tensor

ten·sor  (tnsr, -sôr)

n.

1. Anatomy A muscle that stretches or tightens a body part.

2. Mathematics A set of quantities that obey certain transformation laws relating the bases in one generalized coordinate system to those of another and involving partial derivative sums. Vectors are simple tensors.

---

[New Latin tnsor, from Latin tnsus, past participle of tendere, to stretch; see tense¹.]

---

ten·sori·al (-sôr-l, -sr-) adj.

---

tensor  (tnsr, -sôr)

1. A structure of quantities arranged by zero or more indices, such as a scalar (zero indices), a vector (one index), or a matrix (two indices), which is invariant under transformations of coordinates.

2. Any of various muscles that stretch or tighten a body part, as the muscle that acts to tense the soft palate, called the tensor palati.

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	tensor - a generalization of the concept of a vector variable quantity, variable - a quantity that can assume any of a set of values
	2.	tensor - any of several muscles that cause an attached structure to become tense or firm muscle, musculus - one of the contractile organs of the body tensor tympani - a small muscle in the middle ear that tenses to protect the eardrum