string definition | Dictionary.com

string

[string]

noun, verb, strung; strung or (Rare

) stringed; string⋅ing.

–noun

1.	a slender cord or thick thread used for binding or tying; line.

2.	something resembling a cord or thread.

Also called cosmic string. Physics. a mathematical entity used to represent elementary particles, as gravitons, quarks, or leptons, in terms of a small but finite stringlike object existing in the four dimensions of spacetime and in additional, hypothetical, spacelike dimensions. The theory of such objects (string theory) avoids the many mathematical difficulties that arise from treating particles as points.

4.	a narrow strip of flexible material, as cloth or leather, for tying parts together: the strings of a bonnet.

5.	a necklace consisting of a number of beads, pearls, or the like threaded or strung on a cord; strand: She wore a double string of pearls.

6.	any series of things arranged or connected in a line or following closely one after another: a string of islands; a string of questions.

7.	a series of railroad cars coupled together but not constituting an entire train.

8.	Journalism. a compilation of clippings of a stringer's published writings, submitted in request of payment according to an agreed space rate.

9.	a group of animals, esp. saddle horses, owned or used by one person: a string of polo ponies.

10.	(in a musical instrument) a tightly stretched cord or wire that produces a tone when caused to vibrate, as by plucking, striking, or friction of a bow.

11.

strings,

a.	stringed instruments, esp. those played with a bow.

b.	players on such instruments in an orchestra or band.

12.	a bowstring.

13.	a cord or fiber in a plant.

14.	the tough piece uniting the two parts of a pod: the strings of beans.

15.

Architecture.

a.	a stringcourse.

b.	Also called stringer. one of the sloping sides of a stair, supporting the treads and risers.

16.	Computers, Linguistics. a linear sequence of symbols, words, characters, or bits that is treated as a unit.

17.

Billiards, Pool.

a.	a stroke made by each player from the head of the table to the opposite cushion and back, to determine, by means of the resultant positions of the cue balls, who shall open the game.

b.	Also called string line. a line from behind which the cue ball is placed after being out of play.

18.	a complement of contestants or players grouped as a squad in accordance with their skill: He made the second string on the football team.

19.	Usually, strings. conditions or limitations on a proposal: a generous offer with no strings attached.

20.	Obsolete. a ligament, nerve, or the like in an animal body.

–verb (used with object)

21.	to furnish with or as with a string or strings: to string a bonnet; to string a bow.

22.	to extend or stretch (a cord, thread, etc.) from one point to another.

23.	to thread on or as on a string: to string beads.

24.	to connect in or as in a line; arrange in a series or succession: She knows how to string words together.

25.

Music.

a.	to adjust the string of (a bow) or tighten the strings of (a musical instrument) to the required pitch.

b.	to equip (a bow or instrument) with new strings.

26.	to provide or adorn with something suspended or slung: a room strung with festoons.

27.	to deprive of a string or strings; strip the strings from: to string beans.

28.	to make tense, as the sinews, nerves, mind, etc.

29.	to kill by hanging (usually fol. by up).

30.	Slang. to fool or hoax.

–verb (used without object)

31.	to form into or move in a string or series: The ideas string together coherently.

32.	to form into a string or strings, as a glutinous substance does when pulled: Good taffy doesn't break—it strings.

—Verb phrases

33.

string along, Informal.

a.	to be in agreement; follow with confidence: He found he couldn't string along with all their modern notions.

b.	to keep (a person) waiting or in a state of uncertainty.

c.	to deceive; cheat; trick.

34.

string out,

a.	to extend; stretch out: The parade strung out for miles.

b.	to prolong: The promised three days strung out to six weeks.

—Idioms

35.	on a or the string, Informal. subject to the whim of another; in one's power; dependent: After keeping me on a string for two months, they finally hired someone else.

36.

pull strings or wires,

a.	to use one's influence or authority, usually in secret, in order to bring about a desired result.

b.	to gain or attempt to gain one's objectives by means of influential friends, associates, etc.: He had his uncle pull strings to get him a promotion.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME string, streng, OE streng; c. D streng, G Strang; akin to L stringere to bind; (v.) late ME stringen to string a bow, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:

stringless, adjective

stringlike, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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string (strĭng)

A cord usually made of fiber, used for fastening, tying, or lacing.
Something configured as a long, thin line: limp strings of hair.
A plant fiber.
A set of objects threaded together: a string of beads.
A series of similar or related acts, events, or items arranged or falling in or as if in a line. See Synonyms at series.
Computer Science A set of consecutive characters.
Informal
1. A set of animals, especially racehorses, belonging to a single owner; a stable.
2. A scattered group of businesses under a single ownership or management: a string of boutiques.
3. A cord stretched on an instrument and struck, plucked, or bowed to produce tones.
4. strings The section of a band or orchestra composed of stringed instruments.
5. strings Stringed instruments or their players considered as a group.
6. A stringboard.
7. A stringcourse.
Sports A group of players ranked according to ability within a team: He made the second string.
Music
1. A cord stretched on an instrument and struck, plucked, or bowed to produce tones.
2. strings The section of a band or orchestra composed of stringed instruments.
3. strings Stringed instruments or their players considered as a group.
4. A stringboard.
5. A stringcourse.
Architecture
1. A stringboard.
2. A stringcourse.
Games The balk line in billiards.
Sports A complete game consisting of ten frames in bowling.
Informal A limiting or hidden condition. Often used in the plural: a gift with no strings attached.

v. strung (strŭng), string·ing, strings

v. tr.

