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To make strong or stronger; to add strength to; as, to strengthen a limb, a bridge, an army; to strengthen an obligation; to strengthen authority. Let noble Warwick, Cobham, and the rest, . . . With powerful policy strengthen themselves. Shak.

One who, or that which, gives or adds strength. Sir W. Temple.

That strengthens; giving or increasing strength. -- Strength"en*ing*ly, adv. Strengthening plaster (Med.), a plaster containing iron, and supposed to have tonic effects.

To strengthen again; to fortify anew.

To make able; to enable; to strengthen. Chaucer.

To reënforce; to strengthen. Hallam.

A reënforcement; a strengthening. Hallam.

l in the form of a leaf, more or less conventionalized, used to decorate and sometimes to strengthen an angle. -- Angle meter, an instrument for measuring angles, esp. for ascertaining the dip of strata. -- Angle shaft (Arch.), an enriched angle bead, often having a capital or base, or both. -- Curvilineal angle, on…

To support; to maintain; to second or strengthen by aid or influence; as, to back a friend. "Parliament would be backed by the people." Macaulay. Have still found it necessary to back and fortify their laws with rewards and punishments. South. The mate backed the captain manfully. Blackw. Mag.

A narrow strip of cloth or other material on any article of dress, to bind, strengthen, ornament, or complete it. "Band and gusset and seam." Hood.

Something resembling a bandage; that which is bound over or round something to cover, strengthen, or compress it; a ligature. Zeal too had a place among the rest, with a bandage over her eyes. Addison.

rpaulin to the deck, also around masts to prevent chafing. (c) A long, thin strip used to strengthen a part, to cover a crack, etc. Batten door (Arch.), a door made of boards of the whole length of the door, secured by battens nailed crosswise.

A band of canvas, to strengthen a sail.

ge at the bottom of a bank or cutting, to catch earth that may roll down the slope, or to strengthen the bank.

To protect or strengthen by a band or binding, as the edge of a carpet or garment.

The transoms, knees, beams, keelson, and other chief timbers used for connecting and strengthening the parts of a vessel.

al plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.

A rope stitched to the edges of a sail to strengthen the sail.

d the lower edge of the upper slate. -- Bond timber, timber worked into a wall to tie or strengthen it longitudinally.

ch is resisted by a tie forming a chord of the arch. -- Bowstring girder, an arched beam strengthened by a tie connecting its two ends. -- Bowstring hemp (Bot.), the tenacious fiber of the Sanseviera Zeylanica, growing in India and Africa, from which bowstrings are made. Balfour.