strain

STRAYN/stɹeɪn/

25 meanings of strain

1
nouncountable or uncountable
An injury to a muscle or tendon resulting from violent effort or overexertion.
The doctor diagnosed a hamstring strain and advised two weeks of rest.
Repeated heavy lifting left him with a chronic lower-back strain.
Similarpull, sprain, injury, tear, wrench
2
nouncountable or uncountable
A violent or excessive effort, or the harmful tension it places on the muscles.
Years of physical labor put a constant strain on his back muscles.
The sudden strain of the heavy pull tore something in his shoulder.
Similarstress, pressure, exertion, effort, tension
Oppositerelaxation, ease, rest
3
verbtransitive
To damage something by drawing, stretching, or applying force to it.
Lifting the engine alone could strain the chain beyond its limit.
She strained a muscle reaching for the top shelf.
Similarpull, wrench, sprain, overstretch, overload
4
verbtransitive
To remove solid pieces from a liquid, or drain liquid away from solids, using a strainer or colander.
Strain the stock through a fine sieve to catch the herbs.
He strained the tea leaves out before serving.
Similarsieve, filter, drain, screen
5
verbtransitive or intransitive
To exert or struggle to do something, especially pushing one's senses or abilities beyond what is comfortable.
Readers must strain to grasp the philosopher's dense argument.
He strained to make out the figures moving in the fog.
Similarstruggle, strive, labor, try, endeavor
Note
Effort aimed at the limit of a faculty, and it comes in two constructions. Intransitively it takes to + infinitive: strain to hear, strain to see. Transitively the object is the body part doing the work, as in Shakespeare's "strains his young nerves" and Dryden's birds that "strain their warbling throats." The first construction stresses the attempt; the second stresses the part being pushed.
6
nouncountable
A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a group below the species level.
Researchers isolated a drug-resistant strain of the bacterium.
The vaccine targets several strains of the virus.
Similarvariant, variety, type
Note
A laboratory word for a group below the species: one virus or bacterium can exist as many strains, told apart by traits such as virulence. It comes with ready collocations: a new strain, a virulent strain, a strain of the virus. Underneath, it keeps the idea of descent from the archaic "lineage" sense. A strain is a line within a species.
7
nouncountable or uncountable
The act of filtering or stretching something, or the state of being stretched or filtered.
Constant strain on the cables eventually weakened the structure.
The slow strain of the broth through the cheesecloth clarified it.
Similartension, stress, pressure, tautness, filtering
Oppositeslackness, relaxation
Note
The general noun of tension, and it once measured plain force. Drewry, writing on suspension bridges in 1832, puts the strain on the Menai Bridge's chains at about 2000 tons. In materials work it can instead mean deformation, as in the dimensionless engineering measure. A strain given in tons is a force and belongs here. Everyday prose favors put strain on, as in additional strain on energy resources.
8
verbtransitive
To stretch something, such as a meaning or interpretation, beyond its proper limit.
Critics argue the ruling would strain the law's intent past recognition.
His interpretation strains the plain meaning of the contract.
Similarstretch, distort, twist, warp, pervert
9
verbtransitive
To apply force to something by stretching it out.
Workers strain the cables before locking them in place.
The press strained the metal sheet flat.
Similarstretch, tighten, tauten, tension, pull
Oppositeslacken, loosen, relax
Note
Here the pull is literal, and the word's Latin root says so: Old French estreindre, from stringō, "to draw tight together, to tie." Ropes and a ship's shrouds are its natural objects, things meant to be pulled taut. The verb implies tension, not harm; damage belongs to the injuring sense. The same tautness extends to relationships: ties between countries can be strained by disputes, stretched but not yet broken.
10
verbtransitive
To produce or force something with apparent effort, making it seem unnatural or uneasy.
Guests often strain a smile when the conversation grows awkward.
He strained a cheerful tone to hide his disappointment.
Similarforce, feign, fake, muster, manufacture
Note
Mostly met as the past participle strained, describing something forced: Denham's mirth "forc'd and strain'd," a strained smile. Shakespeare's "The quality of mercy is not strained" belongs here. It means mercy is not forced or constrained, not that it has been filtered. That misreading comes easily, because the kitchen verb shares the spelling.

