strain definition | Dictionary.com

strain

1 [streyn]

–verb (used with object)

1.	to draw tight or taut, esp. to the utmost tension; stretch to the full: to strain a rope.

2.	to exert to the utmost: to strain one's ears to catch a sound.

3.	to impair, injure, or weaken (a muscle, tendon, etc.) by stretching or overexertion.

4.	to cause mechanical deformation in (a body or structure) as the result of stress.

5.	to stretch beyond the proper point or limit: to strain the meaning of a word.

6.	to make excessive demands upon: to strain one's luck; to strain one's resources.

7.	to pour (liquid containing solid matter) through a filter, sieve, or the like in order to hold back the denser solid constituents: to strain gravy.

8.	to draw off (clear or pure liquid) by means of a filter or sieve: to strain the water from spinach; to strain broth.

9.	to hold back (solid particles) from liquid matter by means of a filter or sieve: to strain seeds from orange juice; to strain rice.

10.	to clasp tightly in the arms, the hand, etc.: The mother strained her child close to her breast.

11.	Obsolete. to constrain, as to a course of action.

–verb (used without object)

12.	to pull forcibly: a dog straining at a leash.

13.	to stretch one's muscles, nerves, etc., to the utmost.

14.	to make violent physical efforts; strive hard.

15.	to resist forcefully; balk: to strain at accepting an unpleasant fact.

16.	to be subjected to tension or stress; suffer strain.

17.	to filter, percolate, or ooze.

18.	to trickle or flow: Sap strained from the bark.

–noun

19.	any force or pressure tending to alter shape, cause a fracture, etc.

20.	strong muscular or physical effort.

21.	great or excessive effort or striving after some goal, object, or effect.

22.	an injury to a muscle, tendon, etc., due to excessive tension or use; sprain.

23.	Mechanics, Physics. deformation of a body or structure as a result of an applied force.

24.	condition of being strained or stretched.

25.	a task, goal, or effect accomplished only with great effort: Housecleaning is a real strain.

26.	severe, trying, or fatiguing pressure or exertion; taxing onus: the strain of hard work.

27.	a severe demand on or test of resources, feelings, a person, etc.: a strain on one's hospitality.

28.	a flow or burst of language, eloquence, etc.: the lofty strain of Cicero.

29.	Often, strains. a passage of melody, music, or songs as rendered or heard: the strains of the nightingale.

30.	Music. a section of a piece of music, more or less complete in itself.

31.	a passage or piece of poetry.

32.	the tone, style, or spirit of an utterance, writing, etc.: a humorous strain.

33.	a particular degree, height, or pitch attained: a strain of courageous enthusiasm.

Origin:
1250–1300; ME streinen (v.) < OF estrein-, s. of estreindre to press tightly, grip < L stringere to bind, tie, draw tight. See stringent

Related forms:

strain⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

strainless, adjective

strain⋅less⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. tighten. 3. Strain, sprain imply a wrenching, twisting, and stretching of muscles and tendons. To strain is to stretch tightly, make taut, wrench, tear, cause injury to, by long-continued or sudden and too violent effort or movement: to strain one's heart by overexertion, one's eyes by reading small print. To sprain is to strain excessively (but without dislocation) by a sudden twist or wrench, the tendons and muscles connected with a joint, esp. those of the ankle or wrist: to sprain an ankle. 7. filter, sieve. 10. hug, embrace, press. 17. seep. 20. exertion. 22. wrench.

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strain

2 [streyn]

–noun

1.	the body of descendants of a common ancestor, as a family or stock.

2.	any of the different lines of ancestry united in a family or an individual.

3.	a group of plants distinguished from other plants of the variety to which it belongs by some intrinsic quality, such as a tendency to yield heavily; race.

4.	an artificial variety of a species of domestic animal or cultivated plant.

5.	a variety, esp. of microorganisms.

6.	ancestry or descent.

7.	hereditary or natural character, tendency, or trait: a strain of insanity in a family.

8.	a streak or trace.

9.	a kind or sort.

10.	Obsolete. procreation.

Origin:
bef. 950; ME strene, OE strēon lineage, race, stock, tribe; akin to strīenan to beget

Synonyms:
7. streak, vein, predisposition.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To strain

strain¹ (strān)

v. strained, strain·ing, strains

v. tr.

To pull, draw, or stretch tight: strained the sheets over the bed.
To exert or tax to the utmost: straining our ears to hear.
To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench: strain a muscle.
To stretch or force beyond the proper or legitimate limit: strain a point.
Physics To alter (the relations between the parts of a structure or shape) by applying an external force; deform.
1. To pass (gravy, for example) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.
2. To draw off or remove by filtration: strained the pulp from the juice.
To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.

v. intr.

To make violent or steady efforts; strive hard: straining to reach the finish line.
To be or become wrenched or twisted.
To be subjected to great stress.
To pull forcibly or violently: The dog strained at its leash.
To stretch or exert one's muscles or nerves to the utmost.
To filter, trickle, or ooze.
To be extremely hesitant; balk: a mule that strained at the lead.

1. The act of straining.
2. The state of being strained.
3. Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work.
4. A great or excessive pressure, demand, or stress on one's body, mind, or resources: the strain of managing both a family and a career.
1. Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work.
2. A great or excessive pressure, demand, or stress on one's body, mind, or resources: the strain of managing both a family and a career.
A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.
Physics A deformation produced by stress.
An exceptional degree or pitch: a strain of zealous idealism.

