Chapter 104

Syn. -- Stout, Corpulent, Portly. Corpulent has reference simply to a superabundance or excess of flesh. Portly implies a kind of stoutness or corpulence which gives a dignified or imposing appearance. Stout, in our early writers (as in the English Bible), was used chiefly or wholly in the sense of strong or bold; as, a stout champion; a stout heart; a stout resistance, etc. At a later period it was used for thickset or bulky, and more recently, especially in England, the idea has been carried still further, so that Taylor says in his Synonyms: "The stout man has the proportions of an ox; he is corpulent, fat, and fleshy in relation to his size." In America, stout is still commonly used in the original sense of strong as, a stout boy; a stout pole.

Stout, n. A strong malt liquor; strong porter. Swift.

Stout"-heart"ed (?), a. Having a brave heart; courageous. -- Stout"-heart"ed*ness, n.

Stout"ish, a. Somewhat stout; somewhat corpulent.

Stout"ly, adv. In a stout manner; lustily; boldly; obstinately; as, he stoutly defended himself.

Stout"ness, n. The state or quality of being stout.

Syn. -- Strength; bulk; courage; force; valor; lustiness; brawniness; boldness; fortitude; stubbornness.

Stove (?), imp. of Stave.

Stove, n. [D. stoof a foot stove, originally, a heated room, a room for a bath; akin to G. stube room, OHG. stuba a heated room, AS. stofe, Icel. stofa a room, bathing room, Sw. stufva, stuga, a room, Dan. stue; of unknown origin. Cf. Estufa, Stew, Stufa.] 1. A house or room artificially warmed or heated; a forcing house, or hothouse; a drying room; -- formerly, designating an artificially warmed dwelling or room, a parlor, or a bathroom, but now restricted, in this sense, to heated houses or rooms used for horticultural purposes or in the processes of the arts.

When most of the waiters were commanded away to their supper, the parlor or stove being nearly emptied, in came a company of musketeers.

Earl of Strafford.

How tedious is it to them that live in stoves and caves half a year together, as in Iceland, Muscovy, or under the pole!

Burton.

2. An apparatus, consisting essentially of a receptacle for fuel, made of iron, brick, stone, or tiles, and variously constructed, in which fire is made or kept for warming a room or a house, or for culinary or other purposes.

Cooking stove, a stove with an oven, opening for pots, kettles, and the like, -- used for cooking. -- Dry stove. See under Dry. -- Foot stove. See under Foot. -- Franklin stove. See in the Vocabulary. -- Stove plant (Bot.), a plant which requires artificial heat to make it grow in cold or cold temperate climates. -- Stove plate, thin iron castings for the parts of stoves.

Stove, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stoved (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Stoving.] 1. To keep warm, in a house or room, by artificial heat; as, to stove orange trees. Bacon.

2. To heat or dry, as in a stove; as, to stove feathers.

Stove"house` (?), n. A hothouse.

Stove"pipe` (?), n. Pipe made of sheet iron in length and angular or curved pieces fitting together, -- used to connect a portable stove with a chimney flue.

Stovepipe hat, the common tall silk hat. [Slang, U.S.]

Sto"ver (?), n. [OE. estoveir, estovoir, necessity, provisions, properly an inf., "to be necessary." Cf. Estovers.] Fodder for cattle, especially straw or coarse hay.

Where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatched with stover them to keep.

Shak.

Thresh barley as yet but as need shall require, Fresh threshed for stover thy cattle desire.

Tusser.

Stow (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stowed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Stowing.] [OE. stowen, fr. stowe a place, AS. stow; cf. Icel. eldsta fireplace, hearth, OFries. st, and E. stand. √163.] 1. To place or arrange in a compact mass; to put in its proper place, or in a suitable place; to pack; as, to stowbags, bales, or casks in a ship's hold; to stow hay in a mow; to stow sheaves.

Some stow their oars, or stop the leaky sides.

Dryden.

2. To put away in some place; to hide; to lodge.

Foul thief! where hast thou stowed my daughter?

Shak.

3. To arrange anything compactly in; to fill, by packing closely; as, to stow a box, car, or the hold of a ship.

Stow"age (?), n. 1. The act or method of stowing; as, the stowage of provisions in a vessel.

2. Room in which things may be stowed. Cook.

In every vessel is stowage for immense treasures.

Addison.

3. The state of being stowed, or put away. "To have them in safe stowage." Shak.

4. Things stowed or packed. Beau. & Fl.

5. Money paid for stowing goods.

Stow"a*way` (?), n. One who conceals himself board of a vessel about to leave port, or on a railway train, in order to obtain a free passage.

