unˈcoupling, vbl. n.
[f. uncouple v.]
a. The action of the verb.
| c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 377 With a grete horne [he] blewe thre mote At the vncoupylynge of hys houndys. c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxxv, He shulde blowe iii. longe moot to þe vncoupelynge. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. lii. 500 To the vncoupelynge, to the sekynge, to the rechate [etc.]. 1611 Cotgr., Descouple, the vncoupling of houndes, or loossing them after their game. 1954 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XL. 919 As much thyroxine was carried down by rat mitochondria which did not show any appreciable uncoupling. 1983 Nature 10 Feb. 512/1 A progressive uncoupling of [bacterial] growth and H2S production was observed during approach to the stationary state. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as uncoupling chain, uncoupling lever, uncoupling pole, uncoupling rod; uncoupling agent Biochem., = uncoupler.
| 1879 Car-Builder's Dict. 172/1 Uncoupling-chain, a chain by which the uncoupling lever of a Miller-coupler is connected with the coupling-hook or draw-bar. Ibid., Uncoupling-lever, for Miller-coupler, a lever attached to the platform of a car, and connected by a chain with a Miller coupling-hook or draw-bar to disengage or uncouple it from the one on the adjoining car. 1895 Ibid. (ed. 3) 139/2 Uncoupling-rod,..a rod connecting the uncoupling-lever with the lock of an automatic coupler. 1956 Jrnl. Biol. Chem. CCXXII. 338 Certain uncoupling agents such as thyroxine and Ca++ caused rapid swelling of the mitochondria. 1976 A. White Long Silence ix. 88 Two trains were being worked... I counted five men walking about the yard with long un-coupling poles. 1981 Arch. Microbiol. CXXIX. 94/1 Inhibition was relieved by low concentrations of uncoupling agent. |