·noun Rank; a sort.
II. Strain ·vi To make violent efforts.
III. Strain ·noun Race; stock; generation; descent; family.
IV. Strain ·adj To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.
V. Strain ·noun Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.
VI. Strain ·noun Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. ·cf. 1st Strain.
VII. Strain ·adj To
Squeeze; to press closely.
VIII. Strain ·noun The act of straining, or the state of being strained.
IX. Strain ·add. ·noun A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.
X. Strain ·noun A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.
XI. Strain ·vi To
Percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.
XII. Strain ·adj To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.
XIII. Strain ·adj To urge with importunity; to
Press; as, to
strain a petition or invitation.
XIV. Strain ·adj To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.
XV. Strain ·adj To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to
Force; to
Constrain.
XVI. Strain ·noun 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.
XVII. Strain ·adj 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.
XVIII. Strain ·adj 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.
XIX. Strain ·noun 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.
XX. Strain ·adj 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.
XXI. Strain ·adj 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.
XXII. Strain ·noun 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.