Strain | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Strāin, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. STRAINED; p. pr. & vb. n. STRAINING.] [O. Fr. streindre, estraindre, estreindre, N. Fr. éteindre, Pr. estrenher, It. stringere, Lat. stringere, to draw or bind tight.]

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 an instrument.
To put to the utmost strength; to exert to the utmost; as, men in desperate cases will strain themselves for relief.
To injure in the muscles or joints, by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by over-exertion; to injure by drawing or stretching; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by over-loading; to strain the wrist.

Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks with looking back. Swift. 4. To make tighter; to cause to bind closer. “To strain* his fetters with a stricter care.” Dryden. 5. To make uneasy or unnatural; to force; to constrain. His mirth is forced and strained. Denham. 6. To press or cause to pass through some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous matter by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk.

Strāin, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. 1. To make violent efforts. “Straining with too weak a wing.” Pope. To build his fortune I will strain a little. Shak.

Sense 2. To be filtered; as, water straining through sand becomes pure.

Strāin, n.

noun

n. 1. A violent effort; undue or extreme tension, as of the limbs or muscles; over-exertion. “Whether any poet of our country since Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of powers with less strain and less ostentation.” Landor.

Sense 2. Especially, an injurious tension of the muscles, or hurtful over-exertion.

Sense 3. A continued course of action; manner or style of conduct. “A strain of gallantry.” W. Scott.

Such take too high a strain at first. Bacon.

Sense 4. A prolonged musical note; a particular portion of a tune; especially, one with a peculiar interest or expression.

Their heavenly harps a lower strain began. Dryden.

Sense 5. The burden of a speech; the subject or theme of a poem or discourse; manner of speaking or writing; style. “The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs.” Tillotson.

Sense 6. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition.

Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements. Hayward.

Sense 7. [Cf. STRENE.] Race; generation; descent. [Obs. or rare.]

He is of a noble strain. Shak.

Sense 8. Hereditary disposition. [Obs.]

Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propagated, spoil the strain of a nation. Tillotson.

Sense 9. Rank; character. [Obs.] Dryden.