tractility

English

Etymology

tractile +‎ -ity

Noun

tractility (uncountable)

1. The quality of being tractile (capable of being drawn or stretched out at length).

   Synonym: ductility

   • 1673, Robert Boyle, Essays of the Strange Subtilty, Great Efficacy, Determinate Nature of Effluviums, London: M. Pitt, “If the Strange Subtilty of Effluviums,” Chapter 2, p. 8,^[1]

     Silver, whose Ductility and Tractility are very much inferiour to those of Gold, was, by my procuring, drawn out to so slender a Wire, that, when we measur’d it, which was somewhat troublesom to do, with a long and accurate measure, we found, that eight Yards of it did not yet fully counterpoise one Grain:

   • 1861, John Henry Pepper, The Playbook of Metals, London: Routledge, Warne, and Routledge, Introduction, p. 4,^[2]

     We shall not […] anticipate these chemical details […] but will confine ourselves at present to that potent talisman “Coal,” at whose bidding, and whilst in a state of combustion, the minerals are decomposed and liquefied, and their gritty, brittle, stony qualities changed to those of tractility and extensibility.