strait

▪ I. strait, a., n., and adv.
    (streɪt)
    Forms: 3 strect, 3–7 streit(e, 4–6 streyt(e, strayt, strayth, 4–6, 9 dial. stret, (5 strete, 6 streayte, strayet), 4–7 strayte, straite, 4 (strecte, streȝt), streyghte, straiȝt, Sc. strat, 4–6 Sc. strate, 5 streiȝt, (streihte, straeict), strayȝt(e, streith, streythe, (straytt), 5–7 streyght, 5–9 streight, 6–7 streighte, 6–9 straight, (6–7 -e), 6 strayght(e, straicte, 6–7 streict(e, 7 streigt, 5–6 stryte, 3– strait.
    [ME. streit, a. OF. estreit tight, close, narrow, also as n., narrow or tight place, strait of the sea, distress (mod.F. étroit narrow) = Pr. estreit, Sp. estrecho, Pg. estreito, It. stretto:—L. strictus (see strict a.) pa. pple. of stringĕre to tighten, bind tightly: see strain v., stringent a.]
    A. adj. I. In physical senses: Tight, narrow.
    1. a. Of a garment, etc.: Tight-fitting, narrow. Obs. exc. dial.

1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 353 Þey..haueþ..straiȝt hodes [L. capuciis strictis]. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. v. xxix. (1495) 140 A rynge that is streyghte on a fyngre and may not be take of afore mete, maye easely be take of after mete. c 1400 Rom. Rose 2271 Streite gloves. 1459 Paston Lett. I. 475, j. nothir gowne of clothe of golde, with streyght slevys. 1551 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 58 A Iyrkyn for the Tumbler strayte to his bodye. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iii. vii. 57 You rode like a Kerne of Ireland, your French Hose off, and in your strait Strossers. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xxii. §8 For he mought see that a streight gloue wil come more easily on with vse. 1612–26 Breton Wits Priv. Wealth (Grosart) 8/1 And strait Shooes fill the feet full of cornes. 1658 A. Fox tr. Wurtz' Surg. iii. x. 246 Bind the wound slackly, and let the party not put on too straight clothes. 1693 Locke Educ. §11 That your Sons Cloths be never made strait. 1713 Guardian No. 32 ¶7 The Third..appeared in Cloaths that were so strait and uneasie to him, that he seemed to move with Pain. 1767 Sterne Tr. Shandy IX. ii, His blue and gold had become so miserably too strait for him. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea ii. xiv. 330 The men go generally in white waistcoats,..with white breeches, sometimes strait, sometimes wide. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Stret, tight, too small. ‘Her dress were that stret at shoo couldn't stride o'er t' brook.’

    † b. Of bonds, a knot: Tightly drawn. Obs.

1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtier ii. (1900) 138, I allowe well, that this knott, which is so streicte, knitt or binde no mo than two. 1569 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 62 [He] sall incontinent..be put in strait irnis. 1600 Holland Livy xxiv. vii. 513 [He] lift up his foot, making as though he would loose and slacke a streight knot of his sho latchet. 1656 Ridgley Pract. Physick 163 If the parts swell hard, it [the bandage] is too straight; if it swell not, it is too loose. 1725 Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Snakes, By a streight Ligature below the Wound.

fig. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. i. 3 He is..our Father and hath adopted us to be his Children, and moreouer tied us to him by a much streiter Band: in that he hath redeemed us. 1595 Spenser Amoretti lxxi, Right so your selfe were caught in cunning snare of a deare foe,..in whose streight bands ye now captiued are. 1628 Feltham Resolves i. lxxxv. 245 So they [hearts] cloze againe after discussion, many times in a straighter Tye.

    † c. Of an embrace: close. Obs.

1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. viii. 63 She to him ran, and him with streight embras Enfolding said, And liues yet Amyas?

    † d. Tense, not lax. Obs.

1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 19 And yet the Articulation [of the vertebræ] not left to strayte, but slacke inough..for the turnyng of the head on eche side. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet i. §21 in Aliments etc. ii. (1736) 283 All those who have lax Fibres and Vessels are naturally cooler than those that have strait.

    † e. Of the chest: Constricted, ‘tight’. Of the breath: Difficult, ‘short’. Obs.

1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 6 Then becommeth a man strayght about the cheste or stomake, & his heat is dry. 1695 Phil. Trans. XIX. 80 Her Breath was streight, as is usual to fat People, especially when she went up a pair of Stairs.

    2. a. Scanty or inadequate in spatial capacity; affording little room; narrow. Of bounds, limits: Narrow. Now rare exc. in too strait.

