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from Strain. Straining piece (Arch.), a short piece of timber in a truss, used to maintain the ends of struts or rafters, and keep them from slipping. See Illust. of Queen-post.

Characterized by abstinence; self-restraining. Farrar.

e mighty admiral, dark and terrible, bearing down upon his antagonist with all his canvas straining to the wind, and all his thunders roaring from his broadsides. E. Everett.

The act of stopping, or restraining from further motion, etc.; stoppage; hindrance; restraint; as, an arrest of development. As the arrest of the air showeth. Bacon.

An instrument for pinching a horse's nose, and thus restraining him.

To strain or move out of a straight line; to crook by straining; to make crooked; to curve; to make ready for use by drawing into a curve; as, to bend a bow; to bend the knee.

To exert a binding or restraining influence. Locke.

ntaining tension, as a cord on the side of a drum. The little bones of the ear drum do in straining and relaxing it as the braces of the war drum do in that. Derham.

To mingle, or to bring to a uniformly soft consistence, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in some culinary operations.

pared from the exudation of the Norway spruce (Abies excelsa) by melting in hot water and straining through cloth. The genuine Burgundy pitch, supposed to have been first prepared in Burgundy, is rare, but there are many imitations. It has a yellowish brown color, is translucent and hard, but viscous. It is used in med…

rst a cannon; to burst a blood vessel; to burst open the doors. My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage. Shak.

Force; compulsion, either in restraining or impelling. Sojth.

Having the power to compel conviction or move the will; constraining; conclusive; forcible; powerful; not easily reasisted. No better nor more cogent reason. Dr. H. More. Proofs of the most cogent description. Tyndall. The tongue whose strains were cogent as commands, Revered at home, and felt in foreign lands. Cowper.…

A utensil with a bottom perforated with little holes for straining liquids, mashed vegetable pulp, etc.; a strainer of wickerwork, perfprated metal, or the like.

The act or process of straining or filtering. [R.]

The process of straining; the matter strained; a strainer. [R.]

A ring or round flange upon, surrounding, or against an object, and used for rastraining motion within given limits, or for holding something to its place, or for hibing an opening around an object; as, a collar on a shaft, used to prevent endwise motion of the shaft; a collar surrounding a stovepipe at the place where…

Having the power of compulsion; constraining.

The act of constraining, or the state of being constrained; that which compels to, or restrains from, action; compulsion; restraint; necessity. Long imprisonment and hard constraint. Spenser. Not by constraint, but bDryden.

Constraining; compulsory. [R.] "Any constraintive vow." R. Carew.