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Having the quality of flexibility without brittleness; yielding to force without breaking; capable of resisting great strain; as, the ligaments of animals are remarkably tough. "Tough roots and stubs. " Milton.

Of inflexible honesty and fidelity; -- a term derived from the true, or Coventry, blue, formerly celebrated for its unchanging color. See True blue, under Blue.

A collection of small, flexible, or soft things in a knot or bunch; a waving or bending and spreading cluster; as, a tuft of flowers or feathers.

A soft and flexible fabric for men's wear, made wholly of wool except in some inferior kinds, the wool being dyed, usually in two colors, before weaving.

To wind, as one thread around another, or as any flexible substance around another body. Let me twine Mine arms about that body. Shak.

To wind into; to insinuate; -- used reflexively; as, avarice twists itself into all human concerns.

To free from flexure; to make, or allow to become, straight; to loosen; as, to unbend a bow.

Not bending; not suffering flexure; not yielding to pressure; stiff; -- applied to material things. Flies o'er unbending corn, and skims along the main. Pope.

To disclose freely; to reveal in confidence, as secrets; to confess; -- often used reflexively; as, to unbosom one's self. Milton.

Not admitting of compromise; making no truce or concessions; obstinate; unyielding; inflexible. -- Un*com"pro*mi`sing*ly, adv.

rial system with motor nerves, situated in a part of the medulla oblongata; a center of reflex action by the working of which afferent impulses are changed into efferent, -- vasomotor impulses leading either to dilation or constriction of the blood vessels.

omprising the South American ant-eaters. The tongue is long, slender, exsertile, and very flexible, whence the name.

laria and allied genera. They have delicate tubular cells attached in clusters to slender flexible stems.

g to the base, and two separate circles of tentacles around the mouth. They form a tough, flexible, feltlike tube with a smooth internal lining, in which they dwell, whence the name.

A long, slender, flexible shoot or branch.

Specifically: A little mass of some soft or flexible material, such as hay, straw, tow, paper, or old rope yarn, used for retaining a charge of powder in a gun, or for keeping the powder and shot close; also, to diminish or avoid the effects of windage. Also, by extension, a dusk of felt, pasteboard, etc., serving a si…

Long and flexible, like a wand. [Prov. Eng.] Brockett.

A twig or flexible rod; hence, a hurdle made of such rods. And there he built with wattles from the marsh A little lonely church in days of yore. Tennyson.

of the Australian aborigines, consisting of a cigar-shaped stick fastened at one end to a flexible twig. It weighs in all about two ounces, and is about two feet long.

To direct; to betake;- used chiefly in the phrase to wend one's way. Also used reflexively. "Great voyages to wend." Surrey.