a. Also 7 tensil. [ad. mod.L. tensil-is capable of stretching, f. tens-, ppl. stem of tendĕre to stretch: see -IL, -ILE.]
1. Capable of being stretched; susceptible of extension; ductile.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 845. All bodies ductile, and tensile, that will be drawn into wires.
1666. J. Smith, Old Age (1676), 173. The dry, solid, tensile, hard, and crusty parts of the body.
1794. Mrs. Piozzi, Synon., I. 175. I have omitted tensile on the list,… only because ’tis out of use in talk.
1874. Tait, Rec. Adv. Phys. Sc., xiii. (1876), 313. It [a soap-bubble] has two tensile surfaces with a layer of water between them.
2. Of, of the nature of, or pertaining to tension; exercising or sustaining tension.
1841. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., IV. 31/2. Cast iron … will bear a very considerable tensile strain.
1857. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (ed. 3), II. 444. Wrought iron yields to compressive somewhat more easily than to tensile force.
1868. Joynson, Metals, 90. It possesses a tensile strength double that of good malleable iron.
1898. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., V. 936. This tensile strain is due to the stress of the hypertrophied left ventricle.
3. Of a musical instrument: Producing sounds from stretched strings. rare–0.
In recent Dicts.
Hence Tensiled a. (rare–0), ‘made tensile; rendered capable of tension’ (Webster, 1864); Tensilely adv., in relation to tension; Tensility, tensile condition or quality.
1871. Standard, 28 Jan. Small forgings are generally tensilely stronger proportionately than large ones.
1659. H. More, Immort. Soul, II. x. (1662), 102. The libration or reciprocation of the spirits in the tensility of the muscles.
1910. Daily News, 14 April, 6. A tensility which almost doubles when the metal is wrought and drawn.
