strain

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  7 Spliced for cross strain
• WordNet 3.6
  • v strain cause to be tense and uneasy or nervous or anxious "he got a phone call from his lawyer that tensed him up"
  • v strain alter the shape of (something) by stress "His body was deformed by leprosy"
  • v strain to exert much effort or energy "straining our ears to hear"
  • v strain use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity "He really extended himself when he climbed Kilimanjaro","Don't strain your mind too much"
  • v strain rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender "puree the vegetables for the baby"
  • v strain remove by passing through a filter "filter out the impurities"
  • v strain separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements "sift the flour"
  • v strain become stretched or tense or taut "the bodybuilder's neck muscles tensed"," "the rope strained when the weight was attached"
  • v strain test the limits of "You are trying my patience!"
  • n strain the act of singing "with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates"
  • n strain an intense or violent exertion
  • n strain an effortful attempt to attain a goal
  • n strain the general meaning or substance of an utterance "although I disagreed with him I could follow the tenor of his argument"
  • n strain a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence "she was humming an air from Beethoven"
  • n strain a special variety of domesticated animals within a species "he experimented on a particular breed of white rats","he created a new strain of sheep"
  • n strain (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups "a new strain of microorganisms"
  • n strain (physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces
  • n strain injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain
  • n strain (psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress "his responsibilities were a constant strain","the mental strain of staying alert hour after hour was too much for him"
  • n strain difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension "she endured the stresses and strains of life","he presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger"- R.J.Samuelson"
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• Interesting fact: There are more than one form of the Ebola virus. Different strains are named after the area they were discovered in.
• • Strain A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.
  • Strain (Hort) A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.
  • Strain (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."
  • Strain 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.
  • Strain 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.""Such take too high a strain at first.""The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs.""It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet contains
    Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains ."
  • Strain Hereditary character, quality, or disposition. "Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation."
  • Strain Race; stock; generation; descent; family. "He is of a noble strain .""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."
  • Strain Rank; a sort. "The common strain ."
  • Strain The act of straining, or the state of being strained.
  • Strain (Mech) To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.
  • Strain 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."
  • Strain To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously. "He sweats, Strains his young nerves.""They strain their warbling throats
    To welcome in the spring."
  • Strain To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.
  • Strain 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."
  • Strain 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 .""The quality of mercy is not strained ."
  • Strain To make violent efforts. "Straining with too weak a wing.""To build his fortune I will strain a little."
  • Strain To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.
  • Strain 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.
  • Strain To squeeze; to press closely. "Evander with a close embrace Strained his departing friend."
  • Strain 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."
  • Strain To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation. "Note, if your lady strain his entertainment."
  • Strain Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain. "Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements."
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• Interesting fact: Soy milk, the liquid left after beans have been crushed in hot water and strained, is a favorite beverage in the East. In Hong Kong, soy milk is as popular as Coca-Cola is in the U.S.
• • strain To draw out; stretch; extend, especially with effort or care.
  • strain To draw tight; tighten; make taut.
  • strain To confine; restrain; imprison.
  • strain To stretch to the utmost tension; put to the stretch; exert: as, to strain every nerve to accomplish something.
  • strain To stretch beyond measure; push beyond the proper extent or limit; carry too far.
  • strain To impair, weaken, or injure by stretching or overtasking; harm by subjection to too great stress or exertion; hence, to sprain.
  • strain To force; constrain.
  • strain To urge; press.
  • strain To press; squeeze; hence, to hug; embrace.
