strait
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɹeɪt/
rhymes: -eɪt
homophone: straight
Forms: form: straiter
form: straitest
form: streit
form: streight
Etymology: From Middle English streit, from Old French estreit (modern form étroit), from Latin strictus, perfect passive participle of stringō (“compress, tighten”). Doublet of stretto and strict.
Senses: examples: text: Sweet oil was poured out on thy head
And ran down like cool rain between
The strait close locks it melted in.
ref: 1866, Algernon Swinburne, “Aholibah”, in Poems and Ballads, London: John Camden Hotten, page 311:
text: Where shall we keep the holiday, / And duly greet the entering May? / Too strait and low our cottage doors, / And all unmeet our carpet floors; […]
ref: 1867, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “May-Day”, in May-Day and Other Pieces, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, pages 14–15:
text: 1894, Ernest Dowson, “To One in Bedlam” in The Second Book of The Rhymers’ Club, London: Elkin Mathews & John Lane, p. 35,
Those scentless wisps of straw, that miserably line
His strait, caged universe, whereat the dull world stares,
Pedant and pitiful.
glosses: Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close.
examples: text: to follow the strait and narrow
text: [he] takes on him to reform / Some certain edicts and some strait decrees / That lie too heavy on the commonwealth,
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
text: […] after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 26:5:
glosses: Righteous, strict.
examples: text: Palamon. […] Stay a little, / Is not this peece too streight? / Arcite. No, no, tis well.
ref: 1613–1614, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, “The Two Noble Kinsmen”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act III, scene vii:
glosses: Tight; close; tight-fitting.
examples: text: After the noble Prince Leonatus had by his fathers death succeeded in the kingdome of Galatia, he (forgetting all former iniuries) had receiued that naughtie Plexirtus into a streight degree of fauour […]
ref: a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC:
english: The New Arcadia
translation: The New Arcadia
glosses: Close; intimate; near; familiar.
examples: 18th c., Thomas Secker, Sermons on Several Subjects, 2nd edition, 1771, Volume III, Sermon XI, p. 253,
But to make your strait Circumstances yet straiter, for the Sake of idle Gratifications, and distress yourselves in Necessaries, only to indulge in Trifles and Vanities, delicate Food, shewish Dress, ensnaring Diversions, is every Way wrong.
glosses: Difficult; distressful.
examples: text: […] I do not ask you much, / I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait / And so ingrateful, you deny me that.
ref: c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vii]:
glosses: Parsimonious; stingy; mean.
examples: text: A strait Line over a Vowel denotes the Omission of the Letter m or n following:
quā--quam‖nō--non‖[…]
[…]
The strait Line over m in the Middle of a Word denotes the Omission of the Letter n following:
om̄es--omnes‖om̄ia--omnia
ref: 1810, Record Commission, The Statutes of the Realm. Printed by Command of His Majesty King George the Third in pursuance of an Address of the House of Commons of Great Britain. From Original Records and Manuscripts., volume 1, page lxiii:
glosses: Obsolete spelling of straight.
Derived terms: strait-handed
straitjacket
strait-laced
straitwaistcoat