Noun: catenary
| Singular | catenary |
| Plural | catenaries |
Sample Sentences
-
The result was catenary being torn down several hundred feet at a time. [1958, The Railway Review: An Intelligent Survey of Transit News and Trends:]
-
The colour-lights showed up much better than the semaphores which, in spite of their approach warning boards, are not readily visible at any distance between the supports for the catenaries. [1962 April, P. W. B. Semmens, “The Netherlands Railways today”, in Modern Railways, page 241:]
-
The electric overhead was catenary, using 0000 contact wire, and the new railway employed the latest in electric block signal systems. [1977, Paul Castelhun Trimble, Interurban Railways of the Bay Area, page 119:]
-
In addition the catenary itself is divided into 1-2 km sections (corresponding to mechanical sections or tension lengths) with motorized remotely controlled sectioning off-load isolators such that only one train is likely to be immobilized at any one time as a result of an incident associated with the catenary system. [1995, The Channel Tunnel: Transport systems, →ISBN, page 22:]
-
Overhead construction was catenary rather than a single wire to allow the use of pantographs instead of trolley poles so that speeds could be higher. [2009, Jan Young, Studebaker and the Railroads, volume 2, page 47:]
Nouns inflected like catenary
clitoridectomy,
royal jelly,
whoopsy,
surrogacy,
urinary,
rastrography,
renoscopy,
sourtop blueberry,
forcible entry,
superficiary,
lipidosity,
potability,
phonography,
hyperproperty,
greenery,
conjugality,
ring singularity,
Brittany,
ignobility,
obscurity, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
From Late Latin catenaria, in turn from Latin catēna (“chain”). Attested since 1788. See: Latin Nouns '
catēna'.