\Re*sist"ance\ (-ans), n. [F. r['e]sistance, LL.
resistentia, fr. resistens, - entis, p. pr. See {Resist}.]
1. The act of resisting; opposition, passive or active.
         When King Demetrius saw that . . . no resistance was
         made against him, he sent away all his forces. --1.
                                               Macc. xi. 38.
2. (Physics) The quality of not yielding to force or external
   pressure; that power of a body which acts in opposition to
   the impulse or pressure of another, or which prevents the
   effect of another power; as, the resistance of the air to
   a body passing through it; the resistance of a target to
   projectiles.
3. A means or method of resisting; that which resists.
         Unfold to us some warlike resistance. --Shak.
4. (Elec.) A certain hindrance or opposition to the passage
   of an electrical current or discharge offered by
   conducting bodies. It bears an inverse relation to the
   conductivity, -- good conductors having a small
   resistance, while poor conductors or insulators have a
   very high resistance. The unit of resistance is the ohm.
{Resistance box} (Elec.), a rheostat consisting of a box or
   case containing a number of resistance coils of standard
   values so arranged that they can be combined in various
   ways to afford more or less resistance.
{Resistance coil} (Elec.), a coil of wire introduced into an
   electric circuit to increase the resistance.
{Solid of least resistance} (Mech.), a solid of such a form
   as to experience, in moving in a fluid, less resistance
   than any other solid having the same base, height, and
   volume.