  • strain To press through a filter or colander; separate extraneous or coarser matters from (a liquid) by causing it to pass through a filter or colander; purify from extraneous matter by filtration; filter: as, to strain milk.
  • strain To separate or remove by the use of a filter or colander: with out. See phrase under intransitive verb, below.
  • strain To force out by straining.
  • strain To deform, as a solid body or structure.
  • strain = Syn. 10. Bolt, Screen, etc. See sift.
  • strain To exert one's self; make violent efforts; strive.
  • strain To urge; press.
  • strain To stretch strugglingly; stretch with effort.
  • strain To undergo distortions under force, as a ship in a high sea.
  • strain To drip; ooze; filter; drain; flow; issue: as, water straining through sand becomes pure.
  • n strain Stretch; extent; pitch.
  • n strain Stretching or deforming force or pressure; violence.
  • n strain Tense or constrained state or condition; tension; great effort.
  • n strain In mech., a definite change in the shape or size of a solid body setting up an elastic resistance, or stress, or exceeding the limit of elasticity. The deformation of a fluid is not commonly called a strain. The word, which had previously been illdefined, was made a scientific and precise term in this sense by Rankine in 1850. Thomson and Tait, in their “Treatise on Natural Philosophy,” extend the term to deformations of liquid masses, and even of groups of points; and Tait subsequently extends it to any geometrical figure, so that it becomes a synonym of deformation.
  • n strain A stretching of the muscles or tendons, giving rise to subsequent pain and stiffness; sprain; wrench; twist.
  • n strain A permanent deformation or injury of a solid structure.
  • n strain Stretch; flight or burst, as of imagination, eloquence, or song. Specifically— A poem; a song; a lay.
  • n strain Tune; melody.
  • n strain In a stricter sense, in music, a section of a piece which is more or less complete in itself. In written music the strains are often marked by double bars.
  • n strain Tone; key; style or manner of speech or conduct.
  • n strain Mood; disposition.
  • n strain Relatively to another strain, a strain orthogonal to a stress perfectly concurrent to the other strain.
  • n strain Race; stock; generation; descent; hence, family blood; quality or line as regards breeding; breed; a race or breed; a variety, especially an artificial variety, of a domestic animal. Strain indicates the least recognizable variation from a given stock, or the ultimate modification to which an animal has been subjected. But since such variation usually proceeds by insensible degrees, the significance of strain grades into that of breed, race, or variety.
  • n strain Hereditary or natural disposition; turn; tendency; character.
  • n strain Sort; kind; style.
  • n strain Trace; streak.
  • n strain The shoot of a tree.
  • n strain The track of a deer.
  • strain To distrain.
  • strain In photography, said of a lens when an object is brought so near that the image appears distorted.
  • n strain In agriculture and horticulture, a group of cultivated plants derived from a race which does not differ from the original race in visible taxonomic characters, but into which has been bred some intrinsic quality, such as a tendency to yield heavily, or a better adaptability to a certain environment. If a breeder by the careful selection of blue-stem wheat should produce a sort of blue-stem which differs from the original race only in the ability to give greater yields, it would be called a strain of blue-stem.
  • n strain A name given in Ireland to long masses of half-molded peat before the latter is cut up into briquets for drying and subsequent burning. The peat is excavated from the bog, and by a machine is torn, comminuted, kneaded, and pressed, leaving the machine in continuous rods or bars (strains). On drying, the strains shrink to about half their size when wet.
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• • v.t Strain strān to stretch tight: to draw with force: to exert to the utmost: to injure by overtasking: to make tight: to constrain, make uneasy or unnatural: to press to one's self, to embrace: to pass through a filter
  • v.i Strain to make violent efforts: to filter
  • n Strain the act of straining: a violent effort: an injury inflicted by straining, esp. a wrenching of the muscles: a note, sound, or song, stretch of imagination, &c.: any change of form or bulk of a portion of matter either solid or fluid, the system of forces which sustains the strain being called the stress: mood, disposition
  • n Strain strān race, stock, generation: descent: natural tendency, any admixture or element in one's character
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• Julia Woodruff

  

  “Out of the strain of doing and into the peace of the done.”
• Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

  

  “It is not the straining for great things that is most effective; it is the doing the little things, the common duties, a little better and better.”
• Henry David Thoreau

  

  “The fibers of all things have their tension and are strained like the strings of an instrument.”
• Robert Lynd

  

  “Friendship will not stand the strain of very much good advice for very long.”
• George Eliot

  

  “A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain on the affections.”
• Abraham Lincoln

  

  “With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die.”

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