Search the Dictionary

A narrowing of the opening or hollow of any passage, tube, or orifice; as, stenosis of the pylorus. It differs from stricture in being applied especially to diffused rather than localized contractions, and in always indicating an origin organic and not spasmodic.

Having a small or narrow mouth; -- said of certain small ground snakes (Opoterodonta), which are unable to dilate their jaws.

covetous; meanly avaricious; niggardly; miserly; penurious; as, a stingy churl. A stingy, narrow-hearted fellow that had a deal of choice fruit, had not the heart to touch it till it began to be rotten. L'estrange.

A narrow band of silk or stuff, sometimes enriched with embroidery and jewels, worn on the left shoulder of deacons, and across both shoulders of bishops and priests, pendent on each side nearly to the ground. At Mass, it is worn crossed on the breast by priests. It is used in various sacred functions. Groom of the sto…

window shuts down, and which corresponds to the sill of a door; in the United States, the narrow shelf fitted on the inside against the actual sill upon which the sash descends. This is called a window seat when broad and low enough to be used as a seat. Stool of repentance, the cuttystool. [Scot.] -- Stool pigeon, a p…

t of Strait, a. [Obs. or R.] Egypt is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say, narrow. Sir J. Mandeville.

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.

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.

In a strait manner; narrowly; strictly; rigorously. Mark i. 43.

A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like; specifically, a strip of thick leather used in flogging. A lively cobbler that . . . had scarce passed a day without giving her [his wife] the discipline of the strap. Addison.

A kind of ornament consisting of a narrow fillet or band folded, crossed, and interlaced.

An ensign, flag, or pennant, which floats in the wind; specifically, a long, narrow, ribbonlike flag. Brave Rupert from afar appears, Whose waving streamers the glad general knows. Dryden.

Close; narrow; strict. [Obs.] See Strait.

Narrowly; strictly; straitly. [Obs.]

A narrow crosspiece of the bottom of a boat against which a rower braces his feet.

A minute groove, or channel; a threadlike line, as of color; a narrow structural band or line; a striation; as, the striæ, or groovings, produced on a rock by a glacier passing over it; the striæ on the surface of a shell; a stria of nervous matter in the brain.

Marked with striaæ, or fine grooves, or lines of color; showing narrow structural bands or lines; as, a striated crystal; striated muscular fiber.

Upright, or straight and narrow; -- said of the shape of the plants or their flower clusters.

A narrow passage between precipitous rocks or banks, which looks as if it might be crossed at a stride. [Prov. Eng.] Howitt. This striding place is called the Strid. Wordsworth.

A narrow piece, or one comparatively long; as, a strip of cloth; a strip of land.