fatigue

plural fatigues

1. countableuncountableA weariness caused by exertion; exhaustion.

   For some, the constant deluge that has peaked in the past year is starting to add up to a new (and previously unthinkable) feeling: Taylor Swift fatigue.

   2024 April 22, Matt Stevens, Shivani Gonzalez, “Taylor Swift Has Given Fans a Lot. Is It Finally Too Much?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

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   My husband stayed for some days with the magistrate at Cardwell, recruiting his health and recovering from his fatigues, for the passage between Cape York and Cardwell had proved the most tedious and anxious part of the voyage.

   1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 181

   Alan Pardew finished by far the most frustrated man at the Emirates, blaming fatigue for the fact that Arsenal were able to kill his team off in the dying minutes.

   2012 December 29, Paul Doyle, “Arsenal's Theo Walcott hits hat-trick in thrilling victory over Newcastle”, in The Guardian

   We found that a comprehensive fatigue management program can reduce fatigue-related crash risk and improve safety by, for example, educating drivers; had Triton had such a program, the driver may not have been operating the truck while fatigued.

   2024, NTSB, NTSB Finds Multiple Safety Lapses in 2022 Fatal Collision Between Truck and Party Bus

2. countablein pluraloftenuncountableA menial task or tasks, especially in the military.

   Moreover, the habits of business are the most enduring of any; and Lord Norbourne's most positive enjoyment was in what are called the fatigues of office.

   1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Opinions”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 112

3. countableuncountableengineeringWeakening and eventual failure of material, typically by cracking leading to complete separation, caused by repeated application of mechanical stress to the material.

   Mechanical failures due to fatigue have been the subject of engineering efforts for more than 150 years.

   2013, N. Dowling, Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, page 399

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   An investigation found that the rail had fragmented as trains passed over it, and that the likely cause was "rolling contact fatigue" defined as multiple surface-breaking cracks. Repeated high loading had caused fatigue cracks to grow, resulting in what is called gauge corner cracking.

   2026 March 18, Peter Plisner, “Tackling broken rails: the skills and technology improving safety”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 30

4. USattributivecountableuncountableAttributive form of fatigues (“military clothing worn when doing menial tasks”).

   He reluctantly took the map from his camouflage fatigue pocket.

   1998, William T. Craig, Team Sergeant: A Special Forces NCO at Lang Vei and Beyond, New York, N.Y.: Ivy Books, →ISBN, page 27

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   He was slouched in the chair behind the duty officer’s desk, cigarette dangling from his lips, hands thrust deep into his fatigue pockets, making a display of his disrespect. The acting clerk, cowering behind his own desk, was either afraid to insist he assume a more military posture, or else didn’t care.

   1975, John Crowther, Firebase, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, page 107

   Chino took a laminated map out of one of his fatigue pockets and gave it to Harper.

   2013, Gavin G. Smith, Crysis: Escalation, London: Gollancz, →ISBN, page 186

   Spencer came with all the soft-skill attributes of a desk officer. Double chin, bulging belly testing the tensile strength of the lower two buttons of his fatigue top, and wired-rimmed glasses that sat atop a pointed nose with mismatched nostrils.

   2014, Dalton Fury, Full Assault Mode, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 139

present singular third person fatigues · participle present fatiguing · participle past fatigued · past fatigued

1. transitiveTo tire or make weary by physical or mental exertion.
2. transitivecookingTo wilt a salad by dressing or tossing it.

   The handsome, silver-haired proprietor was absorbed in fatiguing a salad for a family party.

   1927, Dorothy L. Sayers, chapter 1, in Unnatural Death

3. intransitiveTo lose so much strength or energy that one becomes tired, weary, feeble or exhausted.
4. intransitiveengineeringTo undergo the process of fatigue; to fail as a result of fatigue.
5. transitiveengineeringTo cause to undergo the process of fatigue.

   The repeated pressurization cycles fatigued the airplane's metal skin until it eventually broke up in flight.