streigne

Verb

strain (third-person singular simple present strains, present participle straining, simple past and past participle strained)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To hold tightly, to clasp.
   • So hauing said, her twixt her armes twaine / She straightly straynd, and colled tenderly […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
2. (transitive) To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.
   • to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship
3. (transitive) To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.
   • The gale strained the timbers of the ship.
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.
   • Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.
6. (transitive) To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.
   • to strain the law in order to convict an accused person

See all 27 meanings of strain