stringent, a.
(ˈstrɪndʒənt)
[ad. L. stringentem, pres. pple. of stringĕre, to draw together, bind tight, also to touch lightly, graze.]
1. Astringent, constrictive, styptic, esp. with reference to taste. Also fig.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 149 Vitriol [giveth] a stiptic or a stringent taste. 1614 W. B. Philosopher's Banquet (ed. 2) 72 Bitter Grapes are colde and stringent. 1642 H. More Song of Soul, Antipsych. iii. iii. 20 What down doth dive Into the straitned Cuspis needs must strive With stringent bitternesse, vexation, Anxious unrest. 1858 Trench Synon. xiv. (1877) 46 Harsh and stringent to the palate, as..unripe fruit, and the like. |
2. That draws or binds tight; tightly enfolding or compressing. rare.
| 1736 Thomson Liberty iv. 188 The serpents, twisting round, their stringent folds Inextricable tie. 1849 Kitto Daily Bible Illustr. I. xii. ii. 395 The twisted bags were perhaps used to subject the grapes to a further and more stringent pressure, after being taken from the foot-press. 1886 Stevenson Dr. Jekyll 135, I slept..with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the nightmares that wrung me could avail to break. 1898 Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 39 Adding to slavery's chain the stringent twist. |
3. Of reasoning: That compels assent, convincing.
| 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. vi. (1712) 58 But I have dwelt too long upon this Theory; we'll betake our selves to..what is more unexceptionably stringent and forcing. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Stringent, forcing, forceable, as To maintain a Truth in a stringent Way. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt xvii, Mr. Johnson's argument was not the less stringent because his idioms were vulgar. |
4. a. Of regulations, procedure, requirements, obligations, etc.: Rigorous, strict, thoroughgoing; rigorously binding or coercive.
| 1846 F. W. Newman Let. in Sieveking Mem. (1909) 142 Nothing less severe..would brace England up to the stringent remedies which alone can save that country [Ireland]. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 235 A more stringent test was now added. 1855 Ibid. xx. IV. 480 They imagined that they had devised a most stringent limitation of the royal power. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. iv. 106 The other professors are under more stringent requirements to teach. 1884 Manch. Exam. 2 May 4/7 It will need a stringent clause to guard against this abuse. |
b. ? Rigorously urgent upon. nonce-use.
| 1862 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xiii. ii. III. 420 Readers may consider how stringent upon Friedrich that question now was, and how ticklish to solve. |
5. Of the money-market: Tight. Cf. stringency.
| 1870 J. K. Medbery Men & Mysteries Wall St. v. 69 Money is ‘very active’, and the loan market ‘stringent’. 1891 in Century Dict. And in later U.S. Dicts. |
6. Fortif. = rasant. Obs. rare.
| 1673 Sir J. Moore Mod. Fortif. 18 The Line coming from the Point of the Bastion..and drawn upon the face..to the Curtain..is called the Line stringent, and shews how much of the Curtain..will clear or scour the Face. 1711 Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4) s.v. Line, Line Razant, Stringent or Flanking, or Second Flank. |
Hence ˈstringently adv.; ˈstringentness.
| 1659 H. More Immort. Soul ii. ii. 129 That the former part is false I shall now demonstrate, by proving more stringently, That [etc.]. 1727 Bailey vol. II, Stringentness, binding Quality. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt viii, A clever, frank, good-natured egoist; not stringently consistent, but without any disposition to falsity. 1884 Manch. Exam. 2 Dec. 5/1 The principle of population has been applied more stringently than was at first proposed. |