straight-way (gh silent), * streight ay, adv. [Eng. straight (1), a., and way.] Forthwith, at once; without loss of time; on the spot.

"Streightway on that last long volage fare." Spenser: P. Q., I. x. 63.

sträik (1), s. [STROKE.] A stroke. (Scotch.) strāik (2), 8. [STRAKE] strain, * straine, * strayne, * strein, * streyn, streyne, v.t. & i. [0. Fr. estraindre, from Lat. stringo to draw tight; Fr. étreindre. From the same root come constran, restrain, restriction, strict, straight, stringent, &c.]

A. Transitive:

1. To stretch; to draw out with force; to extend with great effort: as, To strain a rope. *2. To make tighter; to bind closer.

"Thou, the more he varies forms, beware
To strain his fetters with a stricter care.”
Dryden Virgil; Georgic iv. 596.

3. To exert to the utmost.

"He strained his feeble voice to thank Auverquerque for the affectionate and loyal services of thirty years."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xXV.

4. To injure or weaken by stretching or over exertion; to subject to too great exertion or effort; to injure by a twist or wrench; to sprain: as, To strain the neck or arm.

Used also figuratively, in an analogous

sense.

"The latter is naturally in a condition which justi fles the statement that his relations with the Admiral are strained.”—St. James's Gazette, Dec, 22, 1886.

5. To push beyond the proper extent; to stretch or carry too far.

"With that catalogue of decisions before him, he pretends that the law was hardly ever strained or carried out with triumphant recklessness.'"-Brit. Quart. Review, lvii. 510. (1873).

6. To urge, to ply, to press.

"Note if your lady strain his entertainment With any strong or vehement importunity." Shakesp. Othello, iii. 8.

7. To force, to constrain.

"The quality of mercy is not strained," Shakesp.: Merchant of Venice, iv. 1.

8. To press, to squeeze.

"Yf thou desyrest or wylt vsen grapes, ne seke thou nat a gloutons hende to straine and presse the stalkes of the vyne in the firste sominer ceason."-Chaucer : Boethius, bk. i.

9. To press or squeeze in an embrace.

"Our king has all the Indies in his arms, And more and richer, when he strains that lady." Shakesp. Henry VIII., iv. 4

10. To confine.

"Streynyde the feet of hem in a tree."- Wycliffe: Dedis xvi. 24.

11. To press or cause to pass through some porous substance, originally by squeezing; to filter; to purify and separate from extraneous matter by filtering: as, To strain milk.

12. To remove by straining or filtering. (Followed by out.) [GNAT, s., ¶.]

B. Intransitive:

1. To exert one's self; to make violent efforts; to struggle.

"The frantic crowd amain Strained at subjection's bursting rein." Scott: Marmion, i. (Introd.) Used specif. of evacuating the bowels. (See extract under STRAIN, S., I. 1.)

2. To be filtered; to percolate: as, Water straining through sand becomes pure.

* 3. To distrain.

1. To strain a point:

(1) To make a special, and generally inconvenient effort to oblige another.

(2) To exceed one's duty; to overstep one's commission.

*2. To strain courtesy:

(1) To use ceremony; to insist that another

or others shall take precedence.

"Finding their enemy to be so curst,

They all strain courtesy who shall cope him first."
Shakesp.: Venus & Adonis, 888.

(2) To remain behind. "My business was great; and in such a case as mine man may strain courtesy."-Shakesp.: Romeo & Juliet, ii. 4.

To strain is properly a species of forcing; we may force in a variety of ways, that is, by the exercise of force upon different bodies, and in different directions; but to strain is to exercise force by stretching or prolonging bodies; thus to strain a cord is to pull it to its full extent; but we may speak of forcing any hard substance in, or forcing it out, or forcing it through, or forcing it from a body: a door or a lock may be forced by violently

straightway-strait

breaking them; but a door or a lock may be strained by putting the hinges or the spring out of place. So, likewise, a person may be said to force himself to speak, when by a violent exertion he gives utterance to his words; but he strains his throat or his voice when he exercises force on the throat or lungs so as to extend them.

strāin (1), * straine, *strayne, * strein, 8. (STRAIN, v.]

I. Ordinary Language:

1. A violent effort; an excessive exertion or straining of the limbs, muscles, or mind. "Troublesome offers and streins to the seege without doing anything."-P. Holland: Pliny, bk. xxii., ch. xxi.

2. An injury caused by excessive or injurious exertion, drawing, or stretching; an injurious straining of the muscles or tendons. *3. Internal action; motion of the mind; impulse, feeling.

"Swell my thoughts to any strain of pride.' Shakesp. 2 Henry IV., iv. 5. 4. Manner of speech or action; line, course, bearing.

"Such take too high a strain at the first, and are magnanimous more than tract of years can uphold: as was Scipio Africanus, of whom Livy saith, 'Ultima primis cedebant.”—Bacon.

