Narrow | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

När'rōw, a.

adjective

a. [compar. NARROWER; superl. NARROWEST.] [O. Eng. narwe, A-S. nearu, nearo, O. Sax. narru, narro, Fries. nūr, naer.]

Sense 1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a narrow street; a narrow hem. “Hath passed in safety through the narrow seas.” Shak.

Sense 2. Hence, of little extent; very limited; straitened; circumscribed. “Confined to a narrow compass in the world.” Wilkins.

Sense 3. Contracted in mind, disposition, views, feelings, or the like; of confined sentiments or sympathies; not liberal; parsimonious; niggardly; ungenerous; selfish. “A very narrow and stinted charity.” Smalridge.

To narrow breasts he comes all wrapt in gain. Sidney.

Sense 4. Within a small distance; close; near; hence, involving serious exposure; as, a narrow shot; a narrow escape. Dryden.

Sense 5. Discerning with careful scrutiny; close; accurate; scrutinizing; careful; exact.

But first with narrow search I must walk round This garden, and no corner leave unspied. Milton.

Narrow is not unfrequently prefixed to words, forming with them compounds of very obvious signification; as, narrow-bordered, narrow-brimmed, narrow-breasted, narrow-browed, narrow-chested, narrow-edged, narrow-faced, narrow-headed, narrow-leaved, narrow-pointed, narrow-sight, narrow-soiled, narrow-sphered, narrow-sterned, narrow-witted, and the like.

Năr'rōw, n.

noun

n.; pl. NĂR'RŌWS. A narrow passage through a mountain, or a narrow channel of water between one sea or lake and another; a strait; a sound. It is usually in the plural, but sometimes in the singular.

Năr'rōw, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. NARROWED; p. pr. & vb. n. NARROWING.] [A-S. nearuwian.] 1. To lessen the breadth of; to contract; to draw into a smaller compass; to reduce the extent of. A government, by alienating the affections of the people, may be said to narrow its bottom. Sir W. Temple. 2. To contract the reach or sphere of; to make less liberal or more selfish; to limit; to confine; as, to narrow one's views or knowledge; to narrow a question in discussion. Our knowledge is much narrowed if we confine ourselves to our solitary reasonings, without much reading. Watts. 3. (Knitting.) To contract the size of, as of a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.

Năr'rōw, v. i.

verbintransitive

Sense 1. To become less broad; to contract in breadth; as, the sea narrows into a strait.

Sense 2. (Man.) Not to step out enough to the one hand or the other; as, a horse narrows.

Sense 3. (Knitting.) To contract the size of a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.