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To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument. "To strain his fetters with a stricter care." Dryden.

imp. & p. p. of Stretch.

To stretch; to extend; hence, to lay out, as a dead body. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

To extend; to stretch out with a wavy motion; to float in the wind; as, a flag streams in the wind.

To stretch; also, to lay out, as a dead body. See Streak. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.]

as with studs. The sloping sides and summits of our hills, and the extensive plains that stretch before our view, are studded with substantial, neat, and commodious dwellings of freemen. Bp. Hobart.

A line subtending, or stretching across; a chord; as, the subtense of an arc.

x dioceses in the suburbs of Rome subject to the pope as bishop of Rome. The pope having stretched his authority beyond the bounds of his suburbicarian precincts. Barrow.

The weight when the tare has been deducted, and tret is yet to be allowed. M

nd tertiary syphilis. See under Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary.Treponema pallidum. Usu. tretable with penicillin or other beta-lactam antibiotics.

A small frame, commonly circular, and somewhat resembling a tambourine, used for stretching, and firmly holding, a portion of cloth that is to be embroidered; also, the embroidery done upon such a frame; -- called also, in the latter sense, tambour work.

e over his head hung branches laden with choice fruit which likewise receded whenever he stretched out his hand to grasp them.

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

A contrivence used in a loom for keeping the web stretched transversely.

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.

A muscle that stretches a part, or renders it tense.

A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, -- used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially soldiers in camp. Within his tent, large as is a barn. Chaucer.

A machine or frame for stretching cloth by means of hooks, called tenter-hooks, so that it may dry even and square. Tenter ground, a place where tenters are erected. -- Tenter-hook, a sharp, hooked nail used for fastening cloth on a tenter. -- To be on the tenters, or on the tenter-hooks, to be on the stretch; to be…

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