torques
[tawr-kweez]
- a ringlike band or formation about the neck, as of feathers, hair, or integument of distinctive color or appearance; a collar.
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Origin of torques
1560–70; < Latin torquēs twisted necklace or collar, equivalent to torqu(ēre) to twist (akin to Greek trépein to turn) + -ēs feminine deverbative noun suffix
torque
[tawrk]
- Mechanics. something that produces or tends to produce torsion or rotation; the moment of a force or system of forces tending to cause rotation.
- Machinery. the measured ability of a rotating element, as of a gear or shaft, to overcome turning resistance.
- Optics. the rotational effect on plane-polarized light passing through certain liquids or crystals.
- Also torc. a collar, necklace, or similar ornament consisting of a twisted narrow band, usually of precious metal, worn especially by the ancient Gauls and Britons.
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- Machinery. to apply torque to (a nut, bolt, etc.).
- to cause to rotate or twist.
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- to rotate or twist.
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Origin of torque
1825–35; < Latin torquēre to twist; (def 4) < French torque < Latin torques torques (torc perhaps < Irish ≪ L)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for torques
Historical Examples
Slaying his enemy, he took from his neck a chain of gold (torques), which he afterwards wore upon his own.
Historic Tales, Volume 11 (of 15)Charles Morris
The women wore splendid bronze ornaments, such as finger-rings, bracelets, torques and brooches.
SwedenVictor Nilsson
The torques are mostly penannular and have enlarged terminals; the armlets are often complete rings.
JewelleryH. Clifford Smith,
With their torques of gold, and wild eyes, and hair cut round ears and brow 87, they stare on the scene.
Harold, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
This torques, chain, or rather wreath, is frequently alluded to by the early British bards.
Old English ChroniclesVarious
torques
- a distinctive band of hair, feathers, skin, or colour around the neck of an animal; a collar
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Word Origin
C17: from Latin: necklace, from torquēre to twist
torque
- Also: torc a necklace or armband made of twisted metal, worn esp by the ancient Britons and Gauls
- any force or system of forces that causes or tends to cause rotation
- the ability of a shaft to cause rotation
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Word Origin
C19: from Latin torquēs necklace, and torquēre to twist
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for torques
torque
n.
"rotating force," 1884, from Latin torquere "to twist" (see thwart). The verb is attested from 1954. The word also is used (since 1834) by antiquarians and others as a term for the twisted metal necklace worn anciently by Gauls, Britons, Germans, etc., from Latin torques in this sense. Earlier it had been called in English torques (1690s).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
torque
(tôrk)- A turning or twisting force.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
torque
[tôrk]
- The tendency of a force applied to an object to make it rotate about an axis. For a force applied at a single point, the magnitude of the torque is equal to the magnitude of the force multiplied by the distance from its point of application to an axis of rotation. Torque is also a vector quantity, equal to the vector product of the vector pointing from the axis to the point of application of force and the vector of force; torque thus points upward from a counterclockwise rotation. See also angular momentum lever.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.