Result from Foreign Dictionaries (5 entries found)

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Strain \Strain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Strained}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Straining}.] [OF. estraindre, estreindre, F. ['e]treindre, 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. [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] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Strain \Strain\, 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.] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Strain \Strain\, 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] From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]: Strain \Strain\ (str[=a]n), 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] From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: strain n 1: (physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces 2: difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension; "she endured the stresses and strains of life"; "he presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger"- R.J.Samuelson [syn: {stress}, {strain}] 3: a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; "she was humming an air from Beethoven" [syn: {tune}, {melody}, {air}, {strain}, {melodic line}, {line}, {melodic phrase}] 4: (psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress; "his responsibilities were a constant strain"; "the mental strain of staying alert hour after hour was too much for him" [syn: {strain}, {mental strain}, {nervous strain}] 5: a special variety of domesticated animals within a species; "he experimented on a particular breed of white rats"; "he created a new strain of sheep" [syn: {breed}, {strain}, {stock}] 6: (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups; "a new strain of microorganisms" [syn: {form}, {variant}, {strain}, {var.}] 7: injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain 8: the general meaning or substance of an utterance; "although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument" [syn: {tenor}, {strain}] 9: an effortful attempt to attain a goal [syn: {striving}, {nisus}, {pains}, {strain}] 10: an intense or violent exertion [syn: {strain}, {straining}] 11: the act of singing; "with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates" [syn: {song}, {strain}] v 1: to exert much effort or energy; "straining our ears to hear" [syn: {strive}, {reach}, {strain}] 2: test the limits of; "You are trying my patience!" [syn: {try}, {strain}, {stress}] 3: use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity; "He really extended himself when he climbed Kilimanjaro"; "Don't strain your mind too much" [syn: {strain}, {extend}] 4: separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour" [syn: {sift}, {sieve}, {strain}] 5: cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious; "he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up" [syn: {tense}, {strain}, {tense up}] [ant: {loosen up}, {make relaxed}, {relax}, {unlax}, {unstrain}, {unwind}] 6: become stretched or tense or taut; "the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed;" "the rope strained when the weight was attached" [syn: {strain}, {tense}] 7: remove by passing through a filter; "filter out the impurities" [syn: {filter}, {filtrate}, {strain}, {separate out}, {filter out}] 8: rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender; "puree the vegetables for the baby" [syn: {puree}, {strain}] 9: alter the shape of (something) by stress; "His body was deformed by leprosy" [syn: {deform}, {distort}, {strain}]