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To straiten; to distress; as, to be pressed with want or hunger.

ion of that relation in human conduct. J. Köstlin (Schaff- Herzog Encyc. ) After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisce. Acts xxvi. 5. The image of a brute, adorned With gay religions full of pomp and gold. Milton.

To limit; to straiten; to treat illiberally; to stint; as, to scant one in provisions; to scant ourselves in the use of necessaries. Where man hath a great living laid together and where he is scanted. Bacon. I am scanted in the pleasure of dwelling on your actions. Dryden.

To make too small or short; to limit or straiten; to put on short allowance; to scant; to contract; to shorten; as, to scrimp the pattern of a coat.

A narrow passage of water, or a strait between the mainland and an island; also, a strait connecting two seas, or connecting a sea or lake with the ocean; as, the Sound between the Baltic and the german Ocean; Long Island Sound. The Sound of Denmark, where ships pay toll. Camden. Sound dues, tolls formerly imposed by D…

set stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and rarely by men. How the strait stays the slender waist constrain. Gay.

and starts; Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground; Then lays his finger on his temple: strait Springs out into fast gait; then stops again. Shak.

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.

A variant of Straiten. [Obs. or R.]

A variant of Straitly. See 1st Straight.

A variant of Straitness.

See 2nd Strait. [Obs.]

See Straiten. [Obs.]

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

Narrowly; strictly; straitly. [Obs.]

attempt to alarm, as with the promise of something evil or disagreeable; to warn. Let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. Acts iv. 17.

To draw tighter; to straiten; to make more close in any manner. Just where I please, with tightened rein I'll urge thee round the dusty plain. Fawkes. Tightening pulley (Mach.), a pulley which rests, or is forced, against a driving belt to tighten it.

The act of passing over a strait or narrow sea. [Obs.] Sir J. Davies.

To pass over a strait or narrow sea. [Written also transfreight.] [Obs.] E. Hall.

ridge over the St. Lawrence, at Montreal, Canada, and the Britannia bridge over the Menai Straits. -- Tubular girder, a plate girder having two or more vertical webs with a space between them.