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Firm; tough; materially strong; enduring; as, a stout vessel, stick, string, or cloth.

Power to resist force; solidity or toughness; the quality of bodies by which they endure the application of force without breaking or yielding; -- in this sense opposed to frangibility; as, the strength of a bone, of a beam, of a wall, a rope, and the like. "The brittle strength of bones." Milton.

The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.

Solid; tough; not easily broken or injured; able to withstand violence; able to sustain attacks; not easily subdued or taken; as, a strong beam; a strong rock; a strong fortress or town.

A climbing shrub (Berchemia volubilus) of the Southern United States, having a tough and pliable stem.

A tough vegetable fiber used as a substitute for bristles in making brushes. The piassava and the ixtle are both used under this name.

A process (invented about 1899 by Frederick W. Taylor and Maunsel B. White) for giving toughness to self-hardening steels. The steel is heated almost to fusion, cooled to a temperature of from 700º to 850º C. in molten lead, further cooled in oil, reheated to between 370º and 670º C., and cooled in air.…

Having parts apt to adhere to each other; cohesive; tough; as, steel is a tenacious metal; tar is more tenacious than oil. Sir I. Newton.

A tough insensible cord, bundle, or band of fibrous connective tissue uniting a muscle with some other part; a sinew. Tendon reflex (Physiol.), a kind of reflex act in which a muscle is made to contract by a blow upon its tendon. Its absence is generally a sign of disease. See Knee jerk, under Knee.…

atives of temperate regions. Many species are planted as ornamental shade trees, and the tough fibrous inner bark is a valuable article of commerce. Also, a plant of this genus.

To make to sound, as by pulling a tense string and letting it go suddenly. Sounds the tough horn, and twangs the quivering string. Pope.

tapering 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 south African proteaceous tree (Protea grandiflora); also, its tough wood, used for making wagon wheels.

roportion of combined carbon. -- White iron pyrites (Min.), marcasite. -- White land, a tough clayey soil, of a whitish hue when dry, but blackish after rain. [Eng.] -- White lark (Zoöl.), the snow bunting. -- White lead. (a) A carbonate of lead much used in painting, and for other purposes; ceruse. (b) (Min.) Nativ…

A large mass of tough sinewy substance in the head of sperm whales, just above the upper jaw and extending in streaks into the junk above it. It resembles blubber, but contains no oil. Also, the part of the head in which it occurs.

Leather dressed or tawed with alum, salt, etc., remarkable for its pliability and toughness; white leather.

Capable of endurance; tough; sinewy; as, a wiry frame or constitution. "A little wiry sergeant of meek demeanor and strong sense." Dickens. He bore his age well, and seemed to retain a wiry vigor and alertness. Hawthorne.

A North American shrub (Viburnum nudum) whose tough osierlike shoots are sometimes used for binding sheaves.

Made of withes; like a withe; flexible and tough; also, abounding in withes. The stream is brimful now, and lies high in this little withy plantation. G. Eliot.

and Pig. -- Yoke elm (Bot.), the European hornbeam (Carpinus Betulus), a small tree with tough white wood, often used for making yokes for cattle.