Part 106
Strait (?), a. [Compar. Straiter (?); superl. Straitest.] [OE. straight, streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F. étroit, 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 (?), adv. Strictly; rigorously. [Obs.] Shak.
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, v. t. To put to difficulties. [Obs.] Shak.
Strait"en (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Straitened (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straitening.] 1. To make strait; to make narrow; hence, to contract; to confine.
Waters, when straitened, as at the falls of bridges, give a roaring noise.
Bacon.
In narrow circuit, straitened by a foe.
Milton.
2. To make tense, or tight; to tighten.
They straiten at each end the cord.
Pope.
3. To restrict; to distress or embarrass in respect of means or conditions of life; -- used chiefly in the past participle; -- as, a man straitened in his circumstances.
Strait"-hand`ed (?), a. Parsimonious; sparing; niggardly. [R.] -- Strait"- hand`ed*ness, n. [R.]
Strait"-jack`et (?), n. A dress of strong materials for restraining maniacs or those who are violently delirious. It has long sleeves, which are closed at the ends, confining the hands, and may be tied behind the back.
Strait"-laced` (?), a. 1. Bound with stays.
Let nature have scope to fashion the body as she thinks best; we have few well-shaped that are strait- laced.
Locke.
2. Restricted; stiff; constrained. [R.] Fuller.
3. Rigid in opinion; strict in manners or morals.
Strait"ly, adv. 1. In a strait manner; narrowly; strictly; rigorously. Mark i. 43.
2. Closely; intimately. [Obs.]
Strait"ness, n. The quality or condition of being strait; especially, a pinched condition or situation caused by poverty; as, the straitnessof their circumstances.
Strait"-waist`coat (?), n. Same as Strait-jacket.
Strake (?), obs. imp. of Strike. Spenser.
Strake, n. [See Streak.] 1. A streak. [Obs.] Spenser."White strake." Gen. xxx. 37.
2. An iron band by which the fellies of a wheel are secured to each other, being not continuous, as the tire is, but made up of separate pieces.
3. (Shipbuilding) One breadth of planks or plates forming a continuous range on the bottom or sides of a vessel, reaching from the stem to the stern; a streak.
The planks or plates next the keel are called the garboard strakes; the next, or the heavy strakes at the bilge, are the bilge strakes; the next, from the water line to the lower port sill, the wales; and the upper parts of the sides, the sheer strakes.
4. (Mining) A trough for washing broken ore, gravel, or sand; a launder.
Strale (?), n. Pupil of the eye. [Prov. Eng.]
Stram (?), v. t. [Cf. LG. strammen to strain, straiten, stretch, D. stram strained, tight, G. stramm.] To spring or recoil with violence. [Prov. Eng.]
Stram, v. t. To dash down; to beat. [Prov. Eng.]
Stram"ash (?), v. t. [Cf. Stramazoun.] To strike, beat, or bang; to break; to destroy. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.]
Stram"ash, n. A turmoil; a broil; a fray; a fight. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] Barham.
Stram"a*zoun (?), n. [F. estramaçon, It. stramazzone.] A direct descending blow with the edge of a sword. [Obs.] B. Jonson.
Stra*min"e*ous (?), a. [L. stramineus, fr. stramen straw, fr. sternere, stratum, to spread out, to strew.] 1. Strawy; consisting of straw. Robinson.
2. Chaffy; like straw; straw-colored. Burton.
Stra*mo"ni*um (?), n. [NL.; Cf. F. stramoine.] (Bot.) A poisonous plant (Datura Stramonium); stinkweed. See Datura, and Jamestown weed.
Stram"o*ny (?), n. (Bot.) Stramonium.
Strand (?), n. [Probably fr. D. streen a skein; akin to G. strähne a skein, lock of hair, strand of a rope.] One of the twists, or strings, as of fibers, wires, etc., of which a rope is composed.
Strand, v. t. To break a strand of (a rope).
Strand, n. [AS. strand; akin to D., G., Sw., & Dan. strand, Icel. strönd.] The shore, especially the beach of a sea, ocean, or large lake; rarely, the margin of a navigable river. Chaucer.