5. A song, a poem, a lay.

"Few will hear, and fewer heed the strain."

Cowper: Expostulation, 725.

6. The subject or theme of a poem, discourse, conversation, &c.; manner of speaking or writing, style.

"In this strain the venerable sage
Poured forth his aspirations."
Wordsworth: Excursion, bk. iv.

II. Technically:

1. Mech. The force which acts on any material, and which tends to disarrange its component parts or destroy their cohesion; also, any definite alteration in the form or dimensions of a given portion of matter. In solid bodies strain is always accompanied with internal stress, and this property of exerting stress when strained is called elasticity. 2. Music:

(1) Generally, a tune; a melody or part of a melody.

(2) More strictly, a musical subject forming part of, and having relations to, a general whole.

strain (2), *straine, *streen, *stren, [A.S. strýnd, from *strene, *streon, s. steonan, strýnan = to beget.]

1. Race, stock, generation, descent, lineage; quality or line as regards breeding. "If thou wert the noblest of thy strain." Shakesp. Julius Cæsar, v. 1. * 2. Hereditary or national disposition; turn, tendency.

"You have shown to-day your valiant strain." Shakesp.: Lear, v. 8.

*3. Rank, character, kind, sort.

"But thou who, lately of the common strain,
Wert one of us."
Dryden. (Todd.)

* strain-a-ble, *strêin'-a-ble, * streyna-ble, a. [Eng. strain, v.; -able.]

*

1. Capable of being strained or pushed beyond the proper extent.

"A thing captious and strainable.”—Bacon: Of Church Controversies.

2. Violent strong.

"A Port.ngale ship was driven and drowned by force of a streinable tempest neere unto the shore of the Scotish Isles."-Holinshed: Hist. Scotland; Josina.

strain' -a- blý, *strein-a-blie, adv. [Eng. strainab(le); -ly.] Violently, fiercely.

"The wind . drove the flame so streinablie amongest the tents and cabins of the Saxous."Holinshed: Hist. Scotland; Dougall.

strain-ĕr, s. [Eng. strain; -er.]

1. One who strains.

2. That through which any liquid passes for filtration and purification; an apparatus for filtering.

"The same pitch-rosin, if it be boiled more lightly with water, & be let to run through a strainer, commeth to a reddish colour, and is glewie."-P. Holland: Pliny, bk. xvi., ch. xi.

străin'-ing, strayn-ing, pr. par., a., & s. [STRAIN, v.]

A. & B. As pr. par. & particip. adj.: (See the verb).

C. As substantive:

1. Ord. Lang. The act of one who strains; a stretching, forcing, or filtering, as through a strainer.

Carp.: A piece of timber on the tie-beam, between the feet of the queen-posts, to hold them against the thrust of the struts.

*straint, s. [STRAIN (1), 3.] A strain, an effort, a pressure.

"That with the straint his wesand nigh he brast." Spenser: F. Q., V. IL. 14 * strāit (1), a. [STRAIGHT, a.]

strāit (2), * straight (gh silent), *strayt, * strayte, *streight, *streit, streite, *streyt, a., adv., & s. [O. Fr. estreit, estroid (Fr. étroit), from Lat. strictus = strait, strict (q.v.); Sp. estrecho; Ital. stretto. Strait and strict are doublets.]

A. As adjective:

1. Narrow, close, not wide.

"Enter ye in at the strait gate."-Matthew vii. 18. 2. Confined, small.

"The place where we dwell is too strait for us."2 Kings vi. 1.

*3. Tight, close, not loose.

"In your strait strossers."—Shakesp.: Henry V., ill.% *4. Close, niggardly, stingy, mean, avaricious. "You are so strait and so ingrateful." Shakesp.: King John, v. 7. *5. Strict, rigorous. "Such a strait edict." Shakesp.: 2 Henry VI., ill. & 6. Close, familiar, near, intimate. "He forgetting all former injuries, had received that naughty Plexirtus into a straight degree of favour."-Sidney.

7. Difficult, distressful.

"But to make your strait circumstances yet straiter."-Secker: Sermons, vol. ii., ser. 11.

"Through Helle's stormy straits, and oyster-breeding Dryden: Virgil; Georgic i. 297. 4. Distress, difficulty.

"The strikes continue, and the people are in great straits."-Weekly Echo, Sept. 5, 1885.

* strait-braced, a. Braced or laced tightly.

"The dreadful bellowing of whose strait-braced drums, To the French sounded like the dreadful doom." Drayton: Battle of Agincourt.

* strait-handed, a. Close-fisted, parsi monious, niggardly.

"If you are strait-handed."-Gentleman Instructed.

p. 528.

* strait-handedness, s. Niggardiness parsimony, closeness.

"The Romish doctrine makes their strait-handed ness so much more injurious."-Bp. Hall: Cases of Conscience, dec. iv., case 3.