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To become somewhat displaced or loosened; as, a rivet or a seam may start under strain or pressure. To start after, to set out after; to follow; to pursue. -- To start against, to act as a rival candidate against. -- To start for, to be a candidate for, as an office. -- To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat…

To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. Him backward overthrew and down him stayed With their rude hands grisly grapplement. Spenser. All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartly wish were false. Hooker.

One who upholds or supports that which props; one who, or that which, stays, stops, or restrains; also, colloquially, a horse, man, etc., that has endurance, an a race.

Not natural and easy; formal; constrained; affected; starched; as, stiff behavior; a stiff style. The French are open, familiar, and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious, and reserved. Addison.

To restrain within certain limits; to bound; to confine; to restrain; to restrict to a scant allowance. I shall not go about to extenuate the latitude of the curse upon the earth, or stint it only to the production of weeds. Woodward. She stints them in their meals. Law.

Restraint; stoppage. [Obs.]

Without stint or restraint. The stintlesstears of old Heraclitus. Marston.

ng or moving; to prevent the effect or efficiency of; to cause to cease; to repress; to restrain; to suppress; to interrupt; to suspend; as, to stop the execution of a decree, the progress of vice, the approaches of old age or infirmity. Whose disposition all the world well knows Will not be rubbed nor stopped. Shak.…

A bib, faucet, or short pipe, fitted with a turning stopper or plug for permitting or restraining the flow of a liquid or gas; a cock or valve for checking or regulating the flow of water, gas, etc., through or from a pipe, etc.

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.

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

To strain. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Race; offspring; stock; breed; strain. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Pressure, strain; -- used chiefly of immaterial things; except in mechanics; hence, urgency; importance; weight; significance. The faculties of the mind are improved by exercise, yet they must not be put to a stress beyond their strength. Locke. A body may as well lay too little as too much stress upon a dream. L'Estra…

To draw or pull out to greater length; to strain; as, to stretch a tendon or muscle. Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve. Doddridge.

Strained; drawn close; tight; as, a strict embrace; a strict ligature. Dryden.

ement of the chorus while turning from the right to the left of the orchestra; hence, the strain, or part of the choral ode, sung during this movement. Also sometimes used of a stanza of modern verse. See the Note under Antistrophe.

Producing contraction; stopping bleeding; having the quality of restraining hemorrhage when applied to the bleeding part; astringent. [Written also stiptic.] Styptic weed (Bot.), an American leguminous herb (Cassia occidentalis) closely related to the wild senna.

A race or strain differing in certain characters from the parent breed; an incipient breed.

y, or as by, sublimation; exalted; purified. [Words] whose weight best suits a sublimated strain. Dryden.