Stow"board (?), n. A place into which rubbish is put. [Written also stowbord.]

Stowce (?), n. (Mining) (a) A windlass. (b) A wooden landmark, to indicate possession of mining land.

Stow"ing (?), n. (Mining) A method of working in which the waste is packed into the space formed by excavating the vein.

Stowre (?), a. See Stour, a. [Obs.]

Stowre, n. See Stour, n. [Obs.] Spenser.

Stra"bism (?), n. (Med.) Strabismus.

Stra`bis*mom"e*ter (?), n. [Strabismus + -meter.] (Med.) An instrument for measuring the amount of strabismus.

Stra*bis"mus (?), n. [NL., fr. Gr. &?;, fr. &?; to squint, fr. &?; distorted, squinting.] (Med.) An affection of one or both eyes, in which the optic axes can not be directed to the same object, -- a defect due either to undue contraction or to undue relaxation of one or more of the muscles which move the eyeball; squinting; cross-eye.

Stra*bot"o*my (?), n. [Gr. &?; squinting + &?; to cut.] (Surg.) The operation for the removal of squinting by the division of such muscles as distort the eyeball.

Strad"dle (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Straddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straddling (?).] [Freq. from the root of stride.] 1. To part the legs wide; to stand or to walk with the legs far apart.

2. To stand with the ends staggered; -- said of the spokes of a wagon wheel where they join the hub.

Strad"dle, v. t. To place one leg on one side and the other on the other side of; to stand or sit astride of; as, to straddle a fence or a horse.

Strad"dle, n. 1. The act of standing, sitting, or walking, with the feet far apart.

2. The position, or the distance between the feet, of one who straddles; as, a wide straddle.

3. A stock option giving the holder the double privilege of a "put" and a "call," i. e., securing to the buyer of the option the right either to demand of the seller at a certain price, within a certain time, certain securities, or to require him to take at the same price, and within the same time, the same securities. [Broker's Cant]

Strad"dling (?), a. Applied to spokes when they are arranged alternately in two circles in the hub. See Straddle, v. i., and Straddle, v. t., 3. Knight.

Strad`o*met"ric*al (?), a. [It. strada street or road + E. metrical.] Of, or relating to, the measuring of streets or roads. [R.]

Strag"gle (?), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Straggled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straggling (?).] [Freq. of OE. straken to roam, to stroke. See Stroke, v. t.] 1. To wander from the direct course or way; to rove; to stray; to wander from the line of march or desert the line of battle; as, when troops are on the march, the men should not straggle. Dryden.

2. To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble.

The wolf spied out a straggling kid.

L'Estrange.

3. To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth.

Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out.

Mortimer.

4. To be dispersed or separated; to occur at intervals. "Straggling pistol shots." Sir W. Scott.

They came between Scylla and Charybdis and the straggling rocks.

Sir W. Raleigh.

Strag"gle, n. The act of straggling. [R.] Carlyle.

Strag"gler (?), n. 1. One who straggles, or departs from the direct or proper course, or from the company to which he belongs; one who falls behind the rest; one who rambles without any settled direction.

2. A roving vagabond. Shak.

3. Something that shoots, or spreads out, beyond the rest, or too far; an exuberant growth.

Let thy hand supply the pruning knife, And crop luxuriant stragglers.

Dryden.

4. Something that stands alone or by itself.

Strag"gling (?), a. & n. from Straggle, v.

Strag"gling*ly, adv. In a straggling manner.

||Strag"u*lum (?), n.; pl. Stragula (#). [L., a spread or covering, ||from sternere to spread out.] (Zoöl.) The mantle, or pallium, of a ||bird.

Straight (?), a. A variant of Strait, a. [Obs. or R.]

Egypt is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say, narrow.

Sir J. Mandeville.

Straight, a. [Compar. Straighter (?); superl. Straightest.] [OE. strei&?;t, properly p. p. of strecchen to stretch, AS. streht, p. p. of streccan to stretch, to extend. See Stretch.] 1. Right, in a mathematical sense; passing from one point to another by the nearest course; direct; not deviating or crooked; as, a straight line or course; a straight piece of timber.

And the crooked shall be made straight.

Isa. xl. 4.

There are many several sorts of crooked lines, but there is only one which is straight.

Dryden.

2. (Bot.) Approximately straight; not much curved; as, straight ribs are such as pass from the base of a leaf to the apex, with a small curve.

3. (Card Playing) Composed of cards which constitute a regular sequence, as the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten-spot; as, a straight hand; a straight flush.

