GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English
last match results
Found 4 definitions
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Strain (?), n. [See Strene.]
1. Race; stock; generation; descent; family.
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He is of a noble strain. Shak.
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With animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring. Darwin.
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2. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.
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Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation. Tillotson.
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3. Rank; a sort. “The common strain.” Dryden.
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4. (Hort.) A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
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Strain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strained (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straining.] [OF. estraindre, estreindre, F. étreindre, L. stringere to draw or bind tight; probably akin to Gr. a halter, that which is squeezwd out, a drop, or perhaps to E. strike. Cf. Strangle, Strike, Constrain, District, Strait, a. Stress, Strict, Stringent.]
1. To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, “to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument”. “To strain his fetters with a stricter care.” Dryden.
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2. (Mech.) To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.
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3. To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.
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He sweats,
Strains his young nerves. Shak.
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They strain their warbling throats
To welcome in the spring. Dryden.
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4. To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, “to strain the law in order to convict an accused person”.
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There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it. Swift.
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5. To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, “the gale strained the timbers of the ship”.
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6. To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, “to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle”.
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Prudes decayed about may track,
Strain their necks with looking back. Swift.
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7. To squeeze; to press closely.
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Evander with a close embrace
Strained his departing friend. Dryden.
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8. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
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He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth
Is forced and strained. Denham.
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The quality of mercy is not strained. Shak.
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9. To urge with importunity; to press; as, “to strain a petition or invitation”.
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Note, if your lady strain his entertainment. Shak.
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10. To press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, “to strain milk through cloth”.
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To strain a point, to make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings. -- To strain courtesy, to go beyond what courtesy requires; to insist somewhat too much upon the precedence of others; -- often used ironically. Shak.
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Strain (strān), v. i.
1. To make violent efforts. “Straining with too weak a wing.” Pope.
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To build his fortune I will strain a little. Shak.
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2. To percolate; to be filtered; as, “water straining through a sandy soil”.
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Strain, n.
1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained. Specifically: --
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(a) A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, “he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale;” also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.
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Whether any poet of our country since Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of powers with less strain and less ostentation. Landor.
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Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers a strain. Sir W. Temple.
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(b) (Mech. Physics) A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress. Rankine.
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2. (Mus.) A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.
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Their heavenly harps a lower strain began. Dryden.
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3. Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, “he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career”. “A strain of gallantry.” Sir W. Scott.
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Such take too high a strain at first. Bacon.
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The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs. Tillotson.
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It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet contains
Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains. Bunyan.
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4. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain.
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Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements. Hayward.
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