strain

Meaning

Noun

1. (archaic) Race; lineage, pedigree.
2. A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.
3. (figuratively) Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.
4. 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.
5. Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.
6. (rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.).
7. (obsolete) Treasure.
8. (obsolete) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.

Verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To hold tightly, to clasp.
2. (transitive) To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.
3. (transitive) To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.
4. (transitive) To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam.
5. (ambitransitive) To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable.
6. (transitive) To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.
7. (transitive) To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander.
8. (intransitive) To percolate; to be filtered.
9. (transitive) To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
10. (transitive) To urge with importunity; to press.
11. (transitive) To hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly.

Verb

To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world.

Synonyms

filter

stress

tense

tension

stretch

sift

sieve

tighten

sprain

rack

effort

extend

exertion

tune

wind up

strech

struggle

squeeze

melody

stock

line

force

pull

pressure

distort

overwork

breed

melodic line

melodic phrase

drain

air

try

tautness

strive

tense up

filtrate

exert

be serious

be stern

draw

tone

percolate

bend

nisus

lineage

pains

mental strain

straining

filter out

screen

Translations

filtrer

tensione

anspannen

passer

spannen

spannen

colar

tensar

uitrekken

tendre

anziehen

raidir

caricare

opwinden

Pronounced as (IPA)

/stɹeɪn/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: streen

Inherited from Old English: strēon

Cognate with Old Saxon: gistriuni

Cognate with Old High German: gistriuni

Cognate with Latin: strues

Inherited from Old English: strȳnd

Cognate with Dutch: struinen

Inherited from Middle English: straynen

Cognate with French: étreindre

In summary

From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English strēon, ġestrēon (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streuną (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English strȳnd (“race; stock”), from strēonan, strȳnan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).