4. Conforming to justice and rectitude; not deviating from truth or fairness; upright; as, straight dealing.

5. Unmixed; undiluted; as, to take liquor straight. [Slang]

6. Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party; as, a straight Republican; a straight Democrat; also, containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a party and no others; as, a straight ballot. [Political Cant, U.S.]

Straight arch (Arch.), a form of arch in which the intrados is straight, but with its joints drawn radially, as in a common arch. -- A straight face, one giving no evidence of merriment or other emotion. -- A straight line. "That which lies evenly between its extreme points." Euclid. "The shortest line between two points." Chauvenet. "A line which has the same direction through its whole length." Newcomb. -- Straight- way valve, a valve which, when opened widely, affords a straight passageway, as for water.

Straight (?), adv. In a straight manner; directly; rightly; forthwith; immediately; as, the arrow went straight to the mark. "Floating straight." Shak.

I know thy generous temper well; Fling but the appearance of dishonor on it, It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze.

Addison.

Everything was going on straight.

W. Black.

Straight, n. (Poker) A hand of five cards in consecutive order as to value; a sequence. When they are of one suit, it is calles straight flush.

Straight, v. t. To straighten. [R.] A Smith.

Straight"edge` (?), n. A board, or piece of wood or metal, having one edge perfectly straight, -- used to ascertain whether a line is straight or a surface even, and for drawing straight lines.

Straight"en (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Straighted (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straighting.] 1. To make straight; to reduce from a crooked to a straight form.

2. To make right or correct; to reduce to order; as, to straighten one's affairs; to straighten an account.

To straighten one's face, to cease laughing or smiling, etc., and compose one's features.

Straight"en, v. t. A variant of Straiten. [Obs. or R.]

Straight"en*er (?), n. One who, or that which, straightens.

Straight"forth` (?), adv. Straightway. [Obs.]

Straight`for"ward (?), a. Proceeding in a straight course or manner; not deviating; honest; frank. -- adv. In a straightforward manner. -- Straight`for"ward*ly, adv. -- Straight`for"ward*ness, n.

Straight"horn` (?), n. (Paleon.) An orthoceras.

Straight"-joint` (?), a. (Arch.) Having straight joints. Specifically: (a) Applied to a floor the boards of which are so laid that the joints form a continued line transverse to the length of the boards themselves. Brandle & C. (b) In the United States, applied to planking or flooring put together without the tongue and groove, the pieces being laid edge to edge.

Straight"-lined` (?), a. Having straight lines.

Straight"ly, adv. In a right line; not crookedly.

Straight"ly, adv. A variant of Straitly. See 1st Straight.

Straight"ness, n. The quality, condition, or state, of being straight; as, the straightness of a path.

Straight"ness, n. A variant of Straitness.

Straight"-out` (?), a. Acting without concealment, obliquity, or compromise; hence, unqualified; thoroughgoing. [Colloq. U.S.]

Straight-out and generous indignation.

Mrs. Stowe.

Straight"-pight` (?), a. Straight in form or upright in position; erect. [Obs.] Shak.

Straight"-spo`ken (?), a. Speaking with directness; plain-spoken. [Colloq. U.S.] Lowell.

Straight"way` (?), adv. Immediately; without loss of time; without delay.

He took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi. . . . And straightway the damsel arose.

Mark v. 41,42.

Straight"ways` (?), adv. Straightway. [Obs.]

Straik (?), n. A strake.

Strain (?), n. [See Strene.] 1. Race; stock; generation; descent; family.

He is of a noble strain.

Shak.

With animals and plants a cross between different varieties, or between individuals of the same variety but of another strain, gives vigor and fertility to the offspring.

Darwin.

2. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.

Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which, propogated, spoil the strain of nation.

Tillotson.

3. Rank; a sort. "The common strain." Dryden.

Strain, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strained (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straining.] [OF. estraindre, estreindre, F. étreindre, L. stringere to draw or bind tight; probably akin to Gr. &?; a halter, &?; that which is squeezwd out, a drop, or perhaps to E. strike. Cf. Strangle, Strike, Constrain, District, Strait, a. Stress, Strict, Stringent.] 1. To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument. "To strain his fetters with a stricter care." Dryden.

2. (Mech.) To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.

3. To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.

He sweats, Strains his young nerves.

Shak.

They strain their warbling throats To welcome in the spring.

Dryden.

4. To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.

There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it.

Swift.

5. To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.

6. To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle.

Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks with looking back.

Swift.

7. To squeeze; to press closely.

Evander with a close embrace Strained his departing friend.

Dryden.

8. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.

He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth Is forced and strained.

Denham.

The quality of mercy is not strained.

Shak.

9. To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation.

Note, if your lady strain his entertainment.

Shak.

