Strait (?), a. A variant of
Straight. [Obs.]
Strait (?), a.
[Compar. Straiter (?);
superl. Straitest.] [OE. straight,
streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F.
étroit, from L. strictus drawn together, close,
tight, p. p. of stringere to draw tight. See 2nd Strait,
and cf. Strict.] 1. Narrow; not
broad.
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt. vii. 14.
Too strait and low our cottage
doors.
Emerson.
2. Tight; close; closely fitting.
Shak.
3. Close; intimate; near; familiar.
[Obs.] "A strait degree of favor." Sir P. Sidney.
4. Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.
Some certain edicts and some strait
decrees.
Shak.
The straitest sect of our religion.
Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.).
5. Difficult; distressful; straited.
To make your strait circumstances yet
straiter.
Secker.
6. Parsimonious; niggargly; mean.
[Obs.]
I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait,
And so ingrateful, you deny me that.
Shak.
Strait (?), adv. Strictly;
rigorously. [Obs.] Shak.
Strait, n.; pl.
Straits (#). [OE. straight, streit,
OF. estreit, estroit. See Strait,
a.] 1. A narrow pass or
passage.
He brought him through a darksome narrow
strait
To a broad gate all built of beaten gold.
Spenser.
Honor travels in a strait so narrow
Where one but goes abreast.
Shak.
2. Specifically: (Geog.) A
(comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of
water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or
straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the
strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.
We steered directly through a large outlet which they
call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad.
De Foe.
3. A neck of land; an isthmus. [R.]
A dark strait of barren land.
Tennyson.
4. Fig.: A condition of narrowness or
restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; --
sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great
straits.
For I am in a strait betwixt two.
Phil. i. 23.
Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under
any calamity or strait whatsoever.
South.
Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity
to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his
thoughts.
Broome.
Strait, v. t. To put to
difficulties. [Obs.] Shak.
Strait (?), a. A variant of
Straight. [Obs.]
Strait (?), a.
[Compar. Straiter (?);
superl. Straitest.] [OE. straight,
streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F.
étroit, from L. strictus drawn together, close,
tight, p. p. of stringere to draw tight. See 2nd Strait,
and cf. Strict.] 1. Narrow; not
broad.
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt. vii. 14.
Too strait and low our cottage
doors.
Emerson.
2. Tight; close; closely fitting.
Shak.
3. Close; intimate; near; familiar.
[Obs.] "A strait degree of favor." Sir P. Sidney.
4. Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.
Some certain edicts and some strait
decrees.
Shak.
The straitest sect of our religion.
Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.).
5. Difficult; distressful; straited.
To make your strait circumstances yet
straiter.
Secker.
6. Parsimonious; niggargly; mean.
[Obs.]
I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait,
And so ingrateful, you deny me that.
Shak.
Strait (?), adv. Strictly;
rigorously. [Obs.] Shak.
Strait, n.; pl.
Straits (#). [OE. straight, streit,
OF. estreit, estroit. See Strait,
a.] 1. A narrow pass or
passage.
He brought him through a darksome narrow
strait
To a broad gate all built of beaten gold.
Spenser.
Honor travels in a strait so narrow
Where one but goes abreast.
Shak.
2. Specifically: (Geog.) A
(comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of
water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or
straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the
strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.
We steered directly through a large outlet which they
call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad.
De Foe.
3. A neck of land; an isthmus. [R.]
A dark strait of barren land.
Tennyson.
4. Fig.: A condition of narrowness or
restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; --
sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great
straits.
For I am in a strait betwixt two.
Phil. i. 23.
Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under
any calamity or strait whatsoever.
South.
Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity
to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his
thoughts.
Broome.
Strait, v. t. To put to
difficulties. [Obs.] Shak.
