tractile

adj

1. Capable of being drawn or stretched out in length.

   “Becauſe it [the dormouse] dravveth the hinder legges after it like a Hare, it is called Animal tractile, for it goeth by iumpes and little leapes.”

   “The Conſiſtences of Bodies are very diuers: […] Fragile, Tough; Flexible, Inflexible; Tractile, or to be dravvne forth in length, Intractile; […]”

   “[H]e carried a piece [of the iron ore] to a blacksmith forge, and ascertained that it was of a very fine, tractile quality: […]”

   ““Oh, Gas Man, Gas Man, answer me— / My lines are long and tractile— / Which kind of meter would you see, / A spondee or a dactyl?””

   “Mucus is cohesive and tractile, and is not very adhesive or brittle (even when considerably desiccated) as are the casts commonly referred to as true casts.”

2. Pertaining to traction or pulling.

   “Kites, which the kind Mr. Benjamin Smith had supplied me with, as a tractile power to assist us in dragging sledges, as well as a means of signalizing between parties, afforded much interest, […]”

   “1860, Henry David Thoreau, Journal entry dated 25 March, 1860, in Bradford Torrey (ed.), The Writings of Henry David Thoreau: Journal, December 1, 1859–July 31, 1860, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906, p. 221, The sleighing, the sledding, or sliding, is gone. We now begin to wheel or roll ourselves and commodities along, which requires more tractile power.”

   “The tractile efforts should be made during the continuance of the labor pains, if the latter are frequent and regular, and suspended in the interval between them.”

   “I bet that, big as you are, you could not withstand the tractile force of one of my [a mole's] hands.”

3. (dated)Capable of being guided, influenced, or led.

   “To Bribes, unbow'd: yet ductile in Command: / Their Heart, their Country's—and their King's, their Hand, // STILL-but how chang'd! -thus, thus, were Armies taught; / Un-paid, thus tractile; and thus rais'd, un-bought: […]”

   “It appears that shepherds have not changed more than sheep in the process of time. The shy hairy men who herd the tractile flocks might be, except for some added clothing, the very brethren of David.”

   “[T]his would re-establish the law of natural selection firmly upon its disputed throne, and so the strong would grow ever stronger and more efficient, and the weak would grow ever more obedient and tractile.”

   “[A]bruptly, his head craned into the limited space between Mrs. Silsburn and me. "Driver," he said peremptorily, and waited for a response. When it came with promptness, his voice became a bit more tractile, democratic: "How long do you think we'll be tied up here?"”

4. (obsolete, rare)Of financial assets: able to be drawn or procured from a place of deposit; liquid.

   “Some eight thousand (being late conquest) was liquid and actually tractile in the bank; the rest whirled beyond reach and even sight (save in the mirror of a balance-sheet) under the compelling spell of wizard Pinkerton.”

   “With all other assets that could be made tractile and merchantable, they went to pay Haym Salomon's debts.”