11
verbintransitive
To pass through a filter; to percolate.
Let the broth strain through the mesh overnight.
The liquid strained slowly into the jar below.
Similarfilter, percolate, drain, seep, trickle
Note
The intransitive partner of the colander verb. Here the liquid itself is the subject and moves through something, as in water straining through a sandy soil. It suits slow, natural filtering where no one is holding the sieve, and through names what the liquid passes.
12
verbtransitive
To act on something so as to cause a change in its shape or volume, as when bending a beam.
Engineers calculate how much force will strain the bridge deck.
The applied load strained the column until it buckled.
Similardeform, stress, distort, bend
Note
The verb behind the engineer's measure of deformation. Anything that changes an object's shape or volume strains it, whether the force pulls, presses or bends. A beam under load is strained even though nobody stretches it. That wider reach is what sets this sense apart from ordinary stretching.
13
noununcountable
A dimensionless measure of how much an object has deformed, expressed as either engineering strain or true strain.
The sensor recorded a strain of about 0.002 along the loaded axis.
At higher loads, the measured strain no longer increased linearly with stress.
Similardeformation
Note
A ratio rather than a force: change in length over a reference length, so it carries no unit. Engineering strain takes the original length as its reference. True strain instead adds up small increments of change over the length as it currently stands. Keep it distinct from the looser sense of tension that older bridge writing measured in tons.
14
nounfigurativelycountable
An inherited character, quality, tendency, or disposition.
There is a stubborn strain that surfaces in every generation of the family.
Critics detected a melancholy strain inherited from his mother's people.
Similartendency, propensity, proneness
Note
Heredity turned inward: what runs in the line is a quality, not a pedigree. The usual frame is a strain of + noun, as in a strain of madness, often followed by in the family. Propensity and proneness come close, but they name a leaning in one person, while strain implies it was handed down. Tillotson in 1671 could even speak of the strain of a whole nation.
15
nouncountable
A sustained passage of music or song; a distinct section of a poem, or the prevailing mood running through it.
The orchestra opened with a gentle strain that filled the hall.
Melancholy strains drifted from the upstairs window.
Similartheme, style, manner
Note
Music and verse share it: a strain can be a passage of melody, a section of an ode, or the mood that runs through a poem. In modern prose it is at home in the plural with of, as in the strains of a brass quintet echoing off the walls. There it means the music as it reaches the listener. Theme and motive are its closest synonyms.
16
nouncountable
Eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened language.
The speech rose to a lofty strain as it neared its close.
He praised the bride in the highest strain imaginable.
Similartone, vein, register, pitch, style
17
verbtransitive
To hold or hug someone tightly against oneself.
The mother strained her newborn close as the train pulled away.
Returning soldiers strain their families tight on the platform.
Similarclasp, hug, embrace, hold, clutch
Oppositerelease
18
verbtransitive
To urge or press someone insistently.
Reporters strain officials for answers at every turn.
The committee strained the minister for a clear commitment.
Similarpress, pressure, push, urge, badger
Note
Pressing hard on a request, and the object is often the request rather than the person: to strain a petition or an invitation. In Shakespeare's Othello, "if your lady strain his entertainment" presses a cause, not someone's arm or ear. That separates it from the verb of physical effort, where the pushing is done by one's own body.
19
nounarchaic
A person's race, lineage, or pedigree.
She was proud to be of ancient and honorable strain.
He is of a noble strain.
1598, William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”
Note
Descent is where the noun's story is clearest. Middle English streen meant "race, stock, generation," though Old English strēon meant "gain, wealth," from a root meaning "to spread, strew." Shakespeare's "of a noble strain" shows the usual frame: of + adjective + strain. Said of people, it now sounds archaic. Darwin in 1859 applies it to animals and plants, which bridges to the biologist's variety.
20
nounrarecountable
A particular kind or sort, especially of a person.
He was a curious strain of scholar who shunned all recognition.
They were a hardy strain of pioneer, used to hardship.
Similarbreed, kind, sort, type, variety
21
verbobsoletetransitive
To hold tightly; to clasp.
Evander with a close embrace / Strained his departing friend.
1697, Virgil, “The Eighth Book of the Æneis”
"Farewell!"—the mother strained her child to her heart again, and again put her from her, to embrace her more closely.
1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie
Note
Here the verb's other ancestry shows plainly. It comes through Old French estreindre, the forerunner of French étreindre, "to grip," from Latin stringō, "to draw tight together." Spenser's "She straightly straynd" (1590) is an embrace, and the construction is strain someone to one's heart. Ferna Vale's Natalie (1859) still has a mother strain her child to her heart, but the sense is now obsolete.
22
nounobsolete
Wealth or treasure; accumulated riches.
The king's strain lay hidden deep within the castle vaults.
Pirates fought bitterly over the buried strain.
Note
The word's earliest meaning, now fossilized. Old English strēon meant "gain, wealth," and its Germanic ancestor meant "heap, treasure, profit," before the "lineage" sense took over. The sense is obsolete, so a modern sentence using strain for a hoard will be read as the musical or physical word. Keep it for discussing older English.
23
nounobsolete
A small vessel carrying blood within an egg yolk.
The cook removed the strain from each yolk before baking.
He pointed to the dark strain threading through the yolk.
Note
An obsolete name for a small anatomical detail inside the egg. Where it turns up near eggs and cooking, read it as a noun for the vessel, not as the act of passing food through a sieve. The two come from different sources and only look alike. In current English the vessel would simply be described, not called a strain.
24
nounobsoletecountable or uncountable
The track or trail left by a passing deer.
The hounds picked up the strain at dawn and gave chase.
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, John Smith, Generall Historie
Note
A hunter's term of venery for the trail a deer leaves behind. John Smith's Generall Historie (1624) has hunters following a shot deer "by the bloud, and straine," with the blood trail and the track side by side. The sense is obsolete, and modern writing says track or trail.
25
verbobsolete
To beget or engender; to mate; to be born and come into the world.
A man straineth, liveth, then dieth.
Note
A third, separate verb, from Old English strēonan, "to beget, generate, gain, acquire." It is obsolete and easily misread. In Shakespeare and Fletcher's The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth (1613), the king who "straines that Lady" is lying with her, not merely clasping her. Clasping belongs to a different word. Its range ran from mating to being born.

Practice

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Origins

Meanings 6, 14–16, 19–20, 22–23

From Middle English streen ("race, stock, generation"), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon ("gain, wealth"), from Proto-Germanic *streuną ("heap, treasure, profit, gain") and ultimately Proto-Indo-European *strew- ("to spread, strew"). It was confused in Middle English with a related noun from Old English strȳnd ("race; stock").

Meanings 1–5, 7–13, 17–18, 21, 24

From Middle English straynen, from Old French estreindre (source of French étreindre, "to grip"), from Latin stringō ("to draw tight together, to tie").

Meaning 25

From Middle English strenen ("to beget, father, procreate"), from Old English strēonan, strȳnan ("to beget, generate, gain, acquire"), from Proto-Germanic *striunijaną ("to furnish, decorate, acquire").