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Overexertion; excessive tension; strain. [Obs.] Spenser.

The quality or state of being strong; ability to do or to bear; capacity for exertion or endurance, whether physical, intellectual, or moral; force; vigor; power; as, strength of body or of the arm; strength of mind, of memory, or of judgment. All his [Samson's] strength in his hairs were. Chaucer. Thou must outlive Th…

The force, or combination of forces, which produces a strain; force exerted in any direction or manner between contiguous bodies, or parts of bodies, and taking specific names according to its direction, or mode of action, as thrust or pressure, pull or tension, shear or tangential stress. Rankine. Stress is the mutual…

Exertion or contention for superiority; contest of emulation, either by intellectual or physical efforts. Doting about questions and strifes of words. 1 Tim. vi. 4. Thus gods contended -- noble strife -Who most should ease the wants of life. Congreve.

To make efforts; to use exertions; to endeavor with earnestness; to labor hard. Was for this his ambition strove To equal Cæsar first, and after, Jove Cowley.

Having active physical power, or great physical power to act; having a power of exerting great bodily force; vigorous. That our oxen may be strong to labor. Ps. cxliv. 14. Orses the strong to greater strength must yield. Dryden.

To bring under; to conquer by force or the exertion of superior power, and bring into permanent subjection; to reduce under dominion; to vanquish. I will subdue all thine enemies. 1 Chron. xvii. 10.

of a disease by unknown means from one organ to another quite remote, or in the influence exerted by a diseased condition of one part on another part or organ, as in the vomiting produced by a tumor of the brain.

To be directed, as to any end, object, or purpose; to aim; to have or give a leaning; to exert activity or influence; to serve as a means; to contribute; as, our petitions, if granted, might tend to our destruction. The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want. Pr…

a mechanical strain or tension in the direction in which the strength is afterward to be exerted.

Any system of rudders by which the pilot can exert a turning moment about each of the three rectangular axes of an aëroplane or airship.

To exert strength with pain and fatigue of body or mind, especially of the body, with efforts of some continuance or duration; to labor; to work.

Of or pertaining to a torpedo; resembling a torpedo; exerting a benumbing influence; stupefying; dull; torpid. Fishy were his eyes; torpedinous was his manner. De Quincey.

Having lost motion, or the power of exertion and feeling; numb; benumbed; as, a torpid limb. Without heat all things would be torpid. Ray.

ng or twisting, or the state of being twisted; the twisting or wrenching of a body by the exertion of a lateral force tending to turn one end or part of it about a longitudinal axis, while the other is held fast or turned in the opposite direction.

The sense by which pressure or traction exerted on the skin is recognized; the sense by which the properties of bodies are determined by contact; the tactile sense. See Tactile sense, under Tactile. The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine. Pope.

aced in front of the supporting planes of an aëroplane instead of behind them, so that it exerts a pull instead of a push. Hence, Tractor monoplane, Tractor biplane, etc.

Labor with pain; severe toil or exertion. As everything of price, so this doth require travail. Hooker.

Any effort or exertion of strength for the purpose of ascertaining what can be done or effected. [I] defy thee to the trial of mortal fight. Milton.

o get into difficulty or danger. [Colloq.] -- To take the trouble, to be at the pains; to exert one's self; to give one's self inconvenience. She never took the trouble to close them. Bryant.