elastic

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• adjective Easily resuming original size or shape after being stretched or otherwise deformed; flexible. synonym: flexible.
• adjective Relating to a collision in which the total kinetic energy is conserved.
• adjective Quick to recover, as from disappointment; resilient.
• adjective Capable of being adapted to change or a variety of circumstances.
• adjective Economics Of, relating to, or being a good for which changes in price have a large effect on the quantity demanded or supplied.
• noun A flexible stretchable fabric made with interwoven strands of rubber or an imitative synthetic fiber.
• noun An object made of this fabric.
• noun A rubber band.

from The Century Dictionary.

• Serving, as a catapult, to hurl missiles by the force of a spring.
• Having, as a solid body, the power of returning to the form from which it is bent, extended, pressed, pulled, or distorted, as soon as the force applied is removed; having, as a fluid, the property of recovering its former volume after compression.
• Figuratively Admitting of extension; capable of expanding and contracting, according to circumstances; hence, yielding and accommodating: as, an elastic conscience; elastic principles.
• Possessing the power or quality of recovering from depression or exhaustion; able to resist a depressing or exhausting influence; capable of sustaining shocks without permanent injury: as, elastic spirits.
• noun A piece or strip of india-rubber, or of webbing or belting made elastic by the incorporation of india-rubber, used as a band, garter, or the like. [U. S.]

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun colloq. An elastic woven fabric, as a belt, braces or suspenders, etc., made in part of India rubber.
• adjective Springing back; having a power or inherent property of returning to the form from which a substance is bent, drawn, pressed, or twisted; springy; having the power of rebounding
• adjective Able to return quickly to a former state or condition, after being depressed or overtaxed; having power to recover easily from shocks and trials
• adjective (Min.) See Elaterite.
• adjective (Geom.), (Mech.) The figure assumed by the longitudinal axis of an originally straight bar under any system of bending forces.
• adjective those which have the property of expanding in all directions on the removal of external pressure, as the air, steam, and other gases and vapors.
• adjective (Mech.) the limit of distortion, by bending, stretching, etc., that a body can undergo and yet return to its original form when relieved from stress; also, the unit force or stress required to produce this distortion. Within the elastic limit the distortion is directly proportional to the stress producing it.
• adjective (Anat.) a variety of connective tissue consisting of a network of slender and very elastic fibers which are but slightly affected by acids or alkalies.
• adjective caoutchouc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• adjective Capable of stretching; particularly, capable of stretching so as to return to an original shape or size when force is released.
• adjective Made of elastic.
• adjective Of clothing, elasticated.
• adjective economics Sensitive to changes in price.
• adjective springy; bouncy; vivacious
• noun uncountable An elastic material used in clothing, particularly in waistbands and cuffs.
• noun countable An elastic band.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a fabric made of yarns containing an elastic material
• noun a narrow band of elastic rubber used to hold things (such as papers) together
• adjective able to adjust readily to different conditions
• adjective capable of resuming original shape after stretching or compression; springy