10. To press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.

To strain a point, to make a special effort; especially, to do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own feelings. -- To strain courtesy, to go beyond what courtesy requires; to insist somewhat too much upon the precedence of others; -- often used ironically. Shak.

<! p. 1422 !>

Strain (strn), v. i. 1. To make violent efforts. "Straining with too weak a wing." Pope.

To build his fortune I will strain a little.

Shak.

2. To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.

Strain, n. 1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained. Specifically: --

(a) A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.

Whether any poet of our country since Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of powers with less strain and less ostentation.

Landor.

Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers a strain.

Sir W. Temple.

(b) (Mech. Physics) A change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress. Rankine.

2. (Mus.) A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.

Their heavenly harps a lower strain began.

Dryden.

3. Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career. "A strain of gallantry." Sir W. Scott.

Such take too high a strain at first.

Bacon.

The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs.

Tillotson.

It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet contains Nothing but sound and honest gospel strains.

Bunyan.

4. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st Strain.

Because heretics have a strain of madness, he applied her with some corporal chastisements.

Hayward.

Strain"a*ble (-*b'l), a. 1. Capable of being strained.

2. Violent in action. Holinshed.

Strain"a*bly, adv. Violently. Holinshed.

Strained (?), a. 1. Subjected to great or excessive tension; wrenched; weakened; as, strained relations between old friends.

2. Done or produced with straining or excessive effort; as, his wit was strained.

Strain"er (?), n. 1. One who strains.

2. That through which any liquid is passed for purification or to separate it from solid matter; anything, as a screen or a cloth, used to strain a liquid; a device of the character of a sieve or of a filter; specifically, an openwork or perforated screen, as for the end of the suction pipe of a pump, to prevent large solid bodies from entering with a liquid.

Strain"ing, a. & n. from Strain.

Straining piece (Arch.), a short piece of timber in a truss, used to maintain the ends of struts or rafters, and keep them from slipping. See Illust. of Queen- post.

Straint (strnt), n. [OF. estrainte, estreinte, F. étrainte. See 2nd Strain.] Overexertion; excessive tension; strain. [Obs.] Spenser.

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"en (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Straitened (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Straitening.] 1. To make strait; to make narrow; hence, to contract; to confine.

Waters, when straitened, as at the falls of bridges, give a roaring noise.

Bacon.

In narrow circuit, straitened by a foe.

Milton.

2. To make tense, or tight; to tighten.

They straiten at each end the cord.

Pope.

3. To restrict; to distress or embarrass in respect of means or conditions of life; -- used chiefly in the past participle; -- as, a man straitened in his circumstances.

Strait"-hand`ed (?), a. Parsimonious; sparing; niggardly. [R.] -- Strait"- hand`ed*ness, n. [R.]

Strait"-jack`et (?), n. A dress of strong materials for restraining maniacs or those who are violently delirious. It has long sleeves, which are closed at the ends, confining the hands, and may be tied behind the back.

Strait"-laced` (?), a. 1. Bound with stays.

Let nature have scope to fashion the body as she thinks best; we have few well-shaped that are strait- laced.

Locke.

2. Restricted; stiff; constrained. [R.] Fuller.

3. Rigid in opinion; strict in manners or morals.

Strait"ly, adv. 1. In a strait manner; narrowly; strictly; rigorously. Mark i. 43.

2. Closely; intimately. [Obs.]

Strait"ness, n. The quality or condition of being strait; especially, a pinched condition or situation caused by poverty; as, the straitnessof their circumstances.

Strait"-waist`coat (?), n. Same as Strait-jacket.

Strake (?), obs. imp. of Strike. Spenser.

Strake, n. [See Streak.] 1. A streak. [Obs.] Spenser."White strake." Gen. xxx. 37.

2. An iron band by which the fellies of a wheel are secured to each other, being not continuous, as the tire is, but made up of separate pieces.

3. (Shipbuilding) One breadth of planks or plates forming a continuous range on the bottom or sides of a vessel, reaching from the stem to the stern; a streak.

The planks or plates next the keel are called the garboard strakes; the next, or the heavy strakes at the bilge, are the bilge strakes; the next, from the water line to the lower port sill, the wales; and the upper parts of the sides, the sheer strakes.

4. (Mining) A trough for washing broken ore, gravel, or sand; a launder.

Strale (?), n. Pupil of the eye. [Prov. Eng.]

Stram (?), v. t. [Cf. LG. strammen to strain, straiten, stretch, D. stram strained, tight, G. stramm.] To spring or recoil with violence. [Prov. Eng.]

Stram, v. t. To dash down; to beat. [Prov. Eng.]