Search the Dictionary

tening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. Shak. Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. Prior.

Same as Stringpiece.

A horizontal band in a building, forming a part of the design, whether molded, projecting, or carved, or in any way distinguished from the rest of the work.

Having strings; as, a stringed instrument. Ps. cl. 4.

The quality or state of being stringent.

Urging or hastening the time, as to a climax.

Binding strongly; making strict requirements; restrictive; rigid; severe; as, stringent rules. They must be subject to a sharper penal code, and to a more stringent code of procedure. Macaulay. -- Strin"gent*ly, adv. -- Strin"gent*ness, n.

One who strings; one who makes or provides strings, especially for bows. Be content to put your trust in honest stringers. Ascham.

An habitual sudden twitching of the hinder leg of a horse, or an involuntary or convulsive contraction of the muscles that raise the hock. [Written also springhalt.]

Quality of being stringy.

Having no strings. His tongue is now a stringless instrument. Shak.

A long piece of timber, forming a margin or edge of any piece of construction; esp.:

Consisting of strings, or small threads; fibrous; filamentous; as, a stringy root.

To unbind. [Obs.] Bailey.

See Astringent.

The string of an apron. To be tied to a wife's or mother's apron strings, to be unduly controlled by a wife or mother. He was so made that he could not submit to be tied to the apron strings even of the best of wives. Macaulay.

rict; to contract; to cause parts to draw together; to compress. Which contraction . . . astringeth the moistuBacon.

The quality of being astringent; the power of contracting the parts of the body; that quality in medicines or other substances which causes contraction of the organic textures; as, the astringency of tannin.

Drawing together the tissues; binding; contracting; -- opposed to laxative; as, astringent medicines; a butter and astringent taste; astringent fruit.

In an astringent manner.