To fit or furnish with strings or a string: string a guitar.
To thread on a string.
To arrange in a string or series. Often used with out.
To fasten, tie, or hang with a string or strings.
To stretch out or extend: string a wire across a room.
To strip (vegetables) of fibers.

v. intr.

To form strings or become stringlike.
To extend or progress in a string, line, or succession.
To go along with something; agree.
To keep (someone) waiting or in a state of uncertainty.
To fool, cheat, or deceive.

Phrasal Verb(s):
string along Informal

To go along with something; agree.
To keep (someone) waiting or in a state of uncertainty.
To fool, cheat, or deceive.

string outTo draw out; prolong.
string up Informal To kill (someone) by hanging.

Idiom(s):
on a/the stringUnder one's complete control or influence.

[Middle English, from Old English streng.]

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

String

String\, n. 1. (a) In various indoor games, a score or tally, sometimes, as in American billiard games, marked by buttons threaded on a string or wire. (b) In various games, competitions, etc., a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.

2. (Billiards & Pool) (a) 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; -- called also string line. (b) Act of stringing for break.

3. A hoax; a trumped-up or "fake" story. [Slang]

String

String\, v. t. To hoax; josh; jolly. [Slang]

String

String\, v. i. To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.

String

String\ (str[i^]ng), n. [OE. string, streng, AS. streng; akin to D. streng, G. strang, Icel. strengr, Sw. str["a]ng, Dan. str[ae]ng; probably from the adj., E. strong (see Strong); or perhaps originally meaning, twisted, and akin to E. strangle.]

1. A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. --Shak.

Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. --Prior.

2. 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; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments. "A string of islands." --Gibbon.

3. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together. --Milton.

4. The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme. "An instrument of ten strings." --Ps. xxx. iii. 2.

Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of lute, or viol still. --Milton.

5. The line or cord of a bow. --Ps. xi. 2.

He twangs the grieving string. --Pope.

6. A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root.

Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom. --Bacon.

7. A nerve or tendon of an animal body.

The string of his tongue was loosed. --Mark vii. 35.

8. (Shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.

9. (Bot.) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.

10. (Mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein. --Ure.

11. (Arch.) Same as Stringcourse.

12. (Billiards) The points made in a game.

String band (Mus.), a band of musicians using only, or chiefly, stringed instruments.

String beans. (a) A dish prepared from the unripe pods of several kinds of beans; -- so called because the strings are stripped off. (b) Any kind of beans in which the pods are used for cooking before the seeds are ripe; usually, the low bush bean.

To have two strings to one's bow, to have a means or expedient in reserve in case the one employed fails.

String

String\ (str[i^]ng), v. t. [imp. Strung (str[u^]ng); p. p. Strung (R. Stringed (str[i^]ngd)); p. pr. & vb. n. Stringing.]

1. To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin.

Has not wise nature strung the legs and feet With firmest nerves, designed to walk the street? --Gay.

2. To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order to play upon it.

For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung, That not a mountain rears its head unsung. --Addison.

3. To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads.

4. To make tense; to strengthen.

Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood. --Dryden.

5. To deprive of strings; to strip the strings from; as, to string beans. See String, n., 9.

Language Translation for : string

Spanish: cuerda, cordel,

German: die Schnur,

Japanese: ひも

More Translations »

string (n.)

O.E. streng "line, cord, thread," from P.Gmc. *strangiz (cf. O.N. strengr, Dan. streng, M.Du. strenge, Du. streng, O.H.G. strang, Ger. Strang "rope, cord"), from base *strang- "taut, stiff," from PIE base *strenk- "tight, narrow; pull tight, twist" (see strain). Gradually restricted by early M.E. to lines that are smaller than a rope. Sense of "a number of objects arranged in a line" first recorded 1488. O.E. meaning "ligaments, tendons" is preserved in hamstring, heartstrings. Meaning "limitations, stipulations" (1888) is Amer.Eng., probably from the common April Fool's joke of leaving a purse that looks full of money on the sidewalk, then tugging it away with an attached string when someone stoops to pick it up. To pull strings "control the course of affairs" (1860) is from the notion of puppet theater. First string, second string, etc. in athletics (1863) is from archers' custom of carrying spare bowstrings in the event that one breaks. Strings "stringed instruments" is attested from c.1340. String bean is from 1759; string bikini is from 1974.

string (v.)

c.1400, "to fit a bow with a string," from string (n.). Meaning "to thread (beads, etc.) on a string" is from 1612. To string (someone) along is slang from 1902; string (v.) in this sense is attested in British dialect from c.1812. Stringer "newspaper correspondent paid by length of copy" is attested from 1952, probably from earlier fig. sense of "one who strings words together" (1774).

string programming
A sequence of data values, usually bytes, which usually stand for characters (a "character string"). The mapping between values and characters is determined by the character set which is itself specified implcitly or explicitly by the environment in which the string is being interpreted.
The most common character set is ASCII but, since the late 1990s, there has been increased interest in larger character sets such as Unicode where each character is represented by more than eight bits.
Most programming languages consider strings (e.g. "124:shabooya:\n", "hello world") basically distinct from numbers which are typically stored in fixed-length binary or floating-point representation.
A bit string is a sequence of bits.
(1999-12-21)

string

In addition to the idioms beginning with string, also see harp on (one string); no strings attached; on a shoestring; on a string; pull strings; purse strings; tied to apron strings; two strings to one's bow.

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