsion-basins, within the Alpine systems of southern Europe, are the Hungarian and the west Mediterranean.
torsion-curve n. a curve caused by torsion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > shape > curvature > [noun] > a curve > curve caused by torsion
torsion-curve1901
1901 Mar. M. Ogilvie-Gordon in Nature 24 Jan. 295 The torsion-curves round the northern periphery of the Adriatic crust-basin.
torsion electrometer n. an electrometer that measures by means of a torsion-balance.
torsionmeter n. (also torsion meter) an instrument which measures the torsion in a rotating shaft, thus providing information about the power output of the engine driving it.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > engine > [noun] > instrument for testing > for measuring effectiveness, rotation, etc.
duty1827
revolution counter1855
motometer1876
rev counter1888
torsionmeter1905
torque meter1911
torsiograph1930
1905 Engineering 7 Apr. 440 (heading) Denny and Johnson's torsion meter.
1970 Jrnl. Physics E 3 105/1 The only practicable way to measure the power [of a ship's main engine] is by the use of a torsionmeter, ie an instrument that measures the twist put in the propeller shaft by the torque it transmits.
torsion test n. Engineering a test in which a material is subjected to torsion (see quot. 1936).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > endeavour > trial or experiment > trial, test, or testing > [noun] > specific tests or testing > test of materials or equipment > other specific tests of materials or equipment
pressure test1859
tensile test1877
smoke test1886
torsion test1891
shock test1904
fatigue test1905
screen test1905
fatigue testing1908
shock-testing1917
1891 W. G. Kircaldy Strength & Properties of Materials vii. 196 Some examples of Twisting, or torsion, tests have been given to show in a graphic way the behaviour of different metals.
1936 P. F. Foster Mech. Testing of Metals & Alloys vii. 115 Torsion tests are carried out to determine the modulus of rigidity of a material..or to ascertain its ultimate torsional strength.
1969 Divakaran & Garg Strength of Materials i. 27 In a torsion test on the same specimen the angle of twist was found to be 0.43°.
Derivatives
ˈtorsionless adj. not subject to torsion.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > mechanics > force > [adjective] > not subject to torsion
torsionless1858
1858 J. F. W. Herschel Outl. Astron. (ed. 5) iv. 160 A..metallic arc..supported from its middle..by a torsionless suspension.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.c1425