Strand birds. (Zoöl.) See Shore birds, under Shore. -- Strand plover (Zoöl.), a black-bellied plover. See Illust. of Plover. -- Strand wolf (Zoöl.), the brown hyena.
Strand, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stranded; p. pr. & vb. n. Stranding.] To drive on a strand; hence, to run aground; as, to strand a ship.
Strand (?), v. i. To drift, or be driven, on shore to run aground; as, the ship stranded at high water.
Strang (?), a. [See Strong.] Strong. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] Halliwell.
Strange (?), a. [Compar. Stranger (?); superl. Strangest (?).] [OE. estrange, F. étrange, fr. L. extraneus that is without, external, foreign, fr. extra on the outside. See Extra, and cf. Estrange, Extraneous.] 1. Belonging to another country; foreign. "To seek strange strands." Chaucer.
One of the strange queen's lords.
Shak.
I do not contemn the knowledge of strange and divers tongues.
Ascham.
2. Of or pertaining to others; not one's own; not pertaining to one's self; not domestic.
So she, impatient her own faults to see, Turns from herself, and in strange things delights.
Sir J. Davies.
3. Not before known, heard, or seen; new.
Here is the hand and seal of the duke; you know the character, I doubt not; and the signet is not strange to you.
Shak.
4. Not according to the common way; novel; odd; unusual; irregular; extraordinary; unnatural; queer. "He is sick of a strange fever." Shak.
Sated at length, erelong I might perceive Strange alteration in me.
Milton.
5. Reserved; distant in deportment. Shak.
She may be strange and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee.
Hawthorne.
6. Backward; slow. [Obs.]
Who, loving the effect, would not be strange In favoring the cause.
Beau. & Fl.
7. Not familiar; unaccustomed; inexperienced.
In thy fortunes am unlearned and strange.
Shak.
Strange is often used as an exclamation.
Strange! what extremes should thus preserve the snow High on the Alps, or in deep caves below.
Waller.
Strange sail (Naut.), an unknown vessel. -- Strange woman (Script.), a harlot. Prov. v. 3. -- To make it strange. (a) To assume ignorance, suspicion, or alarm, concerning it. Shak. (b) To make it a matter of difficulty. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- To make strange, To make one's self strange. (a) To profess ignorance or astonishment. (b) To assume the character of a stranger. Gen. xlii. 7.
Syn. -- Foreign; new; outlandish; wonderful; astonishing; marvelous; unusual; odd; uncommon; irregular; queer; eccentric.
Strange, adv. Strangely. [Obs.]
Most strange, but yet most truly, will I speak.
Shak.
Strange, v. t. To alienate; to estrange. [Obs.]
Strange, v. i. 1. To be estranged or alienated. [Obs.]
2. To wonder; to be astonished. [Obs.] Glanvill.
Strange"ly, adv. 1. As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange. [Obs.] Shak.
2. In the manner of one who does not know another; distantly; reservedly; coldly.
You all look strangely on me.
Shak.
I do in justice charge thee . . . That thou commend it strangely to some place Where chance may nurse or end it.
Shak.
3. In a strange manner; in a manner or degree to excite surprise or wonder; wonderfully.
How strangely active are the arts of peace!
Dryden.
It would strangely delight you to see with what spirit he converses.
Law.
Strange"ness, n. The state or quality of being strange (in any sense of the adjective).
Stran"ger (?), n. [OF. estrangier, F. étranger. See Strange.] 1. One who is strange, foreign, or unknown. Specifically: --
(a) One who comes from a foreign land; a foreigner.
I am a most poor woman and a stranger, Born out of your dominions.
Shak.
(b) One whose home is at a distance from the place where he is, but in the same country.
(c) One who is unknown or unacquainted; as, the gentleman is a stranger to me; hence, one not admitted to communication, fellowship, or acquaintance.
Melons on beds of ice are taught to bear, And strangers to the sun yet ripen here.
Granville.
My child is yet a stranger in the world.
Shak.
I was no stranger to the original.
Dryden.
2. One not belonging to the family or household; a guest; a visitor.
To honor and receive Our heavenly stranger.
Milton.
