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

by request; to make application; to petition; to entreat; to plead. By adverse destiny constrained to sue For counsel and redress, he sues to you. Pope. Cæsar came to Rome to sue for the double honor of a triumph and the consulship. C. Middleton. The Indians were defeated and sued for peace. Jefferson.…

Indicating suspicion, mistrust, or fear. We have a suspicious, fearful, constrained countenance. Swift.

Free course; unrestrained liberty or license; tendency. "Take thy swing." Dryden. To prevent anything which may prove an obstacle to the full swing of his genius. Burke. Full swing. See under Full. -- Swing beam (Railway Mach.), a crosspiece sustaining the car body, and so suspended from the framing of a truck that it…

Tight; stretched; not slack; -- said esp. of a rope that is tightly strained.

Habitual moderation in regard to the indulgence of the natural appetites and passions; restrained or moderate indulgence; moderation; as, temperance in eating and drinking; temperance in the indulgence of joy or mirth; specifically, moderation, and sometimes abstinence, in respect to using intoxicating liquors.…

Stretched tightly; strained to stiffness; rigid; not lax; as, a tense fiber. The temples were sunk, her forehead was tense, and a fatal paleness was upon her. Goldsmith. -- Tense"ly, adv. -- Tense"ness, n.

The act of stretching or straining; the state of being stretched or strained to stiffness; the state of being bent strained; as, the tension of the muscles, tension of the larynx.

The quality or state of being tense, or strained to stiffness; tension; tenseness.

Stiff; stretched; strained. [Obs.] Johnson.

A restrained laugh. "There was a titter of . . . delight on his countenance." Coleridge.

t. -- Torsion scale, a scale for weighing in which the fulcra of the levers or beams are strained wires or strips acting by torsion.

A half-suppressed laugh; a fit of laughter partially restrained; a titter; a giggle. Hudibras.

An absolute ruler; a sovereign unrestrained by law or constitution; a usurper of sovereignty.

Loosed from the bridle, or as from the bridle; hence, unrestrained; licentious; violent; as, unbridled passions. "Unbridled boldness." B. Jonson. Lands deluged by unbridled floods. Wordsworth. -- Un*bri"dled*ness, n. Abp. Leighton.

Not easy in manner; constrained; stiff; awkward; not graceful; as, an uneasy deportment.

Not governable; not capable of being governed, ruled, or restrained; licentious; wild; unbridled; as, ungovernable passions. -- Un*gov"ern*a*bly, adv. Goldsmith.

Unconfined; not restrained; unrestricted. Ascribe not unto God such an unlimited exercise of mercy as may destroy his justice. Rogers. Unlimited problem (Math.), a problem which is capable of an infinite number of solutions. -- Unlimited pump, a kind of deep-well pump placed at the level of the water, and operated fro…

Not restrained or tutored by morality. Norris.

Not reserved; not kept back; not withheld in part; unrestrained. -- Un`re*serv"ed*ly, adv. -- Un`re*serv"ed*ness, n.