Word: taut
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...Blenheim wirelessed its base. R.A.F. torpedo bombers roared out to sea. The pilots were taut-eyed, for this was a prize not to miss. The scuttling of the pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spec off Montevideo in December 1939, enforced by inferior British vessels, was one of Britain's proudest episodes in the war. There were only two more of these Panzer ships, as the Germans call their 10,000-tonners designed to outgun or overrun every British ship of their weight. This cornered ship must be either the Admiral Scheer or the Lützow (formerly Deutschland...
...seems diffident. His only sign of taut nerves is the tearing up of paper into innumerable little bits. He plays superb poker and bridge, evaluating his cards, his opponents' faces, the stakes, in lightning decision, without seeming to watch...
Student Brown had crossed once, was halfway back, when the rippling suddenly stopped. Horrid groans and wails came from the taut steel overhead. Lampposts jerked back and forth, broke loose, leaped over the side. Reporter Coatsworth's car smashed into the curb. The reporter got out, was pitched forward on his face. Both men, seasick, tried to get up. As they crawled forward, they were knocked down again. Concrete popped like popcorn; large chunks broke loose, whistled through the air. As the roadway buckled over on its side, Student Brown looked down at the water 190 feet below...
...Secretary of State Cordell Hull is what to do about official Nazi representatives in the U. S. The activities of two underlings have been so brazen that he has had to boot them out.* But Mr. Hull has to be careful when he kicks, lest he break the already taut cord of diplomatic relations with Hitler. U. S. representatives would then in turn be booted out of Germany, and the U. S. be deprived of one of its few remaining listening posts in Europe. The zeal of the Dies Committee has not made Mr. Hull's life any easier...
...nerves. Every human being has a fixed number of nerve cells at birth, and, unlike other cells, they do not multiply. Torn nerve fibres heal only by sending forth tendrils toward the severed ends. In stitching together jagged nerve ends, surgeon must be careful not to pull the nerve taut, must draw the silk through the petal-thin nerve sheath, not through its body...