Dictionary (beta)

Definition by Wordnik

1. (verb-transitive) To pull, draw, or stretch tight: strained the sheets over the bed.
2. (verb-transitive) To exert or tax to the utmost: straining our ears to hear.
3. (verb-transitive) To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench: strain a muscle.
4. (verb-transitive) To stretch or force beyond the proper or legitimate limit: strain a point.
5. (verb-transitive) Physics To alter (the relations between the parts of a structure or shape) by applying an external force; deform.
6. (verb-transitive) To pass (gravy, for example) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.
7. (verb-transitive) To draw off or remove by filtration: strained the pulp from the juice.
8. (verb-transitive) To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.
9. (verb-intransitive) To make violent or steady efforts; strive hard: straining to reach the finish line.
10. (verb-intransitive) To be or become wrenched or twisted.
11. (verb-intransitive) To be subjected to great stress.
12. (verb-intransitive) To pull forcibly or violently: The dog strained at its leash.
13. (verb-intransitive) To stretch or exert one's muscles or nerves to the utmost.
14. (verb-intransitive) To filter, trickle, or ooze.
15. (verb-intransitive) To be extremely hesitant; balk: a mule that strained at the lead.
16. (noun) The act of straining.
17. (noun) The state of being strained.
18. (noun) Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work.
19. (noun) A great or excessive pressure, demand, or stress on one's body, mind, or resources: the strain of managing both a family and a career.
20. (noun) A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.
21. (noun) Physics A deformation produced by stress.
22. (noun) An exceptional degree or pitch: a strain of zealous idealism.
23. (noun) The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.
24. (noun) Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.
25. (noun) Biology A group of organisms of the same species, having distinctive characteristics but not usually considered a separate breed or variety: a superior strain of wheat; a smooth strain of bacteria.
26. (noun) An artificial variety of a domestic animal or cultivated plant.
27. (noun) A kind or sort: imaginings of a morbid strain.
28. (noun) An inborn or inherited tendency or character.
29. (noun) An inherent quality; a streak. See Synonyms at streak.
30. (noun) The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior: spoke in a passionate strain.
31. (noun) A prevailing quality, as of attitude or behavior.
32. (noun) Music A passage of expression; a tune or an air. Often use in the plural: melodic strains of the violin.
33. (noun) A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
34. (noun) An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.