The term catenary comes from the curve created by the sagging of a wire or chain between two points.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Overhead Wire] Reference

(The catenary is the curve of a flexible cable suspended by its ends and acted on by gravity.).    From Wordnik.com.  [Alluring Shades of a Steely Hue] Reference

Instead of a flat roof, the main chapel has a distinctively curved ceiling called a catenary arch.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Scriptorium Daily: Middlebrow] Reference

The shape of the curve a catenary is the one that minimizes the potential energy of the entire chain.    From Wordnik.com.  [Thermodynamics, Again - The Panda's Thumb] Reference

Inside the envelope of the Goodyear Blimp where you can't see it is a system of cables called catenary cables.    From Wordnik.com.  [News for NBC13.com] Reference

A catenary is the curve defined by a rope or chain hanging loosely from two supports, like a "U"with a detachable jaw.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2007-06-01] Reference

A catenary is the "curve made by a freely flexible chain or cord when hanging between two fixed points" Webster's New World.    From Wordnik.com.  [December, 1908] Reference

To eliminate any possibility of the trolley wire breaking, a strong steel cable, called a catenary, was slung just above the trolley wire.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails] Reference

A catenary is a cross between a cat and a canary, and if you keep one you must discipline it strongly to make sure it does not eat itself.    From Wordnik.com.  [Making Light: Open thread 136] Reference

The structure called a catenary wire system, is the largest on the space compound and features large cables strung between three 594-foot-tall steel and fiberglass towers.    From Wordnik.com.  [Netflash] Reference

They are based on a curve called 'catenary' since any perfectly flexible material of uniform mass will hang in the shape of a catenary when suspended between two supporters.    From Wordnik.com.  [1. Swer, a low cost rural distribution system using single wire earth return.] Reference

A catenary is, of course, a cat that's eaten a canary.    From Wordnik.com.  [Making Light: Open thread 136] Reference

Fig. 2-103: A chain forms the shape of a catenary arch.    From Wordnik.com.  [2. Kilns] Reference

There must be two attached alternately to the catenary cable.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails] Reference

It can be seen as a catenary curve hanging between two poles.    From Wordnik.com.  [A peer-reviewed article that supports ID . . . or something else - The Panda's Thumb] Reference

The flimsy catenary is on the East Coast Main Line not the West.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tories plan £20bn 180mph rail link instead of Heathrow third runway « Stephen Rees’s blog] Reference

An ideal system with minimal internal forces is the catenary shape.    From Wordnik.com.  [2. Fundamentals of building statics] Reference

Each work involves lengths of string that take the shape of catenary arches.    From Wordnik.com.  [Alluring Shades of a Steely Hue] Reference

To this catenary the trolley wire was suspended by hangers at short intervals.    From Wordnik.com.  [Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive, or, Two Miles a Minute on the Rails] Reference

It is in the shape of an inverted catenary arch and is made of stainless steel.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2007-05-01] Reference

Perhaps science fiction is like a suspension bridge, a catenary between two poles.    From Wordnik.com.  [To Put Away Childish Things? « It Doesn't Have To Be Right…] Reference

And lastly, the fastest, lightest trains, are all catenary powered - from Europe to Asia.    From Wordnik.com.  [Back on Track, Grid Powered, and Gas Free] Reference

The chamber is constructed as a catenary arch (see p. 102) which makes the structure self-supporting.    From Wordnik.com.  [2. Kilns] Reference

They had now left the sea bed and were slowly ascending along the graceful catenary of the anchor line.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Songs of Distant Earth]

The dome-shaped structure has a cross section that roughly corresponds to the shape of an inverted catenary.    From Wordnik.com.  [5. Building with Unbonded Pumice] Reference

At this time, the most reliable and cost effective way to power electric rail is by catenary (overhead wires).    From Wordnik.com.  [The Way of Steel] Reference

You're supposed to notice that the bridge hangs in a parabola but the power lines hang in a catenary ; a contrast.    From Wordnik.com.  [I have made a photograph of the way I feel.] Reference

Blown by the wind, the little parachute would go sailing up the string, climbing the graceful catenary to the kite.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Fountains of Paradise]

The regular and predictable change in soils down available slopes gave rise to the theory of catenary succession in soils.    From Wordnik.com.  [Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic] Reference

When I was a teenage rail enthusiast this line was electrified as part of the Woodhead route, but the catenary has long been dismantled.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2008-11-01] Reference

You hesitate between the catenary and portion of a circle.    From Wordnik.com.  [Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2] Reference

There were tall buildings, but their walls were draping, catenary curves.    From Wordnik.com.  [Long Ago, Far Away] Reference

Near the bottom of the picture there was a city of the strange, catenary-curve architecture.    From Wordnik.com.  [Long Ago, Far Away] Reference

Not at all: the catenary appears actually every time that weight and flexibility act in concert.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Life of the Spider] Reference

If it is small, this means that the catenary has approximately settled back into its original position.    From Wordnik.com.  [innovations-report] Reference

Santa Maria del Fiore, and the Pazzi Chapel, by the discoverer of the practical catenary principle, Filippo Brunelleschi.    From Wordnik.com.  [LaRouche's Latest] Reference

Since Aug. 29, 5.5 miles of overhead catenary that provides traction power were replaced and 4 miles of auxilliary feeder cable.    From Wordnik.com.  [Chesterton Tribune] Reference

But I would rather propose, that you make your middle rail an exact catenary, and the interior and exterior rails parallels to that.    From Wordnik.com.  [Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2] Reference