catenary

Its form is that of the catenary curve, the most perfect shape for an arch, and the only one that requires no buttressing from the side.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2026

Without the structural principles behind catenary curves, there would be no Gothic cathedrals or Renaissance domes — nor, for that matter, any lacy spiderwebs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2025

Sound Transit’s resident engineer denied most of a $3.8 million claim Walsh filed on Clackamas, Ore.-based Liberty’s behalf regarding 107 catenary poles, affected by utilities, boulders, timbers and concrete.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2023

In late works from 2019, a skeleton holds an oversize skull over his groin, and in other works, based on a string draped into a catenary curve, the repetition of the motif creates a veil.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2021

There were tall buildings, but their walls were draping, catenary curves.

From Long Ago, Far Away by Murray Leinster

Power is often still carried on lines that hang in graceful catenaries of various depths from poles that lean left or right randomly but rarely stand straight.

From New York Times ● Nov. 16, 2012

A relief sculpture by Charles Biederman or the prodigious steel catenaries of Othmar H. Ammann's design for the George Washington Bridge?

From Time Magazine Archive

Every catenary lying between them has its directrix higher, and every catenary lying beyond them has its directrix lower than that of the two catenaries.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various

The catenaries which lie beyond the two generate surfaces whose radius of curvature convex towards the axis in the meridian plane is greater than the radius of concave curvature.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various

Now let us consider the surfaces of revolution formed by this system of catenaries revolving about the directrix of the two catenaries of equal tension.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 3 "Capefigue" to "Carneades" by Various