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from Sile to strain. [Obs. or Prov.Eng.] Siling dish, a colander. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

A constrained, self-conscious smile; an affected, silly smile; a smirk. The conscious simper, and the jealous leer. Pope.

Artless in manner; unaffected; unconstrained; natural; inartificial;; straightforward. In simple manners all the secret lies. Young.

A creator; a maker; an author; an originator. [He] was the sire of an immortal strain. Shelley.

The part of anything that hangs loose, having no strain upon it; as, the slack of a rope or of a sail.

One who has shaken off restraint; a prodigal. [Obs.] Cotgrave.

A tune, air, strain, or a whole piece, played by a single person on an instrument, or sung by a single voice.

More generally, any poetical strain; a poem. The bard that first adorned our native tongue Tuned to his British lyre this ancient song. Dryden.

To compose sonnets. "Strains that come almost to sonneting." Milton.

With a restrained voice or moderate force; in an undertone.

The act of sparing; moderation; restraint. [Obs.] Killing for sacrifice, without any spare. Holland.

he pressure of the wind, so that it can be more easily reefed or furled, or to lessen the strain. Spilling line (Naut.), a rope used for spilling, or dislodging, the wind from the belly of a sail. Totten.

f being spontaneous, or acting from native feeling, proneness, or temperament, without constraint or external force. Romney Leigh, who lives by diagrams, And crosses not the spontaneities Of all his individual, personal life With formal universals. Mrs. Browning.

, or disposition, or from a native internal proneness, readiness, or tendency, without constraint; as, a spontaneous gift or proportion.

s a joint, ligament, or muscle, by sudden and excessive exertion, as by wrenching; to overstrain, or stretch injuriously, but without luxation; as, to sprain one's ankle.

To crack or split; to bend or strain so as to weaken; as, to spring a mast or a yard.

Said of a spar that has been cracked or strained.

A channel at the end of a deck to restrain the water.

e long, steady sweep of the so-called "paddle" tried him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt. T. Hughes.

To strike; to beat; to crush. These cooks how they stamp and strain and grind. Chaucer.