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Overexertion; excessive tension; strain. [Obs.] Spenser.

ate 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.

The act or proceeding of seizing personal property by distress. Abbott.

which restrains, as a law, a prohibition, or the like; limitation; restriction. For one restraint, lords of the world besides. Milton.

Restraint over one's self; self-control; self-command.

Freedom from constraint; ease. Felton.

Freedom from restraint; freedom; liberty; license.

A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.

Self-abandoned, or given up to vice; extremely wicked, or sinning without restraint; irreclaimably wicked ; as, an abandoned villain.

Headlong; without restraint. [Obs.] L'Estrange. To go ahead. (a) To go in advance. (b) To go on onward. (c) To push on in an enterprise. [Colloq] -- To get ahead of. (a) To get in advance of.

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.

Contemning the restraints of law, religion, or decorum; bold in wickedness; presumptuous; impudent; insolent. " Audacious traitor." Shak. " Such audacious neighborhood." Milton.

Reckless daring; presumptuous impudence; -- implying a contempt of law or moral restraints. With the most arrogant audacity. Joye.

In a state of restraint or hindrance. The Lord hath kept thee back from honor. Numb. xxiv. 11.

forward; taking undue liberties; over assuming or confident; lacking proper modesty or restraint; rude; impudent. Thou art too wild, too rude and bold of voice. Shak.

The state of being bound; imprisonment; captivity, restraint. "This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds." Acts xxvi.

The state of being bound; condition of being under restraint; restraint of personal liberty by compulsion; involuntary servitude; slavery; captivity. The King, when he designed you for my guard, Resolved he would not make my bondage hard. Dryden.

Under legal or moral restraint or obligation.

A restraint; a curb; a check. I. Watts.