funicular

  1. Adjective.  Of, pertaining to, resembling, or powered by a rope or cable.
  2. Adjective.  (botany) Having a fleshy covering of the seed formed from the funiculus, the attachment point of the seed.
  3. Noun.  A particular type of rail transit system which ascends a steep urban or mountain incline, having usually two cars sharing a single track, with the cars linked by a cable and an arrangement of pulleys such that the descending car assists in the hoisting of the ascending car, i.e. the two cars serve as counterweights for each other.

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This entry was last updated on RefTopia from its source on 3/20/2012.