3. (Law) One not privy or party an act, contract, or title; a mere intruder or intermeddler; one who interferes without right; as, actual possession of land gives a good title against a stranger having no title; as to strangers, a mortgage is considered merely as a pledge; a mere stranger to the levy.
Stran"ger, v. t. To estrange; to alienate. [Obs.] Shak.
Stran"gle (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strangled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Strangling (?).] [OF. estrangler, F. étrangler, L. strangulare, Gr. &?;, &?;, fr. &?; a halter; and perhaps akin to E. string, n. Cf. Strain, String.] 1. To compress the windpipe of (a person or animal) until death results from stoppage of respiration; to choke to death by compressing the throat, as with the hand or a rope.
Our Saxon ancestors compelled the adulteress to strangle herself.
Ayliffe.
2. To stifle, choke, or suffocate in any manner.
Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, . . . And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?
Shak.
3. To hinder from appearance; to stifle; to suppress. "Strangle such thoughts." Shak.
Stran"gle, v. i. To be strangled, or suffocated.
Stran"gle*a*ble (?), a. Capable of being strangled. [R.] Chesterfield.
Stran"gler (?), n. One who, or that which, strangles. "The very strangler of their amity." Shak.
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Stran"gles (?), n. A disease in horses and swine, in which the upper part of the throat, or groups of lymphatic glands elsewhere, swells.
Stran"gu*late (?), a. (Bot.) Strangulated.
Stran"gu*la`ted (?), a. 1. (Med.) Having the circulation stopped by compression; attended with arrest or obstruction of circulation, caused by constriction or compression; as, a strangulated hernia.
2. (Bot.) Contracted at irregular intervals, if tied with a ligature; constricted.
Strangulated hernia. (Med.) See under Hernia.
Stran"gu*la`tion (?), n. [L. strangulatio: cf. F. strangulation. See Strangle.] 1. The act of strangling, or the state of being strangled.
2. (Med.) Inordinate compression or constriction of a tube or part, as of the throat; especially, such as causes a suspension of breathing, of the passage of contents, or of the circulation, as in cases of hernia.
Stran*gu"ri*ous (?), a. [L. stranguriosus.] (Med.) Of or pertaining to strangury. Cheyne.
Stran"gu*ry (?), n. [L. stranguria, Gr. &?;; &?;, &?;, a drop + &?; to make water, &?; urine: cf. F. strangurie. See Strangle, and Urine.] 1. (Med.) A painful discharge of urine, drop by drop, produced by spasmodic muscular contraction.
2. (Bot.) A swelling or other disease in a plant, occasioned by a ligature fastened tightly about it.
Stra"ny (?), n. (Zoöl.) The guillemot. [Prov. Eng.]
Strap (?), n. [OE. strope, AS. stropp, L. stroppus, struppus, perhaps fr. Gr. &?; a band or cord, fr. &?; to twist, to turn (cf. Strophe). Cf. Strop a strap, a piece of rope.] 1. A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like; specifically, a strip of thick leather used in flogging.
A lively cobbler that . . . had scarce passed a day without giving her [his wife] the discipline of the strap.
Addison.
2. Something made of such a strip, or of a part of one, or a combination of two or more for a particular use; as, a boot strap, shawl strap, stirrup strap.
3. A piece of leather, or strip of wood covered with a suitable material, for sharpening a razor; a strop.
4. A narrow strip of anything, as of iron or brass. Specifically: --
(a) (Carp. & Mach.) A band, plate, or loop of metal for clasping and holding timbers or parts of a machine.
(b) (Naut.) A piece of rope or metal passing around a block and used for fastening it to anything.
5. (Bot.) (a) The flat part of the corolla in ligulate florets, as those of the white circle in the daisy. (b) The leaf, exclusive of its sheath, in some grasses.
6. A shoulder strap. See under Shoulder.
Strap bolt, a bolt of which one end is a flat bar of considerable length. -- Strap head (Mach.), a journal box, or pair of brasses, secured to the end of a connecting rod by a strap. See Illust. of Gib and key, under Gib. -- Strap hinge, a hinge with long flaps by which it is fastened, as to a door or wall. -- Strap rail (Railroads), a flat rail formerly used.
Strap, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strapped (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Strapping.] 1. To beat or chastise with a strap.