[Middle English streinen, from Old French estreindre, estrein-, to bind tightly, from Latin stringere; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]

strain² (strān)

The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.
Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.
Biology A group of organisms of the same species, having distinctive characteristics but not usually considered a separate breed or variety: a superior strain of wheat; a smooth strain of bacteria.
An artificial variety of a domestic animal or cultivated plant.
A kind or sort: imaginings of a morbid strain.
1. An inborn or inherited tendency or character.
2. An inherent quality; a streak. See Synonyms at streak.
3. The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior: spoke in a passionate strain.
4. A prevailing quality, as of attitude or behavior.
5. A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
6. An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.
1. The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior: spoke in a passionate strain.
2. A prevailing quality, as of attitude or behavior.
3. A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
4. An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.
Music A passage of expression; a tune or an air. Often use in the plural: melodic strains of the violin.
1. A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
2. An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.

[Middle English strene, from Old English strēon, something gained, progeny; see ster-² in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Strain

Strain\, n. (Hort.) A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.

Strain

Strain\, n. [See Strene.]

1. Race; stock; generation; descent; family.

He is of a noble strain. --Shak.

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.

2. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.

Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation. --Tillotson.

3. Rank; a sort. "The common strain." --Dryden.

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.

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.

3. To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.

He sweats, Strains his young nerves. --Shak.

They strain their warbling throats To welcome in the spring. --Dryden.

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.

There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it. --Swift.

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

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.

Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks with looking back. --Swift.

7. To squeeze; to press closely.

Evander with a close embrace Strained his departing friend. --Dryden.

8. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.

He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth Is forced and strained. --Denham.

The quality of mercy is not strained. --Shak.

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

Note, if your lady strain his entertainment. --Shak.

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.

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.

Strain

Strain\ (str[=a]n), v. i. 1. To make violent efforts. "Straining with too weak a wing." --Pope.

To build his fortune I will strain a little. --Shak.

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

Strain

Strain\, n. 1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained. Specifically: (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.

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

Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers a strain. --Sir W. Temple. (b) (Mech. Physics) A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress. --Rankine.

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.

Their heavenly harps a lower strain began. --Dryden.

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.

Such take too high a strain at first. --Bacon.

The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs. --Tillotson.

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

4. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain.

Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements. --Hayward.

Language Translation for : strain

Spanish: estirar, tensar,

German: anstrengen,

Japanese: 張り詰める

More Translations »

strain (v.)

"to stretch, draw tight," c.1300, from prp. stem of O.Fr. estreindre "bind tightly, clasp, squeeze," from L. stringere (2) "bind or draw tight," from PIE base *strenk- "tight, narrow; pull tight, twist" (cf. Lith. stregti "congeal;" Gk. strangein "twist;" O.H.G. strician "mends nets;" O.E. streccian "to stretch," streng "string;" Ger. stramm, Du. stram "stiff"). Sense of "press through a filter" is from 1326 (implied in strainer); that of "lay undue stress on, make a forced interpretation of" is from 1449. Noun sense of "injury caused by straining" is from 1558. The meaning "passage of music" (1575) probably developed from a verb meaning "to tighten" the voice, originally the strings of a musical instrument (1387).

strain (n.)

"line of descent," O.E. strion, streon "gain, begetting," from P.Gmc. *streun- "to pile up," from PIE base *stere- "to spread, extend, stretch out" (see structure). Applied to animal species first in 1607.

Main Entry: ¹strain
Pronunciation: 'strAn
Function: noun
: a group of presumed common ancestry with clear-cut physiological but usually notmorphological distinctions strain of bacteria>

Main Entry: ²strain
Function: transitive verb
1 a : to exert (as oneself) to the utmost b : to injure by overuse, misuse, or excessivepressure <strained his heart by overwork> c : to cause a change of form or size in (a body) by application of external force
2 : to cause topass through a strainer strain intransitive senses
: to contract the muscles forcefully in attempting to defecate —often used in the phrase strain at stool

Main Entry: ³strain
Function: noun
: an act of straining or the condition of being strained: as a : excessive physical or mental tension;also : a force, influence, or factor causing such tension b : bodily injury from excessive tension, effort, or use strain>; especially : one resulting from a wrench or twist and involving undue stretching of muscles or ligaments strain> —compare

SPRAIN

c : deformation of a material body under the action of applied forces

strain ¹ (strān)
v. strained, strain·ing, strains

To pull, draw, or stretch tight.
To stretch or exert one's muscles or nerves to the utmost.
To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench.
To filter, trickle, percolate, or ooze.
To pass a liquid through a filtering agent such as a strainer.
To draw off or remove by filtration.

The act of straining.
The state of being strained.
Extreme or laborious effort.
A great or excessive pressure, demand, or stress on one's body, mind, or resources.
A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.

strain ² (strān)
n.

The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.
Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.
A group of organisms of the same species, having distinctive characteristics but not usually considered a separate breed or variety.
An artificial variety of a domestic animal or cultivated plant.

strain (strān) Pronunciation Key

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A group of organisms of the same species, sharing certain hereditary characteristics not typical of the entire species but minor enough not to warrant classification as a separate breed or variety. Resistance to specific antibiotics is a feature of certain strains of bacteria.
The extent to which a body is distorted when it is subjected to a deforming force, as when under stress. The distortion can involve a change both in shape and in size. All measures of strain are dimensionless (they have no unit of measure). ◇ Axial strain is equal to the ratio between the change in length of an object and its original length. ◇ Volume strain is equal to the ratio between the change in volume of an object and its original volume. It is also called bulk strain. ◇ Shear strain is equal to the ratio between the amount by which an object is skewed and its length. Compare stress. See more at Hooke's law.

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