Nar"row (?), a.
[Compar. Narrower (?);
superl. Narrowest.] [OE. narwe,
naru, AS. nearu; akin to OS. naru, naro.]
1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having
little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a
narrow street; a narrow hem.
Hath passed in safety through the narrow
seas.
Shak.
2. Of little extent; very limited;
circumscribed.
The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a
narrow compass in the world.
Bp.
Wilkins.
3. Having but a little margin; having barely
sufficient space, time, or number, etc.; close; near; -- with special
reference to some peril or misfortune; as, a narrow shot; a
narrow escape; a narrow majority.
Dryden.
4. Limited as to means; straitened; pinching;
as, narrow circumstances.
5. Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal;
bigoted; as, a narrow mind; narrow views. "A
narrow understanding." Macaulay.
6. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous;
selfish.
A very narrow and stinted charity.
Smalridge.
7. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate;
exact.
But first with narrow search I must walk
round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
Milton.
8. (Phon.) Formed (as a vowel) by a
close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate;
or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; --
distinguished from wide; as ē (ēve) and &oomac;
(f&oomac;d), etc., from &ibreve; (&ibreve;ll) and &oocr; (f&oocr;t),
etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13.
&fist; Narrow is not unfrequently prefixed to words,
especially to participles and adjectives, forming compounds of
obvious signification; as, narrow-bordered, narrow-
brimmed, narrow-breasted, narrow-edged, narrow-
faced, narrow-headed, narrow-leaved, narrow-
pointed, narrow-souled, narrow-sphered, etc.
Narrow gauge. (Railroad) See Note
under Gauge, n., 6.
Nar"row (?), n.; pl.
Narrows (&?;). A narrow passage; esp., a
contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two
bodies of water; -- usually in the plural; as, The Narrows of
New York harbor.
Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a
dangerous
narrow.
Gladstone.
Nar"row, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Narrowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Narrowing.] [AS. nearwian.] 1. To
lessen the breadth of; to contract; to draw into a smaller compass;
to reduce the width or extent of. Sir W. Temple.
2. To contract the reach or sphere of; to
make less liberal or more selfish; to limit; to confine; to restrict;
as, to narrow one's views or knowledge; to narrow a
question in discussion.
Our knowledge is much more narrowed if we
confine ourselves to our own solitary reasonings.
I.
Watts.
3. (Knitting) To contract the size of,
as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
Nar"row, v. i. 1.
To become less broad; to contract; to become narrower; as, the
sea narrows into a strait.
2. (Man.) Not to step out enough to
the one hand or the other; as, a horse narrows.
Farrier's Dict.
3. (Knitting) To contract the size of
a stocking or other knit article, by taking two stitches into
one.
