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Straining   /strˈeɪnɪŋ/   Listen
verb
Strain  v. t.  (past & past part. strained; pres. part. straining)  
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."
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." "They strain their warbling throats To welcome in the spring."
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."
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."
7.
To squeeze; to press closely. "Evander with a close embrace Strained his departing friend."
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." "The quality of mercy is not strained."
9.
To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation. "Note, if your lady strain his entertainment."
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.


Strain  v. i.  
1.
To make violent efforts. "Straining with too weak a wing." "To build his fortune I will strain a little."
2.
To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.


adjective
Straining  adj.  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.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Straining" Quotes from Famous Books



... they sat there—Mrs. Travilla, Adelaide, the doctor, and poor old Chloe—silent and still as statues, watching that quiet slumber, straining their ears to catch the faint sound of the gentle breathing—a sound so low that ever and anon their hearts thrilled with the sudden fear that it had ceased forever; and one or another, rising noiselessly, would bend over the little form in speechless alarm, until again ...
— Holidays at Roselands • Martha Finley
... payments, and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab states, worker remittances, and trade contracted; and refugees flooded the country, producing serious balance-of-payments problems, stunting GDP growth, and straining government resources. The economy rebounded in 1992, largely due to the influx of capital repatriated by workers returning from the Gulf, but the recovery was uneven throughout 1994 and 1995. The government is implementing the reform program adopted ...
— The 1996 CIA Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency.
... merit," he says, " ... of having drawn together and unified the labor movement and the socialist idea. In the first third of the nineteenth century labor struggled and fought against the crushing power of capital; but it was not conscious itself toward what end it was straining; it did not know that the true objective of its effort was the common ownership of property. And, on the other hand, socialism did not know that the labor movement was the living form in which its spirit was ...
— Violence and the Labor Movement • Robert Hunter
... felt at first a dull sort of surprise and then a sudden, stimulating gladness, noting the familiar look of the ridge ahead. Yonder the cave would be. The cave and King, success and rest. She straightened up a little, brushing her hand across her straining eyes, making sure that she was right. She heard the insistent scream behind her, but now she did not heed it, for in front of her, stock-still in the trail, was a man. ...
— The Everlasting Whisper • Jackson Gregory
... my sinuous hips As a dancer winds her girdle. The ocean's horrid crew, The octopus, the serpent, and the shark, with the heart of a coward, Plunge downward when they hear my feet above on the sea-floor, And hide in their slimy coverts. Brave men pray upon the straining decks Till comes my mood to end them, and I strew the ...
— Pan and Aeolus: Poems • Charles Hamilton Musgrove


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