tenacity
(tɪˈnæsɪtɪ)
[ad. rare L. tenācitās, f. tenāx, tenāci- tenacious: see -acity. So F. tenacité (14th c. in Godef. Compl.).]
The quality or property of being tenacious.
1. Cohesiveness, toughness; viscosity, clamminess (of a liquid); also, adhesive quality, stickiness.
| 1555 Eden Decades 145 A certeyne..iuise, whose substaunce is of suche tenacitie and clamminesse, that it wyll neuer weare awaye. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys. Mech. ii. 41 Water, to which Sope has given a Tenacity. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 3 For the same reason..many light Substances have such strong Cohesions or Tenacities. 1805–17 R. Jameson Char. Min. (ed. 3) 261 By tenacity is understood..the different degrees of cohesion of the particles of minerals. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xxi. 538 No doubt the bigness of the [plough-]shoe varied..with the lightness or tenacity of the soil. |
2. The quality of retaining what is held, physically or mentally; firmness of hold or attachment; firmness of purpose, persistence, obstinacy.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 175 Some whose tenacite & hardnes is reproued in this peticyon. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. ii. §5 The tenacity of Prejudice and Prescription. 1794 Paley Evid. i. i. (1817) 21 They clung to this hope..with more tenacity as their dangers or calamities increased. 1823 Spirit Pub. Jrnls. (1824) 492 They..began tugging him towards the door, he..clinging to every hold he made with astonishing tenacity. 1830 J. W. Croker in C. Papers 14 May, That tenacity of life which his family have constitutionally. 1878 Lecky Eng. in 18th C. I. iv. 552 The tenacity of the English bull-dog. |
b. Retentiveness (of memory).
| 1814 Scott Wav. iii, A memory of uncommon tenacity. 1871 Blackie Four Phases i. 93 What animal when it has learned anything can retain the lesson with equal tenacity? |
† 3. Tendency to keep fast hold of money; miserliness, niggardliness, parsimony. Obs.
| 1586 Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 32 Vnbridled lust, couetous tenacitie, prodigality, or detestable excesse. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xxix. 173 The passage of mony to the publique Treasure obstructed, by the tenacity of the people. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Tenacity, fast-keeping, sure holding, niggardlinesse, misery. 1706 in Phillips. |