2. To fasten or bind with a strap. Cowper.
3. To sharpen by rubbing on a strap, or strop; as, to strap a razor.
Strap*pa"do (?), n.; pl. Strappadoes (#). [It. strappata a pull, the strappado, from strappare to pull, from Prov. G. strapfen: cf. G. straff tense, stretched.] A military punishment formerly practiced, which consisted in drawing an offender to the top of a beam and letting him fall to the length of the rope, by which means a limb was often dislocated. Shak.
Strap*pa"do, v. t. To punish or torture by the strappado. Milton.
Strap"per (?), n. 1. One who uses strap.
2. A person or thing of uncommon size. [Colloq.]
Strap"ping (?), a. Tall; strong; lusty; large; as, a strapping fellow. [Colloq.]
There are five and thirty strapping officers gone.
Farquhar.
Strap"ple (?), v. t. To hold or bind with, or as with, a strap; to entangle. [Obs.] Chapman.
Strap"-shaped` (?), a. Shaped like a strap; ligulate; as, a strap-shaped corolla.
Strap"work` (?), n. (Arch.) A kind of ornament consisting of a narrow fillet or band folded, crossed, and interlaced.
Strass (?), n. [So called from its inventor, a German jeweler: cf. F. stras.] (Chem.) A brilliant glass, used in the manufacture of artificial paste gems, which consists essentially of a complex borosilicate of lead and potassium. Cf. Glass.
Stra"ta (?), n., pl. of Stratum.
Strat"a*gem (?), n. [F. stratagème (cf. Sp. estratagema, It. stratagemma), L. strategema, Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to be leader of an army, fr. &?; a general; &?; an army (probably as being spread out; cf. Stratum) + &?; to lead. See Agent.] An artifice or trick in war for deceiving the enemy; hence, in general, artifice; deceptive device; secret plot; evil machination.
Fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
Shak.
Those oft are stratagems which error seem, Nor is it Homer nods, but we that dream.
Pope.
Strat`a*gem"ic*al (?), a. Containing stratagem; as, a stratagemical epistle. [R.] Swift.
Strat`a*rith"me*try (?), n. [Gr. &?; army + &?; number + -metry.] (Mil.) The art of drawing up an army, or any given number of men, in any geometrical figure, or of estimating or expressing the number of men in such a figure.
{ Strat`e*get"ic (?), Strat`e*get"ic*al (?), } a. Strategic.
Strat`e*get"ics (?), n. Strategy.
{ Stra*te"gic (?), Stra*te"gic*al, } a. [Gr. &?; of or for a general: cf. F. stratégique.] Of or pertaining to strategy; effected by artifice. -- Stra*te"gic*al*ly, adv.
Strategic line (Mil.), a line joining strategic points. -- Strategic point (Mil.), any point or region in the theater or warlike operations which affords to its possessor an advantage over his opponent, as a mountain pass, a junction of rivers or roads, a fortress, etc.
Stra*te"gics (?), n. Strategy.
Strat"e*gist (?), n. [Cf. F. stratégiste.] One skilled in strategy, or the science of directing great military movements.
||Stra*te"gus (?), n.; pl. Strategi (#). [L., fr. Gr. &?;. See ||Stratagem.] (Gr. Antiq.) The leader or commander of an army; a ||general.
Strat"e*gy (?), n. [Gr. &?;: cf. F. stratégie. See Stratagem.] 1. The science of military command, or the science of projecting campaigns and directing great military movements; generalship.
2. The use of stratagem or artifice.
Strath (?), n. [Gael. srath.] A valley of considerable size, through which a river runs; a valley bottom; -- often used in composition with the name of the river; as, Strath Spey, Strathdon, Strathmore. [Scot.]
The long green strath of Napa valley.
R. L. Stevenson.
Strath"spey` (?), n. [So called from the district of Strath Spey in Scotland.] A lively Scottish dance, resembling the reel, but slower; also, the tune.
Stra*tic"u*late (?), a. [Dim. Fr. stratum.] (Min.) Characterized by the presence of thin parallel strata, or layers, as in an agate.
