Word Direct Answers

What does "constrain" mean?

Constrain: To bring into a narrow compass; to compress. How the strait stays the slender waist constrain. Gay.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress. My sire in caves constrains the winds. Dryden.
  2. 3.To compel; to force; to necessiate; to oblige. The love of Christ constraineth us.
  3. 4.Cor. v.
  4. 5.I was constrained to appeal unto CActs xxviii.
  5. 6.5. To violate; to ravish. [Obs.] Shak.
  6. 7.To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effet; as, a constrained voice.

Sources