strain

name

1. A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English straynen, streinen, streynen, from Old French estreindre (whence French étreindre (“to grip”)), from Latin stringō (“to draw tight together, to tie”).

1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained.

   “Nevertheless, it is clear that the global energy demand for air-conditioning will grow substantially as nations become more affluent,[…]. This trend will put additional strain not only on global energy resources but also on the environmental prospects of a warming planet.”

   “If the Menai Bridge, for instance, were loaded at that rate, the entire strain on the main chains would be about 2000 tons ; while the chains containing 260 square inches of iron would bear, at 9 tons per square inch, 2340 tons, without stretching ...”

2. A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles.

   “he jumped up with a strain”

   “the strain upon the sailboat's rigging”

3. An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain.

   “They used steroids to build strength but, more importantly, to recover from strains, pulls, dislocations.”

   “Dirk Kuyt sandwiched a goal in between Carroll's double as City endured a night of total misery, with captain Carlos Tevez limping off early on with a hamstring strain that puts a serious question mark over his participation in Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United at Wembley.”

4. A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain.

   “Detailed records are kept of the strains imposed on the bridge by the violent gales that frequently sweep the firth, and a self-recording wind gauge is fixed on the top of the tower.”

5. The track of a deer.

   “When they have shot a Deere by land, they follow him like bloud-hounds by the bloud, and straine, and oftentimes so take them.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English strenen (“to beget, father, procreate”), from Old English strēonan, strīenan, strȳnan (“to beget, generate, gain, acquire”), from Proto-Germanic *striunijaną (“to furnish, decorate, acquire”).

1. To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world.

   “A man straineth, liveth, then dieth.”

   “Man, look at that cat straining that kitty.”