Strat`i*fi*ca"tion (?), n. [Cf. F. stratification.] 1. The act or process of laying in strata, or the state of being laid in the form of strata, or layers.
2. (Physiol.) The deposition of material in successive layers in the growth of a cell wall, thus giving rise to a stratified appearance.
Strat"i*fied (?), a. Having its substance arranged in strata, or layers; as, stratified rock.
Strat"i*form (?), a. Having the form of strata.
Strat"i*fy (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stratified (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Stratifying (?).] [Stratum + -fy: cf. F. stratifier.] To form or deposit in strata, or layers, as substances in the earth; to arrange in strata.
{ Strat`i*graph"ic (?), Strat`i*graph"ic*al (?), } a. (Geol.) Pertaining to, or depended upon, the order or arrangement of strata; as, stratigraphical evidence. -- Strat`i*graph"ic*al*ly, adv.
{ Strat`i*graph"ic, -ic*al }, a. (Mil.) See Stratographic.
Stra*tig"ra*phy (?), n. [Stratum + -graphy.] That branch of geology which treats of the arrangement and succession of strata.
Stra*toc"ra*cy (?), n. [Gr. &?; an army + -cracy, as in democracy: cf. F. stratocratie.] A military government; government by military chiefs and an army.
{ Strat`o*graph"ic (?), Strat`o*graph"ic*al (?), } a. Of or pertaining to stratography.
Stra*tog"ra*phy (?), n. [Gr. &?; an army + -graphy.] A description of an army, or of what belongs to an army.
Stra*ton"ic (?), a. [Gr. &?; an army.] Of or pertaining to an army. [R.]
Stra*tot"ic (?), a. Warlike; military. [R.]
Stra"tum (?), n.; pl. E. Stratums (#), L. Strata (#). The latter is more common. [L., from sternere, stratum, to spread; akin to Gr. &?; to spread, strew. See Strew, and cf. Consternation, Estrade, Prostrate, Stratus, Street.] 1. (Geol.) A bed of earth or rock of one kind, formed by natural causes, and consisting usually of a series of layers, which form a rock as it lies between beds of other kinds. Also used figuratively.
2. A bed or layer artificially made; a course.
Stra"tus (?), n. [L. stratus a spreading out, scattering, from sternere, stratum, to spread.] (Meteor.) A form of clouds in which they are arranged in a horizontal band or layer. See Cloud.
Straught (?), obs. imp. & p. p. of Stretch.
Straught, v. t. To stretch; to make straight. [Written also straucht.] [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.
Straw (?), v. t. To spread or scatter. See Strew, and Strow. Chaucer.
Straw, n. [OE. straw, stre, stree, AS. streáw, from the root of E. strew; akin to OFries. str, D. stroo, G. stroh, OHG. str, Icel. str, Dan. straa, Sw. strå. √166. See Strew.] 1. A stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley, more rarely of buckwheat, beans, and pease.
2. The gathered and thrashed stalks of certain species of grain, etc.; as, a bundle, or a load, of rye straw.
3. Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle.
I set not a straw by thy dreamings.
Chaucer.
Straw is often used in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, straw-built, straw-crowned, straw-roofed, straw-stuffed, and the like.
Man of straw, an effigy formed by stuffing the garments of a man with straw; hence, a fictitious person; an irresponsible person; a puppet. -- Straw bail, worthless bail, as being given by irresponsible persons. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Straw bid, a worthless bid; a bid for a contract which the bidder is unable or unwilling to fulfill. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Straw cat (Zoöl.), the pampas cat. -- Straw color, the color of dry straw, being a delicate yellow. -- Straw drain, a drain filled with straw. -- Straw plait, or Straw plat, a strip formed by plaiting straws, used for making hats, bonnets, etc. -- To be in the straw, to be brought to bed, as a pregnant woman. [Slang]
Straw"ber*ry (?), n. [AS. streáwberige; streáw straw + berie berry; perhaps from the resemblance of the runners of the plant to straws.] (Bot.) A fragrant edible berry, of a delicious taste and commonly of a red color, the fruit of a plant of the genus Fragaria, of which there are many varieties. Also, the plant bearing the fruit. The common American strawberry is Fragaria virginiana; the European, F. vesca. There are also other less common species.