strains

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of strain.

   Researchers compared several bacterial strains for antibiotic resistance.

   The orchestra opened with the familiar strains of the national anthem.

   Note

   A plural that holds two very different families of meaning. In the laboratory, strains are varieties of a microbe, virus or other organism, usually below the species level. In music and verse, they are sustained notes, passages of a song or poem, or heightened, poetic language. Older uses reach back to race and lineage, now archaic, and to inherited tendency, used figuratively. The surrounding words usually settle which meaning is intended.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of strain.

   He strains the freshly brewed tea through a fine metal sieve.

   The heavy cargo strains the aging suspension cables of the bridge.

   Note

   Most of what this form carries is force. It can mean to stretch something, to bend or deform it (as a load does to a beam), or to damage it by stretching. It can also mean to stretch a meaning past its proper limit. Without an object it means to struggle, usually followed by to and a verb: she strains to hear. An older sense, to hold someone tightly, is obsolete.

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