strain
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: biology
communications
entertainment
journalism
lifestyle
literature
media
music
natural-sciences
poetry
publishing
writing
Etymology: From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).
Inflected forms:
form: strains
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: strains
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: straining
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: strained
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: strained
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Race; lineage, pedigree.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
examples: He is of a noble strain.
[…] with animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigour and fertility to the offspring; […]
gloss: A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.
pos: noun
examples: They say this year's flu virus is a particularly virulent strain.
European scientists have discovered a new strain of the virus that causes AIDS and linked it to gorillas, creating a mystery about when and how the first patient found to have the strain became infected.
gloss: Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
examples: There is a strain of madness in her family.
Intemperance and Luſt breed infirmities and diſeaſes, which, being propagated, ſpoil the Strain of a Nation.
gloss: 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, etc.
pos: noun
examples: Yet Keats, though for so many years he has given nothing to the world, is understood to have devoted himself to the composition of an epic poem. Some passages of it have been communicated to the inner circle of his admirers, and impressed them as the loftiest strains that have been audible on earth since Milton’s days.
A baby gurgled, a photographer dropped her lens cap, and the strains of the U.S. Army Brass Quintet echoed off the murals depicting seminal moments in American history.
gloss: Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.
pos: noun
gloss: A kind or sort (of person etc.).
pos: noun
tags: rare
examples: the common strain
gloss: Treasure.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
gloss: The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
gloss: To hold tightly, to clasp.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: So hauing said, her twixt her armes twaine / She straightly straynd, and colled tenderly […]
Evander with a close embrace / Strained his departing friend.
"Farewell!"—the mother strained her child to her heart again, and again put her from her, to embrace her more closely.
gloss: To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship
Relations between the United States and Guatemala traditionally have been close, although at times strained by human rights and civil/military issues.
gloss: To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The gale strained the timbers of the ship.
gloss: To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
examples: Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.
To build his fortune I will strain a little.
He sweats, / Strains his young nerves.
They strain their warbling throats / To welcome in the spring.
Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into it.
gloss: To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to strain the law in order to convict an accused person
There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it.
gloss: To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Strain the noodles and rinse with fresh water until it runs clear. The noodles should be soft, but not mushy.
Except for the indigo, the dyebaths are steeped over heat to release their pigment and then strained to remove the dyestuff.
gloss: To percolate; to be filtered.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: water straining through a sandy soil
gloss: To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Prince. How does my Father? / Princeſs. Still talks and plays with Fatyma, but his mirth / Is forc'd and ſtrain'd: In his look appears / A wild diſtracted fierceneſs; […]
The quality of mercy is not strained.
gloss: To urge with importunity; to press.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to strain a petition or invitation
Note, if your lady strain his entertainment.
gloss: To hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Related words: strew
Derived words: Andromeda strain
Delta strain
eigenstrain
interstrain
intrastrain
isostrain
macrostrain
microstrain
omicron strain
Omicron strain
serostrain
strainful
strainless
strainmeter
strainometer
strainproof
strainsome
straintronics
substrain
superstrain
overstrain
restrain
unstrain
astrain
gnat-strain
outstrain
strainable
strain a point
strain at a gnat
strain at the leash
strain courtesy
strainer
strain every nerve
strain the potatoes
upstrain
withstrain
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: разтягам
roman: raztjagam
lang: Danish
word: overstrække
lang: Dutch
word: overstrekken
lang: Finnish
word: venäyttää
lang: French
word: étirer
lang: German
word: überdehnen
lang: German
word: überbeanspruchen
lang: German
word: überstrecken
lang: German
word: überstrapazieren
lang: German
word: überspannen
lang: German
word: überlasten
lang: German
word: überanstrengen
lang: German
word: verrenken
lang: German
word: zerren
lang: German
word: recken
lang: German
word: reißen
lang: Hungarian
word: túlfeszít
lang: Hungarian
word: túlterhel
lang: Hungarian
word: terhet jelent
lang: Hungarian
word: túlzottan megterhel
lang: Hungarian
word: megerőltet
lang: Hungarian
word: túlerőltet
lang: Ingrian
word: venahtaa
lang: Irish
word: sníomh
lang: Italian
word: slogare
lang: Italian
word: stravolgere
lang: Italian
word: distorcere
lang: Italian
word: protrudere
lang: Māori
word: tanuku
lang: Māori
word: whakatoutou
lang: Māori
word: whakawhēnanau
lang: Portuguese
word: distender
lang: Russian
word: растя́гивать
roman: rastjágivatʹ
lang: Russian
word: растяну́ть
roman: rastjanútʹ
lang: Slovak
word: natiahnuť