v., strained, strain·ing, strains. v.tr.
- To pull, draw, or stretch tight: strained the sheets over the bed.
- To exert or tax to the utmost: straining our ears to hear.
- To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench: strain a muscle.
- To stretch or force beyond the proper or legitimate limit: strain a point.
- Physics. To alter (the relations between the parts of a structure or shape) by applying an external force; deform.
- To pass (gravy, for example) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.
- To draw off or remove by filtration: strained the pulp from the juice.
- To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.
- To make violent or steady efforts; strive hard: straining to reach the finish line.
- To be or become wrenched or twisted.
- To be subjected to great stress.
- To pull forcibly or violently: The dog strained at its leash.
- To stretch or exert one's muscles or nerves to the utmost.
- To filter, trickle, or ooze.
- To be extremely hesitant; balk: a mule that strained at the lead.
- The act of straining.
- The state of being strained.
- Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work.
- 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.
- A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.
- Physics. A deformation produced by stress.
- An exceptional degree or pitch: a strain of zealous idealism.
[Middle English streinen, from Old French estreindre, estrein-, to bind tightly, from Latin stringere.]
strain2 (strān)

n.
- The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.
- Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.
- 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.
- An artificial variety of a domestic animal or cultivated plant.
- A kind or sort: imaginings of a morbid strain.
- An inborn or inherited tendency or character.
- An inherent quality; a streak. See synonyms at streak.
- The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior: spoke in a passionate strain.
- A prevailing quality, as of attitude or behavior.
- Music. A passage of expression; a tune or an air. Often use in the plural: melodic strains of the violin.
- A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
- An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.
[Middle English strene, from Old English strēon, something gained, progeny.]





