noun rank; a sort.
2. strain ·vi to make violent efforts.
3. strain ·noun race; stock; generation; descent; family.
4. strain ·adj to exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.
5. strain ·noun hereditary character, quality, or disposition.
6. strain ·noun turn; tendency; inborn disposition. ·cf. 1st strain.
7. strain ·adj to squeeze; to press closely.
8. strain ·noun the act of straining, or the state of being strained.
9. strain ·add. ·noun a cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.
10. strain ·noun a change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.
11. strain ·vi to percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.
12. strain ·adj to act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.
13. strain ·adj to urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation.
14. strain ·adj to injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.
15. strain ·adj to make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
xvi. strain ·noun a portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.
xvii. strain ·adj to stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.
xviii. strain ·adj to draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument.
xix. strain ·noun a violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.
xx. strain ·adj to injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle.
xxi. strain ·adj to press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.
xxii. strain ·noun 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, oration, book, ·etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career.