STRAIN

I. noun see: strew Date: 13th century 1. lineage , ancestry , a group of presumed common ancestry with clear-cut physiological but usually not morphological distinctions , kind , sort , 2. inherited or inherent character, quality, or disposition , trace , streak , 3. tune , air , a passage of verbal or musical expression, a stream or outburst of forceful or impassioned speech, 4. the tenor, pervading note, burden, or tone of an utterance or of a course of action or conduct, mood , temper , II. verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French estreindre, from Latin stringere to bind or draw tight, press together; akin to Greek strang-, stranx drop squeezed out, strangalē halter Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to draw tight ; cause to fit firmly , to stretch to maximum extension and tautness , 2. to exert (as oneself) to the utmost, to injure by overuse, misuse, or excessive pressure , to cause a change of form or size in (a body) by application of external force, to squeeze or clasp tightly: as, hug , to compress painfully ; constrict , 4. to cause to pass through a ~er ; filter , to remove by ~ing , to stretch beyond a proper limit , to squeeze out ; extort , intransitive verb 1. to make violent efforts ; strive , to pull against resistance , to contract the muscles forcefully in attempting to defecate, to pass through or as if through a ~er , to make great difficulty or resistance ; balk , III. noun Date: 1558 an act of ~ing or the condition of being ~ed: as, bodily injury from excessive tension, effort, or use , excessive or difficult exertion or labor, excessive physical or mental tension, deformation of a material body under the action of applied forces, an unusual reach, degree, or intensity ; pitch , a ~ed interpretation of something said or written