elastic
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈlæstɪk/
ipa: /iˈlæstɪk/
rhymes: -æstɪk
ipa: /əˈlɑːstɪk/
Forms: form: more elastic
form: most elastic
form: elastick
Etymology: From French élastique, from New Latin elasticus (“elastic”), from Ancient Greek ἐλαστός (elastós), alternative form of ἐλατός (elatós, “ductile”) (cf. ἐλατήρ (elatḗr, “a driver, hurler”)), from ἐλαύνω (elaúnō, “to drive, set in motion, push, strike, beat out”).
Senses: examples: text: The rope is somewhat elastic, so expect it to give when you pull on it.
text: In trumpets for assisting the hearing, all reverbation of the trumpet must be avoided. It must be made thick, of the least elastic materials, and covered with cloth externally. For all reverbation lasts for a short time, and produces new sounds which mix with those which are coming in.
ref: 1820, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Or A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature, 6th edition, volume 20, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Company, page 501:
glosses: Capable of stretching; particularly, capable of stretching so as to return to an original shape or size when force is released.
examples: text: elastic band
glosses: Made of elastic.
glosses: Of clothing, elasticated.
examples: text: Demand for entertainment is more elastic than demand for energy.
topics: economics
sciences
glosses: Sensitive to changes in price.
examples: text: He could see that she was tastefully, though not richly, dressed, and that she walked with an elastic step that revealed a light heart and the vigor of perfect health. Her face, of course, he could not analyze, since he had caught only the one brief but convincing glimpse of it.
ref: 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:
glosses: springy; bouncy; vivacious
examples: text: It was now about six o'clock, and that first freshness was on the air, which is to the day what youth is to life,—so light, so elastic, so sweet, and so brief:...
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter X, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 74:
glosses: Pervasive, all-encompassing.
examples: text: elastic spirits; an elastic constitution
glosses: Able to return quickly to a former state or condition, after being depressed or overtaxed; having power to recover easily from shocks and trials.
Synonyms: stretchy
stretchable
Derived terms: acoustoelastic
aeroelastic
aero-hydro-servo-elastic
aero-servo-elastic
aero-servo-hydro-elastic
cytoelastic
elastance
elastane
elastically
elasticate
elasticated
elastic band
elastic collision
elastic energy
elastic fiber
elasticin
elasticise
elasticity
elasticization
elasticize
elasticky
elastic limit
elasticness
elastic recovery
elastic-sided
elastic sides
elastic-sides
elastin
elasto-
elastomer
elastosis
elastration
ferroelastic
fibroelastic
fluid-elastic
hydroelastic
hyperelastic
hypoelastic
income-elastic
isoelastic
magnetelastic
magnetoelastic
magneto-electro-thermo-elastic
magneto-thermo-electro-elastic
mechanoelastic
microelastic
monoelastic
morphoelastic
musculoelastic
musculo-elastic
myoelastic
perfectly elastic supply
photoelastic
piezoelastic
piezomagnetoelastic
poroelastic
porohyperelastic
poroviscoelastic
pseudoelastic
quasielastic
semielastic
silicoelastic
superelastic
thermoelastic
thermo-electro-magneto-elastic
thermoviscoelastic
unelastic
viscoelastic
visco-elastic-plastic