strain /stɹeɪn/noun 13verb 13forms 5phrases 3 noun13 •a very great effort that pulls hard on the body and can hurt ithe jumped up with a strain •The act of straining, or the state of being strained. •A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.They say this year's flu virus is a particularly virulent strain. •(rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.). •An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain.They used steroids to build strength but, more importantly, to recover from strains, pulls, dislocations. — 2010 •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, etc.A baby gurgled, a photographer dropped her lens cap, and the strains of the U.S. Army Brass Quintet echoed off the murals depicting seminal moments in American history. — 2024 •(figurative) Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.There is a strain of madness in her family. •A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain.Detailed records are kept of the strains imposed on the bridge by the violent gales that frequently sweep the firth, and a self-recording wind gauge is fixed on the top of the tower. — 1950 •Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened. •(no longer used) Race; lineage, pedigree.He is of a noble strain. — 1598 •(no longer used) Treasure. •(no longer used) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg. •(no longer used) The track of a deer.When they have shot a Deere by land, they follow him like bloud-hounds by the bloud, and straine, and oftentimes so take them. — 1624 verb13 •To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.The gale strained the timbers of the ship. •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. •To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it. — 1724 •To make great demands on something.Taking on more debt would strain our resources to the limit. •To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander.Strain the noodles and rinse with fresh water until it runs clear. The noodles should be soft, but not mushy. — 2017 •To percolate; to be filtered. •To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.Prince. How does my Father? / Princess. Still talks and plays with Fatyma, but his mirth / Is forc'd and strain'd: In his look appears / A wild distracted fierceness; […] — 1641 •To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.Relations between the United States and Guatemala traditionally have been close, although at times strained by human rights and civil/military issues. •To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam. •(literary) To hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly. •To urge with importunity; to press. •(no longer used) To hold tightly, to clasp.So hauing said, her twixt her armes twaine / She straightly straynd, and colled tenderly […] — 1590 •(no longer used) 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. formsstrained · straining · straineth · strains · strainest Phrases with strain strain a pointTo make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings. strain at a gnatto make a mountain out of a molehill strain at the leashTo be very eager to do or begin something.
