| strain | |
| 1. subst. (obsolete) Treasure. | |
| 2. subst. (obsolete) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg. | |
| 3. subst. (archaic) Race; lineage, pedigree. | |
| 4. subst. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition. | |
| There is a strain of madness in her family. | |
| 5. subst. A tendency or disposition. | |
| 6. subst. (literary) 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 | |
| 7. subst. (biology) A particular breed or race of animal, microbe etc. | |
| They say this year's flu virus is a particularly virulent strain. | |
| 8. subst. (music) 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. | |
| 9. subst. (rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.). | |
| 10. v. (obsolete) To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world. | |
| A man straineth, liveth, then dieth. | |
| Man, look at that cat straining that kitty. | |
| The sun straineth light. (approx.1225, Homily on the Creed in Cambridge) | |
| A wife he nam; a son on her he strained. (circa 1275, Layamon, The Brut) | |
| He shall strain on her a swith selely son. (circa 1275, Layamon, The Brut) | |
| Eadie is his spouse, whose maid-hood is unwemmed (unviolated), when he, on her, straineth. (circa1225, Hali Meidenhad - Holy Maiden-Hood) | |
| Our Drighten sent his high angel Gabriel to ..Zachariah.. to say that he should strain a holy child and clepe it John. (approx.1225, Homilies in Cambridge) | |
| Our healand was strained of the heavenly father ere then that heaven or earth shapen (formed) were. (approx.1225, Homilies in Cambridge) | |
| Naked they gan; nis there none of other agramed; ne for their nakedhood ashamed; without lust of sin they strain. | |
| Thy wife is thine alone, only thou mayest strain on her; no other man may strain on thy wife ne mayest thou strain on a wife of another. | |
| Sir, as I have a soul, she is an angel; our king has all the Indies in his arms, And more, and richer, when he strains that lady. I cannot blame his conscience. (Shakespeare) | |
| 11. v. (obsolete) To hold tightly, to clasp. | |
| 12. v. To apply a force or forces to by stretching out. | |
| 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. | |
| 13. v. To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force. | |
| The gale strained the timbers of the ship. | |
| 14. v. To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam. | |
| 15. v. To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable. | |
| Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker. | |
| 16. v. To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning. | |
| to strain the law in order to convict an accused person | |
| 17. v. To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander | |
| 18. v. (intransitive) To percolate; to be filtered. | |
| water straining through a sandy soil | |
| 19. v. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain. | |
| 20. v. To urge with importunity; to press. | |
| to strain a petition or invitation | |
| 21. subst. The act of straining, or the state of being strained. | |
| 22. subst. A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles. | |
| he jumped up with a strain; the strain upon the sailboat's rigging | |
| 23. subst. An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain. | |
| 24. subst. (engineering) A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain. | |
| 25. subst. (obsolete) The track of a deer. | |
