Friction

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Friction \Fric"tion\, n. [L. frictio, fr. fricare, frictum,to
     rub: cf. F. friction. See {Fray} to rub, arid cf.
     {Dentifrice}.]
     1. The act of rubbing the surface of one body against that of
        another; attrition; in hygiene, the act of rubbing the
        body with the hand, with flannel, or with a brush etc., to


        excite the skin to healthy action.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Mech.) The resistance which a body meets with from the
        surface on which it moves. It may be resistance to sliding
        motion, or to rolling motion.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A clashing between two persons or parties in opinions or
        work; a disagreement tending to prevent or retard
        progress.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Angle of friction} (Mech.), the angle which a plane onwhich
        a body is lying makes with a horizontal plane,when the
        hody is just ready to slide dewn the plane.
  
     Note: This angle varies for different bodies, and for planes
           of different materials.
  
     {Anti-friction wheels} (Mach.), wheels turning freely on
        small pivots, and sustaining, at the angle formed by their
        circumferences, the pivot or journal of a revolving shaft,
        to relieve it of friction; -- called also {friction
        wheels}.
  
     {Friction balls}, or
  
     {Friction rollers}, balls or rollers placed so as to receive
        the pressure or weight of bodies in motion, and relieve
        friction, as in the hub of a bicycle wheel.
  
     {Friction brake} (Mach.), a form of dynamometer for measuring
        the power a motor exerts. A clamp around the revolving
        shaft or fly wheel of the motor resists the motion by its
        friction, the work thus absorbed being ascertained by
        observing the force required to keep the clamp from
        revolving with the shaft; a Prony brake.
  
     {Friction chocks}, brakes attached to the common standing
        garrison carriages of guns, so as to raise the trucks or
        wheels off the platform when the gun begins to recoil, and
        prevent its running back. --Earrow.
  
     {Friction clutch}, {Friction coupling}, an engaging and
        disengaging gear for revolving shafts, pulleys, etc.,
        acting by friction; esp.:
        (a) A device in which a piece on one shaft or pulley is so
            forcibly pressed against a piece on another shaft that
            the two will revolve together; as, in the
            illustration, the cone a on one shaft, when thrust
            forcibly into the corresponding hollow cone b on the
            other shaft, compels the shafts to rotate together, by
            the hold the friction of the conical surfaces gives.
        (b) A toothed clutch, one member of which, instead of
            being made fast on its shaft, is held by friction and
            can turn, by slipping, under excessive strain or in
            starting.
  
     {Friction drop hammer}, one in which the hammer is raised for
        striking by the friction of revolving rollers which nip
        the hammer rod.
  
     {Friction gear}. See {Frictional gearing}, under
        {Frictional}.
  
     {Friction machine}, an electrical machine, generating
        electricity by friction.
  
     {Friction meter}, an instrument for measuring friction, as in
        testing lubricants.
  
     {Friction powder}, {Friction composition}, a composition of
        chlorate of potassium, antimony, sulphide, etc, which
        readily ignites by friction.
  
     {Friction primer}, {Friction tube}, a tube used for firing
        cannon by means of the friction of a roughened wire in the
        friction powder or composition with which the tube is
        filled.
  
     {Friction wheel} (Mach.), one of the wheels in frictional
        gearing. See under {Frictional}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  friction
       n 1: a state of conflict between persons [syn: {clash}]
       2: the resistance encountered when one body is moved in contact
          with another [syn: {rubbing}]
       3: effort expended in rubbing one object against another [syn:
          {detrition}, {rubbing}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  114 Moby Thesaurus words for "friction":
     Discordia, Eris, abrading, abrasion, animosity, antagonism,
     antipathy, argument, attrition, backlash, bad blood, belligerence,
     bickering, caressing, chafing, clash, clashing, collision,
     competition, conflict, confutation, contention, contradiction,
     contraposition, contrariety, contrariness, controversy,
     counteraction, counterposition, counterworking, crankiness,
     cross-purposes, crotchetiness, despitefulness, disaccord,
     disaffinity, disagreement, discord, discordance, discordancy,
     disharmony, dispute, dissension, dissent, enmity, erosion, feeling,
     fingering, fractiousness, fretting, fricative, frictional,
     frottage, grating, handling, hate, hatred, hostility, ill feeling,
     ill will, incompatibility, incompatibleness, inharmoniousness,
     inharmony, inimicalness, interference, jangle, jar, kick,
     malevolence, malice, malignity, manipulation, mischief,
     negativeness, nonconformity, noncooperation, obstinacy,
     open conflict, opposition, opposure, oppugnance, oppugnancy,
     palpation, perverseness, petting, pressure, quarrelsomeness,
     reaction, recalcitrance, recoil, refractoriness, renitency,
     repercussion, repugnance, resistance, revolt, rivalry, rub,
     rubbing, scraping, spite, spitefulness, strained relations, strife,
     stroking, swimming upstream, tension, touching, uncooperativeness,
     unharmoniousness, unpleasantness, vying, wrangling