Traction
['trækʃ(ə)n] or ['trækʃən]
Definition
(noun.) (orthopedics) the act of pulling on a bone or limb (as in a fracture) to relieve pressure or align parts in a special way during healing; 'his leg was in traction for several days'.
Editor: Mary--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The act of drawing, or the state of being drawn; as, the traction of a muscle.
(n.) Specifically, the act of drawing a body along a plane by motive power, as the drawing of a carriage by men or horses, the towing of a boat by a tug.
(n.) Attraction; a drawing toward.
(n.) The adhesive friction of a wheel on a rail, a rope on a pulley, or the like.
Typist: Rex
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Drawing, pulling, draught.
Editor: Val
Examples
- A powerful steam traction engine of fifty horse power hauls across the field a planting combination of sixteen ten-inch plows, four six-foot harrows and a seeding drill in the rear. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- This, in its latest form known as the gearless traction elevator, does away with all intricate machinery, and yields a machine moving with equal speed whatever the height. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Traction is then made on the chains controlling the jaws, which close; the grapple is hoisted to the surface and its contents discharged into scows alongside the dredge. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- This mode of traction was afterwards extended, in many instances, along the whole railway, so as to supersede the use of horse power. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- This is a fitting stage at which to review briefly what had been done in electric traction up to that date. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Traction engine pulling sixteen 10-inch plows, four 6-foot harrows, and a drill. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- In his traction work he had a close second in Robert Davidson, of Aberdeen, Scotland, who in 1839 operated both a lathe and a small locomotive with the motor he had invented. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- It has been replaced by the electric traction elevator. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- A little animal muscle, supplied by draft oxen, horse traction, and the like, contributed. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- When these fine roads become the possession of a country light traction engines for passenger traffic will be found largely supplanting the horse and the steam railroad engines. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
Checker: Peggy