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strait - 10 dictionary results

strait

  [streyt] ,
Use strait in a Sentence
–noun
1. Often, straits. (used with a singular verb) a narrow passage of water connecting two large bodies of water.
2. Often, straits. a position of difficulty, distress, or need: Ill and penniless, he was in sad straits indeed.
3. Archaic. a narrow passage or area.
4. an isthmus.
–adjective Archaic.
5. narrow: Strait is the gate.
6. affording little space; confined in area.
7. strict, as in requirements or principles.
Origin:
1150–1200; ME streit < OF estreit < L strictus ptp. of stringere to bind; see strain 1

Related forms:
straitly, adverb
straitness, noun

Synonyms:
2. exigency, pinch, dilemma, predicament, plight. See emergency.

Antonyms:
2. ease.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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strait   (strāt)   
n.  
  1. Abbr. Str. or St. A narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water. Often used in the plural with a singular verb.
  2. A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need. Often used in the plural: in desperate straits.
adj.  
    1. Difficult; stressful.
    2. Having or marked by limited funds or resources.
    3. Narrow.
    4. Affording little space or room; confined.
    5. Fitting tightly; constricted.
  2. Archaic
    1. Narrow.
    2. Affording little space or room; confined.
    3. Fitting tightly; constricted.
  3. Archaic Strict, rigid, or righteous.

[Middle English streit, narrow, a strait, from Old French estreit, tight, narrow, from Latin strictus, past participle of stringere, to draw tight; see streig- in Indo-European roots.]
strait'ly adv., strait'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Strait

Strait\, a. A variant of Straight. [Obs.]

Strait

Strait\, a. [Compar. Straiter; superl. Straitest.] [OE. straight, streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F. ['e]troit, from L. strictus drawn together, close, tight, p. p. of stringere to draw tight. See 2nd Strait, and cf. Strict.]

1. Narrow; not broad.

Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. --Matt. vii. 14.

Too strait and low our cottage doors. --Emerson.

2. Tight; close; closely fitting. --Shak.

3. Close; intimate; near; familiar. [Obs.] "A strait degree of favor." --Sir P. Sidney.

4. Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.

Some certain edicts and some strait decrees. --Shak.

The straitest sect of our religion. --Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.).

5. Difficult; distressful; straited.

To make your strait circumstances yet straiter. --Secker.

6. Parsimonious; niggargly; mean. [Obs.]

I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait, And so ingrateful, you deny me that. --Shak.

Strait

Strait\, adv. Strictly; rigorously. [Obs.] --Shak.

Strait

Strait\, n.; pl. Straits. [OE. straight, streit, OF. estreit, estroit. See Strait, a.]

1. A narrow pass or passage.

He brought him through a darksome narrow strait To a broad gate all built of beaten gold. --Spenser.

Honor travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast. --Shak.

2. Specifically: (Geog.) A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.

We steered directly through a large outlet which they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad. --De Foe.

3. A neck of land; an isthmus. [R.]

A dark strait of barren land. --Tennyson.

4. Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits.

For I am in a strait betwixt two. --Phil. i. 23.

Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever. --South.

Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts. --Broome.

Strait

Strait\, v. t. To put to difficulties. [Obs.] --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : strait
Spanish: estrecho,
German: die Meerenge,
Japanese: 海峡
More Translations »

strait  (n.)
1352, "narrow, confined space or place," specifically of bodies of water from 1375, noun use of adj. strait "narrow, strict" (c.1290), from O.Fr. estreit (Fr. étroit) "tight, close, narrow" (also used as a noun), from L. strictus, pp. of stringere "bind or draw tight" (see strain (v.)). Sense of "difficulty, plight" (usually straits) first recorded 1544. Strait and narrow "conventional way of life" is recorded from c.1340 (see straight (adj.2)). Strait-laced is 1546, of stays or bodices; figurative sense of "over-precise, prudish" is from 1554. Strait-jacket is attested from 1814, earlier strait-waistcoat (1753).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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strait (strāt)
n.
A narrow passage, such as the upper or lower opening of the pelvic canal.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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strait   (strāt)  Pronunciation Key 
A narrow waterway joining two larger bodies of water. The Strait of Gibraltar, for example, connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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