string
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɹɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɪŋ
Forms: form: strings
Etymology: From Middle English string, streng, strynge, from Old English strenġ, from Proto-West Germanic *strangi, from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (“string”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“rope, cord, strand; to tighten”).
Cognate with Scots string (“string”), Dutch streng (“cord, strand”), Low German strenge (“strand, cord, rope”), German Strang (“strand, cord, rope”), Danish streng (“string”), Swedish sträng (“string, cord, wire”), Icelandic strengur (“string”), Latvian stringt (“to be tight, wither”), Latin stringō (“I tighten”), Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to strangle”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”), Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “tied together, entangled, twisted”).
Senses: examples: text: Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string.
ref: 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Seculare. for the Year 1700:
synonyms: cord
rope
line
thread
twine
glosses: A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.
examples: text: a violinstring
text: a bowstring
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
A segment of wire (typically made of plastic or metal) or other material used as vibrating element on a musical instrument.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
A length of nylon or other material on the head of a racquet.
examples: text: a string of shells or beads
text: a string of sausages
text: a string of islands
ref: 1776–1788, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged.
examples: text: The string of spittle dangling from his chin was most unattractive
glosses: A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.
examples: text: In 1933, disgusted and discouraged after a string of commercial failures, Clara quit the film business forever. She was twenty-six.
ref: 2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 27:
text: a string of successes
synonyms: sequence
series
glosses: A series of items or events.
glosses: The members of a sports team or squad regarded as most likely to achieve success. (Perhaps metaphorical as the "strings" that hold the squad together.) Often first string, second string etc.
glosses: In various games and competitions, a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.
glosses: A drove of horses, or a group of racehorses kept by one owner or at one stable.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
glosses: An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A stringed instrument.
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
synonyms: string section
glosses: The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.
examples: text: no strings attached
text: But he added: "The RDG offer contains more strings than a harp, including some which have never previously been discussed. It also omits significant points that had previously been negotiated."
ref: 2022 December 14, Mel Holley, “Network News: Strikes go on as RMT rejects RDG's "detrimental" offer”, in RAIL, number 972, page 8:
synonyms: conditions
provisions
glosses: The conditions and limitations in a contract collectively.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: A tiny one-dimensional string-like entity, the main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics.
glosses: Cannabis or marijuana.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Part of the game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The buttons strung on a wire by which the score is kept.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The points made in a game of billiards.
topics: ball-games
billiards
games
hobbies
lifestyle
pool
sports
glosses: The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.
examples: text: Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies have scarce saluted them from the strings, and the titlepage.
ref: 1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavses that hitherto have Hindred it. […], [London]: […] Thomas Vnderhill, →OCLC; republished in (Please provide a date or year):
glosses: A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
examples: text: Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
glosses: A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.
examples: text: The string of his tongue was loosed.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 7:35:
glosses: A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
topics: business
carpentry
construction
manufacturing
synonyms: stringer
stringboard
stringpiece
glosses: A board supporting steps
topics: business
manufacturing
shipbuilding
glosses: An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
examples: text: the strings of beans
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.
examples: text: a single miner is often found pursuing his solitary labours at a string or thin vein of ore
ref: 1833, Thomas Sopwith, An Account of the Mining Districts of Alston Moor, Weardale […] :
topics: business
mining
glosses: A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
topics: architecture
business
construction
manufacturing
masonry
glosses: A stringcourse.
glosses: A hoax; a fake story.
examples: text: They were turning tricks, doing drugs, and generally little better off than they had been before, except that they were keeping more of their money. But they seemed lonely, too, without the company of their pimp and the rest of his string.
ref: 2006, Steve Niles, Jeff Mariotte, 30 Days of Night: Rumors of the Undead, page 307:
glosses: Synonym of stable (“group of prostitutes managed by one pimp”).
synonyms: word: stable
extra: group of prostitutes managed by one pimp
qualifier: oil industry
glosses: A column of drill pipe that transmits drilling fluid (using the mud pumps) and torque (using the kelly drive or top drive) to the drill bit.
Synonyms: word: string
Hyponyms: word: cosmic string
word: heartstring
word: heartstrings
word: magic string
word: score string
word: second string
word: rope
word: wire rope
word: lasso
word: lariat
word: cable
word: cord
word: strand
word: twine
word: thread
word: yarn
word: fibre
word: fibril
word: filament
word: braid
word: bowstring
word: wire
word: line
word: lace
word: shoelace
word: tie
word: necktie
word: bowtie
word: noodle
word: tendril
word: band
word: fillet
word: headband
word: riband
word: ribbon
word: strip
word: tape
word: hair
word: whisker
word: tail
word: tentacle
Derived terms: aerosol string
another string to one's bow
apron string
apron-string
apron-string hold
banjo string
bit string
casing string
completion string
connection string
C-string
C-style string
Dirac string
double-string
drill string
empty string
eye-string
first string
first-string
format string
four-string
four-string banjo
four-string guitar
gob-string
G string
G-string
hame string
harp on one string
harp on the same string
have the world on a string
have two strings to one's bow
heart strings
here-string
hold the purse strings
how long is a piece of string
idiot string
kissing string
leading-string
leading strings
loosen the apron strings
loosen the purse strings
marriage string
mountain string
navel string
navel-string
no string attached
no-strings-attached
no strings attached
nylon-string
nylon-string guitar
on a string
Pascal string
pull a few strings
pull strings
pull the string
purse string
push string uphill
query string
red string of fate
rough string
second-string
shirring string
shoestring
silly string
single-string
six-string
spaghetti string
steel-string guitar
steel string guitar
string attached
string band
string bass
string bassist
string bean
string bet
string bikini
string bog
string cheese
string citation
string course
string distance
string ensemble
string hoppers
string instrument
string instrumentalist
stringkini
string-net
string of beads
string of pearls
string-of-sausage lichen
string orchestra
string organ
string pea
string plate
string player
string quartet
string quintet
strings attached
string saver
string sedge
string show
string stop
string substitution
string tanga
string theoretic
string together
string to one's bow
string trimmer
string trio
string vest
string with
stringy
sympathetic string
third string
third-string
three-string
tighten the purse strings
triple-string
two-string
worm on a string