Crossword clues for torpor
torpor
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Torpor \Tor"por\, n. [L., from torpere, to be torpid.]
Loss of motion, or of the motion; a state of inactivity with partial or total insensibility; numbness.
Dullness; sluggishness; inactivity; as, a torpor of the mental faculties.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"lethargy, listlessness," c.1600, from Latin torpor "numbness, sluggishness," from torpere "be numb, be inactive, be dull," from PIE root *ster- (1) "stiff, rigid, firm, strong" (cognates: Old Church Slavonic trupeti, Lithuanian tirpstu "to become rigid;" Greek stereos "solid;" Old English steorfan "to die;" see stereo-).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A state of being inactive or stuporous. 2 A state of apathy or lethargy. 3 (context biology English) A state similar to hibernation characterised by energy-conserving, very deep sleep
WordNet
n. a state of motor and mental inactivity with a partial suspension of sensibility; "he fell into a deep torpor" [syn: torpidity]
inactivity resulting from torpidity and lack of vigor or energy [syn: listlessness, torpidity, torpidness]
Wikipedia
Torpor is a state of decreased physiological activity in an animal, usually by a reduced body temperature and metabolic rate. Torpor enables animals to survive periods of reduced food availability. A torpor bout can refer to the period of time a hibernator spends at low body temperature, lasting days to weeks, or it can refer to a period of low body temperature and metabolism lasting less than 24 hours, as in "daily torpor".
Animals that undergo daily torpor include birds (even tiny hummingbirds, notably Cypselomorphae) and some mammals, including many marsupial species, rodent species (such as mice), and bats. During the active part of their day, such animals maintain normal body temperature and activity levels, but their metabolic rate and body temperature drops during a portion of the day (usually night) to conserve energy. Torpor is often used to help animals survive during periods of colder temperatures, as it allows them to save the energy that would normally be used to maintain a high body temperature.
Some animals seasonally go into long periods of inactivity, with reduced body temperature and metabolism, made up of multiple bouts of torpor. This is known as hibernation if it occurs during winter or aestivation if it occurs during the summer. Daily torpor, on the other hand, is not seasonally dependent and can be an important part of energy conservation at any time of year.
Torpor is a well controlled thermoregulatory process and not, as previously thought, the result of switching off thermoregulation. Marsupial torpor differs from non-marsupial mammalian ( Eutherial) torpor in the characteristics of arousal. Eutherial arousal relies on a heat-producing brown adipose tissue as a mechanism to accelerate rewarming. The mechanism of marsupial arousal is unknown, but appears not to rely on brown adipose tissue.
Torpor is free, open source (under the MIT License) Object-relational mapping framework for PHP 5.1 and above. It is written entirely in PHP with limited reliance on standard XML extensions (and selected databases) and is independent of (and aims to be compatible with) any other PHP frameworks.
Usage examples of "torpor".
Sitting alone in the darkness amplified the torpor that had pervaded me, and though I sensed certain unsettling dissonances surrounding what had just taken place, I was not sufficiently alert to consider them as other than aggravations.
A feeling of weariness stopped him, a kind of torpor benumbed him for long minutes, during which he did not give a single stroke with the brush.
The torpor which had come upon him the previous evening formed a complete contrast to the blithesome vigour he now enjoyed.
But soon recalling herself to the necessities of the situation, with an effort she shook off the torpor of her memories, and began stammering a few hurried words.
They were all spent with the fatigue that comes from heaven to such misery as theirs, and they sat in a torpor in which each waited for the other to move, to speak.
And as time went on and it seemed he was going to stay out of her life permanently, her body settled into unaroused torpor, and her mind disciplined itself to forget.
The next day Ayrton awoke from his torpor, and his companions cordially manifested all the joy they felt, on seeing him again, almost safe and sound, after a hundred and four days separation.
But then a wave of torpor insinuated itself as a last vestige of the chemical washed across his forebrain, sinuous molecules urging sleep, a resumption of the comforting nothin ness that took away the fear of being cocooned like this.
Brusquely shaking off the torpor which was the legacy of her shallow, broken sleep, Rosemary got out of bed and went to the handbasin in the corner to douse herself with cold water.
The videoconference with the Pentagon seemed to confirm the torpor of the defense community.
Indolence, their wildest ire is charmed into the torpor of the bat, slumbering out the rigours of winter, in the chink of a ruined wall.
Virginia statutes in his citations even got some of the locals there recanting on their interrogatories, claim they were tricked by the fancy language where Szyrk claims his sculpture is site specific for the moral torpor and spiritual vacuity of the place the only words they got hold of were moral and spiritual, thought it was all some big tribute.
Earth turned and the air cooled and the dinosaurs settled into their nightly torpor, at their feet the dirt stirred.
The disinhibitors were already kicking in and he was slipping down into a warm, comfortable torpor.
They set forth the situation--the torpor of the Faubourgs, no one at the Society of Cabinet Makers, the doors closed nearly everywhere.