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A strain, or change of shape, of an elastic body, consisting of an extension in one direction, an equal compression in a perpendicular direction, with an unchanged magnitude in the third direction. Shear blade, one of the blades of shears or a shearing machine. -- Shear hulk. See under Hulk. -- Shear steel, a steel s…

A train of vein material mixed with rubbish; fragments of ore which have become separated by the action of water or the weather, and serve to direct in the discovery of mines. [Written also shode.]

he sky, and then as suddenly disappears, leaving sometimes, for a few seconds, a luminous train, - - called also falling star. Shooting stars are small cosmical bodies which encounter the earth in its annual revolution, and which become visible by coming with planetary velocity into the upper regions of the atmosphere.…

or anguish. It was the owl that shrieked. Shak. At this she shrieked aloud; the mournful train Echoed her grief. Dryden.

A workman's bench. Knught. Siege gun, a heavy gun for siege operations. -- Siege train, artillery adapted for attacking fortified places.

Any lamellirostral bird, as a duck or goose; -- so called because it sifts or strains its food from the water and mud by means of the lamell

age or display signals; especially, one employed in setting the signals by which railroad trains are run or warned.

To strain, as fresh milk. [Prov. Eng.]

To restrain from the exercise of any function, privilege of instruction, or the like, especially from the act of preaching; as, to silence a minister of the gospel. The Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, in Essex, was silenced for nonconformity. B. Trumbull.

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.

To go slower; -- often with up; as, the train slowed up before crossing the bridge.

in wood carving; trade work; hence, a system (usually called the sloyd system) of manual training in the practical use of the tools and materials used in the trades, and of instruction in the making and use of the plans and specifications connected with trade work. The sloyd system derives its name from the fact that…

rails, formerly used on American railroads. It was sometimes so bent by the passage of a train as to slip over a wheel and pierce the bottom of a car.

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.