tenacious

[As if from a Lat. tenaciosus, from tenax (gen it. tenacis ) = holding, tenacious; teneo to hold; Fr. tenace.] 1. Holding fast; grasping hard; inclined to hold fast; not willing to let go what is in one's po es sion. (Followed by of before the thing held.) "Free of his money and tenacious of a secret." -Bishop Taylor: Discourse of Friendship. 2. Retentive; retaining long what is committed to it. "The memory in some is very tenacious , but yet there seems to be a constant decay of all our ideas, even of those which are struck deepest, and in minds the most retentive."-Locke. *3 Niggardly, close-fisted, miserly. 4. Apt to adhere to another substance; adhesive, viscous. ( Cowper: Task, i. 215.) 5. Having points disposed to adhere to each ether; having great cohesive force among its particles; tough; having the quality of resisting tension or tearing asunder. tě-nā-cio us-ly, adv . [Eng. tenacious ; -ly .] 1. In a tenacious manner; with a disposition to hold fast what is po e ed by or committed to it. 2. Adhesively; with cohesive force. metals longitudinally, and the tenacity of mixed metals. The tenacity of wood is greater in its longitudinal direction than in a transverse direc tion. The method of ascertaining the tenacity of particular bodies is to form them into cylindrical or prismatic wires, and note the weight required to break them. It is directly proportional to the breaking weight, and inversely proportional to the area of a transverse section of the wire. 3. The quality of holding on to, or of not letting go the hold on anything. was a IMG:content-0897.png:[blocks in formation] 1. A person who holds or po e es lands or tenements by any kind of title, either in fee, for life, for years, or at will. In ordinary language one who holds lands or houses under another, to whom he is bound to pay rent, and who is called in relation to him his landlord. "Estates for life, created by deed or grant, are where a lease is made of lands or tenements to a man, to hold for the term of his own life, or for that of any other person, or for more lives than one: in any of which cases he is styled tenant for life; only when he holds the estate by the life of another, he is usually called tenant pur auter vie."-Black stone: Comment . , bk. ii., ch. 10. 2. A defendant in a real action. [REAL (1), A. II.] (1) Sole tenant : One who holds in his own sole right, and not with another. (2) Tenant at sufferance: One who having been in lawful po e ion of land, keeps it after the title has come to an end by the sufferance of the rightful IMG:content-0898.png:[blocks in formation] (6) Tenant by the verge : [VERGE, 8.] (7) Tenant in capite , Tenant in chief: [CAPITE, CHIEF, B. II. 1.] (8) Tenant in common: One who holds or occupies lands or po e es chattels in common with another or others. In such a case each has an equal interest; but in the event of the death of either his share does not go to the survivors, as in the case of a joint tenancy, but to his heirs or executors. "As to the incidents attending a tenancy in common; tenants in common , like joint-tenants, are compellable by "The tenacity of the English bull-dog subject for national boasting."-Lecky: England in the bill in equity to make partition of their lands; yet there IMG:content-0899.png:[blocks in formation] Surg.: An instrument for grasping an artery, to facilitate tying. The instrument has a pair of bi furcated claws, which close into each other upon the artery by a spring. *těn-a-çỹ, s. [Low Latin tenacia , from Latin tenax (gen it. tenacis )=tenacity (q. v.).] Tenacity, tenaciousne . "Highest excellence is void of all envy, selfishne , and tenacy ."-Barrow: Sermons, vol. ii., ser. xii. tě-nail, tě-näille ( Lat.teneo )=to hold.] 8. [Fr. tenaille, from tenir Fort.: A low work located in the ditch and in front of a curtain to protect the curtain and flanks of the bastions. A pa age for troops is left between each end and the adjacent flank.