strait

Definitions

1. 1.Narrow; not broad. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matt. vii.
2. 2.Too strait and low our cottage doors. Emerson.
3. 3.Tight; close; closely fitting. Shak.
4. 4.Close; intimate; near; familiar. [Obs.] "A strait degree of favor." Sir P. Sidney.
5. 5.Strict; scrupulous; rigorous. Some certain edicts and some strait decrees. Shak. The straitest sect of our religion. Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.).
6. 6.Difficult; distressful; straited. To make your strait circumstances yet straiter. Secker.
7. 7.Parsimonious; niggargly; mean. [Obs.] I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait, And so ingrateful, you deny me that. Shak.
8. 8.Strictly; rigorously. [Obs.] Shak.
9. 9.A narrow pass or passage. He brought him through a darksome narrow strait To a broad gate all built of beaten gold. Spenser. Honor travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast. Shak.
10. 10.Specifically: (Geog.) A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw. We steered directly through a large outlet which they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad. De Foe.
11. 11.A neck of land; an isthmus. [R.] A dark strait of barren land. Tennyson.
12. 12.Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits. For I am in a strait betwixt two. Phil. i.
13. 13.Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever. South. Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts. Broome.
14. 14.To put to difficulties. [Obs.] Shak.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "strait" mean?
• What is another word for "strait"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is strait.

• What is narrow; not broad. Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matt. vii called?
• What is too strait and low our cottage doors. Emerson called?
• What is close; intimate; near; familiar. [Obs.] "A strait degree of favor." Sir P. Sidney called?
• What is strict; scrupulous; rigorous. Some certain edicts and some strait decrees. Shak. The straitest sect of our religion. Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.) called?
• What is difficult; distressful; straited. To make your strait circumstances yet straiter. Secker called?
• What is parsimonious; niggargly; mean. [Obs.] I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait, And so ingrateful, you deny me that. Shak called?
• What is a narrow pass or passage. He brought him through a darksome narrow strait To a broad gate all built of beaten gold. Spenser. Honor travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast. Shak called?
• What is a neck of land; an isthmus. [R.] A dark strait of barren land. Tennyson called?
• What is fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits. For I am in a strait betwixt two. Phil. i called?