ductility: the property of a metal that allows it to be drawn into wire. Think how many
things we are dependent on require wire, particularly electrical gadgets. I'm sure many
members have never taken apart some of the very small transformers tha have wire far
finer than human hair, made possible by ancredible ductility of copper, and the marvel
of teflon insulation.
Principally encountered in 'ductus arteriosus" discussed here a whiie ago. Before a baby is born,
only a small amount of blood from right ventricle goes through the lung, but the right ventricle
muscle must develop fully so it can meet the demands when baby's lungs inflates so it can breathe.
The ductus arteriosus joins pulmonary artery and the aorta and in utero most of output of right
ventricle goes through the ductus arteriosus into the aorta. Normally it soon closes off. My
brother had his only son die soon after birth because of abnormality of the ductus. He was born
about ten years before corrective surgery became possible.
Dugongs are "cousins" of manatees to be seen in Florida.
dugong
n.
5ModL < Malay duyong6 any of a genus (Dugong) of large tropical sirenian mammals that live along the shores of the Indian Ocean and feed mostly on seaweed
duenna
n.
5Sp dueOa < L domina, mistress: see DAME6
1 an elderly woman who has charge of the girls and young unmarried women of a Spanish or Portuguese family
duoodenum
n.,
pl. 3de$na 73n!8 or 3de$nums 5ME < ML < L duodeni, twelve each: its length is about twelve fingers‘ breadth6 the first section of the small intestine, between the stomach and the jejunum
duramen
n.
5L, hardness < durare: see DURABLE6 HEARTWOOD
Duroc
5after Duroc, name of a famous 19th-cent. stallion owned by a farmer who also had a herd of progenitor pigs6 any of a breed of large red or reddish-brown hog
How well I remember Rosie, the huge sow. She was really a character. You might not think it
but pigs can be very smart. A psychologist told me that they spoil research using them because
they figure out what the test is about, and screw it up.
dyne
n.
5Fr < Gr dynamis, power6 the amount of force that imparts to a mass of one gram an acceleration of one centimeter per second per second: the unit of force in the cgs system
Tensility would mean ability to withstand tension. I would expect a steel wire to be stronger
than a copper one. My dictionary lists tensility as an adjective but does not define it.
In general it might be that highly ductile metals have relatively low tensile strength.
AHD defines ductile as capable of being drawn into wire (said of metal) or capable of being easily molded or shaped; plastic. Tensile is defined as capable of being stretched; ductile. Both are adjectives; ductility and tensility are the corresponding nouns*. They're pretty close, but tensile sounds a little more general to me.
*Whad I tell ya bout that dictionary, Dr. Bill?
If it ain't ductile,it won't make wire. But some wires are more tensile than others.
Dada gaga, typo diaperful. Duramen. Duramen. Duramen.
The cambium is the layer where new woood is formed. It has to have channels to bring
in carbohydrate sap to be turned into xylose, and so is porous and soft.
Dictionary say see CHANGE - remember, a "cambitst" is a money changer.
The cambium is a narrow layer where new cells are actively produced. I remember learning that
in Boany way back in 1935.
Alburnum
Why does that sound as though it should be a city in the middle of England?
Speaking of Birnam wood going to high Dunsinane, I suspect that it would be hard to find
an earlier description of military use of camouflage.
He's vice-president of the Northern California DX Foundation.
http://www.ncdxf.org/Biography/K6RIM.htm
In reply to:
Speaking of Birnam wood going to high Dunsinane, I suspect that it would be hard to find
an earlier description of military use of camouflage.
The wooden horse of Troy?
Bingley
Deear Bingley: It seems to me that the Wooden Horse of Troy was closer to being a decoy.
I also have long thought it rather improbable that the Greeks had woodworking technology
to have been able to create such a structure.