3 definitions found
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Tenacity \Te*nac"i*ty\, n. [L. tenacitas: cf. F. t['e]nacit['e].
See {Tenacious}.]
1. The quality or state of being tenacious; as, tenacity, or
retentiveness, of memory; tenacity, or persistency, of
purpose.
2. That quality of bodies which keeps them from parting
without considerable force; cohesiveness; the effect of
attraction; -- as distinguished from brittleness,
fragility, mobility, etc.
3. That quality of bodies which makes them adhere to other
bodies; adhesiveness; viscosity. --Holland.
4. (Physics) The greatest longitudinal stress a substance can
bear without tearing asunder, -- usually expressed with
reference to a unit area of the cross section of the
substance, as the number of pounds per square inch, or
kilograms per square centimeter, necessary to produce
rupture.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
tenacity
n : persistent determination [syn: {doggedness}, {perseverance},
{persistence}, {persistency}, {tenaciousness}, {pertinacity}]
From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:
TENACITY, n. A certain quality of the human hand in its relation to
the coin of the realm. It attains its highest development in the hand
of authority and is considered a serviceable equipment for a career in
politics. The following illustrative lines were written of a
Californian gentleman in high political preferment, who has passed to
his accounting:
Of such tenacity his grip
That nothing from his hand can slip.
Well-buttered eels you may o'erwhelm
In tubs of liquid slippery-elm
In vain -- from his detaining pinch
They cannot struggle half an inch!
'Tis lucky that he so is planned
That breath he draws not with his hand,
For if he did, so great his greed
He'd draw his last with eager speed.
Nay, that were well, you say. Not so
He'd draw but never let it go!