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a. [ Cf. OF. constraignable, F. contraignable. ] Capable of being constrained; liable to constraint, or to restraint. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Marked by constraint; not free; not voluntary; embarrassed; as, a constrained manner; a constrained tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. By constraint or compulsion; in a constrained manner. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who constrains. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. constrainte, F. constrainte. ] The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not by constraint, but by my choice, I came. Dryden.

Syn. -- Compulsion; violence; necessity; urgency. -- Constraint, Compulsion. Constraint implies strong binding force; as, the constraint of necessity; the constraint of fear. Compulsion implies the exertion of some urgent impelling force; as, driven by compulsion. The former prevents us from acting agreeably to our wishes; the latter forces us to act contrary to our will. Compulsion is always produced by some active agent; a constraint may be laid upon us by the forms of civil society, or by other outward circumstances. Crabb. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Constraining; compulsory. [ R. ] “Any constraintive vow.” R. Carew. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Distrained p. pr. & vb. n. Distraining. ] [ OE. destreinen to force, OF. destreindre to press, oppress, force, fr. L. distringere, districtum, to draw asunder, hinder, molest, LL., to punish severely; di- = stringere to draw tight, press together. See Strain, and cf. Distress, District, Distraint. ] 1. To press heavily upon; to bear down upon with violence; hence, to constrain or compel; to bind; to distress, torment, or afflict. [ Obs. ] “Distrained with chains.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To rend; to tear. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Neither guile nor force might it [ a net ] distrain. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) (a) To seize, as a pledge or indemnification; to take possession of as security for nonpayment of rent, the reparation of an injury done, etc.; to take by distress; as, to distrain goods for rent, or of an amercement. (b) To subject to distress; to coerce; as, to distrain a person by his goods and chattels. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To levy a distress. [ 1913 Webster ]

Upon whom I can distrain for debt. Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being, or liable to be, distrained. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Same as Distrainor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Law) One who distrains; the party distraining goods or chattels. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. destrainte distress, force. ] (Law) The act or proceeding of seizing personal property by distress. Abbott. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Half-bred; imperfect. [ R. ] “A half-strained villain.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To train amiss. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To stretch or strain too much; as, to overstrain one's nerves. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Overstrained p. pr. & vb. n. Overstraining. ] To strain one's self to excess. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who distrains again. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Restrained p. pr. & vb. n. Restraining. ] [ OE. restreinen, F. restreindre, fr. L. restringere, restrictum; pref. re- re- + stringere to draw, bind, or press together. See Strain, v. t., and cf. Restrict. ] 1. To draw back again; to hold back from acting, proceeding, or advancing, either by physical or moral force, or by any interposing obstacle; to repress or suppress; to keep down; to curb. [ 1913 Webster ]

Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature
Gives way to in repose! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To draw back toghtly, as a rein. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To hinder from unlimited enjoiment; to abridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

Though they two were committed, at least restrained of their liberty. Clarendon. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To limit; to confine; to restrict. Trench. [ 1913 Webster ]

Not only a metaphysical or natural, but a moral, universality also is to be restrained by a part of the predicate. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To withhold; to forbear. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou restrained prayer before God. Job. xv. 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To check; hinder; stop; withhold; repress; curb; suppress; coerce; restrict; limit; confine. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being restrained; controllable. Sir T. Browne. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. With restraint. Hammond. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who, or that which, restrains. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of restraining. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. restraincte, fr. restrainct, F. restreint, p. p. of restraindre, restrendre. See Restrain. ] 1. The act or process of restraining, or of holding back or hindering from motion or action, in any manner; hindrance of the will, or of any action, physical or mental. [ 1913 Webster ]

No man was altogether above the restrains of law, and no man altogether below its protection. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state of being restrained. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which restrains, as a law, a prohibition, or the like; limitation; restriction. [ 1913 Webster ]

For one restraint, lords of the world besides. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Repression; hindrance; check; stop; curb;&unr_;oercion; confinement; limitation; restriction. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Restrained by one's self or itself; restrained by one's own power or will. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Restraint over one's self; self-control; self-command. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained. Specifically: -- [ 1913 Webster ]

(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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whether any poet of our country since Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of powers with less strain and less ostentation. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers a strain. Sir W. Temple. [ 1913 Webster ]

(b) (Mech. Physics) A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress. Rankine. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their heavenly harps a lower strain began. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Such take too high a strain at first. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

It [ Pilgrim's Progress ] seems a novelty, and yet contains
Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements. Hayward. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ See Strene. ] 1. Race; stock; generation; descent; family. [ 1913 Webster ]

He is of a noble strain. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition. [ 1913 Webster ]

Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Rank; a sort. “The common strain.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Hort.) A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

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. &unr_; a halter, &unr_; 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously. [ 1913 Webster ]

He sweats,
Strains his young nerves. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

They strain their warbling throats
To welcome in the spring. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Prudes decayed about may track,
Strain their necks with looking back. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To squeeze; to press closely. [ 1913 Webster ]

Evander with a close embrace
Strained his departing friend. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain. [ 1913 Webster ]

He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth
Is forced and strained. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

The quality of mercy is not strained. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Note, if your lady strain his entertainment. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To make violent efforts. “Straining with too weak a wing.” Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

To build his fortune I will strain a little. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Capable of being strained. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Violent in action. Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Violently. Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Subjected to great or excessive tension; wrenched; weakened; as, strained relations between old friends. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Done or produced with straining or excessive effort; as, his wit was strained. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who strains. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That through which any liquid is passed for purification or to separate it from solid matter; anything, as a screen or a cloth, used to strain a liquid; a device of the character of a sieve or of a filter; specifically, an openwork or perforated screen, as for the end of the suction pipe of a pump, to prevent large solid bodies from entering with a liquid. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & n. from Strain. [ 1913 Webster ]

Straining piece (Arch.), a short piece of timber in a truss, used to maintain the ends of struts or rafters, and keep them from slipping. See Illust. of Queen-post. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OF. estrainte, estreinte, F. étrainte. See 2nd Strain. ] Overexertion; excessive tension; strain. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To overstrain. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Freedom from constraint; ease. Felton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Freedom from restraint; freedom; liberty; license. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + strain. ] To relieve from a strain; to relax. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]