Word.ws English Dictionary

straint

straint noun: strain (tension of overexertion).

Noun

straint

  1. (obsolete) Strain (tension of overexertion).
    • That with the straint o his weasand nigh he brast1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

Origin of straint

Uncertain. Perhaps partly from Middle French estrainte, estreinte, from Old French estrainte, estreinte; and perhaps partly taken from a clipping of English contraint, restraint, etc. See strain.

Questions about straint

What does straint mean?
Straint means strain (tension of overexertion).
What part of speech is straint?
Straint is a noun.

Words near straint in the dictionary

  1. strains at the leash
  2. strains courtesy
  3. strains every nerve
  4. strains the potatoes
  5. strainsome
  6. straint
  7. straintronic
  8. straintronics
  9. strait
  10. strait and narrow
  11. strait jacket

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: straint (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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