c 1290 St. Brendan 255 in S. Eng. Leg. 226 A luytel hauene and swyþe streit huy founden atþe laste. Þat vnneþes heore schip miȝte þerinne come, Aunker for to caste. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. met. ii. (1868) 68 Brid þat syngiþ..in þe wode and after is inclosed in a streit cage. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints vii. (Jacobus mi.) 762 He sa sted wes..þat he mycht nothire syt no ly; sa strate to hyme wes þat herbry. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 202 Myn hous is streit. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 18076 By large mesure I can byen, and streight mesure I sell ageyn. 1509 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 171 Where as somtyme we were spredde almoost thrugh the worlde, now we be thraste downe into a very streyght angyll or corner. 1513 More in Hall Chron., Edw. V (1548) 6 b, The kynge was goyng to horsebacke, because he would leaue the lodgyng for them, for it was to straight for bothe the compaignies. 1600 E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 4 Portugall was then obscure, vntilled, poore, and reduced into streight limits. a 1659 Bp. Brownrig Serm. (1674) I. vii. 101 The Sun is made for the World, not for any streighter Region. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 332 Within the streight Bounds of that small Vessel. 1724 Bp. Wilson in Keble Life (1863) ii. 625 Because of a very numerous family..for which the vicarage-house was too strait. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) II. 490/2 Where the space is straitest, the earth moves more slowly than where it is widest. 1839 Mrs. Browning Sabbath Morn. ix, Too strait ye are, capacious seas, To satisfy the loving! 1879 Froude Cæsar v. 41 The hunting and pasture grounds were too strait for the numbers crowded into them.

fig. 1340 Ayenb. 54 Þo þet libbeþ be fisike: hy healdeþ þe mesure of ypocras þet is lite an strait. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) Addr. Rdr., Any thing stranger than ordinary, is too large for the straite hoopes of his apprehension. 1668 Dryden Dram. Poesy 19 But in how straight a compass soever they have bounded their Plots and Characters, we will pass it by, if they have regularly pursued them. 1787 Printer's Gram. 21 It is therefore to be wished that the intermixing Roman and Italic may be brought to straighter limits. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. iii. 35 One may..have reached in some single department..the furthest limits of his predecessors' knowledge, and found them too strait for him.

    b. Of a place of confinement. lit. and fig. Obs.

c 1460 Sir R. Ros La Belle Dame 563 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 101 It is grete dures and discomfort To kepe an hert in so streyt a presoun, Þat hathe but on body for his disport. 1483 Caxton Golden Leg. 177/1 Saynt Peter was enprysoned in a strayte place wherin he was strayned. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. (ed. 2) L 2 b, To the straightest prison in Rome he was dragged. 1614 Ralegh Hist. World II. v. iii. §5. 436 All such Prisoners as he had of the Romans, he held in streight places, loden with yrons.

    3. a. Of a way, passage, or channel: So narrow as to make transit difficult. Now rare in lit. sense.

13.. K. Alis. 6114 Theo wayes weore so strayte, and fyle, That mon no hors, by twenty myle, No myghte come the toun nigh. 1375 Barbour Bruce vi. 362 His vit hym schawit the strat entre Of the furde, and the ysche alsua. 138. Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 14 Þe nett is brood in þe bigynnyng, and after streit in ende. c 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula etc. 33 Þe mouþe of þe vlcere was ouer streit. 1481 Caxton Godfrey xviii. 47 Certayne..strayt entrees that ben as yates of the londe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 265 To open the strayte passages in the Alpes. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. v. iii. 11 The strait passe was damm'd With dead men. 1619 Drayton Bar. Wars v. xli, Where, through strait Windows, the dull Light came farre. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 330 When thro' streight Passages they strein their Wine. 1768 G. White Selborne, To Pennant 12 Mar., The owners slit up the nostrils of such asses as were hard worked; for they, being naturally strait or small, did not admit air sufficient. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xlii, If the stairs be too strait to admit his fat carcass, I will have him craned up from without. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 354 That road was so steep and so strait that a handful of resolute men might have defended it against an army.

    b. fig. and in figurative context. Now arch. after Bible use, esp. as strait and narrow (ellipt.), a conventional, limited procedure or way of life; cf. straight and narrow s.v. straight 3 a.

a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvi. 6 Gif grace þat þe charite of my lufers be perfit in þe strayt stretis of þi counsails. 1382 Wyclif Matt. vii. 13 Entre ȝe bi the streyt ȝate. 1555 J. Bradford in Coverdale Lett. Martyrs (1564) 296 The way of Christe is the strayte waye. 1600 J. Bodenham Belvedére 228 No wise man likes in such a life to dwell, Whose wayes are strait to heauen, but wide to hell. 1681 Dryden Sp. Fryar Epil., There is no Dives in the Roman Hell. Gold opens the strait gate, and lets him in. 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. Pref. 14 Such who finding the strait way too narrow for them, left it. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. ii. (1852) 39 The way to life is strait. 1952 S. Kauffmann Philanderer (1953) xv. 247 Not that I wandered from the respectable bourgeois strait-and-narrow. 1979 Listener 1 Mar. 322/2 She seems to feel it is rather daring of her to be the great defender of Arnold Bennett's reputation—and I felt she might have risked one or two dashes off the strait and narrow.

    † 4. a. Having little breadth or width; narrow. Obs.

c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. 14 A label..schapen lik a rewle, save that it is streit & hath no plates on either ende. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) v. 45 Egypt is a long Contree; but it is streyt, that is to seye narow. 1486 Bk. St. Albans, Her. c ii b, Ther is an oder cros aquall straythyr in the myddis then in thenddys. 1527 R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 253 A certain straight Sea called Estrecho de todos Sanctos.

    † b. Of cloth, ribbon, etc.: Narrow. Obs.

1439 Rolls of Parlt. V. 30/1 Unreasonable mesure, both of brode clothe and streite. 1480 Wardr. Acc. Edw. IV (1830) 136 Riban off silk: streyte xj unces di'; brode ix yerdes. 1503 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 104 Item payed to Cristofore Ascue for v yerdes of Streyt white by him delivered.

    5. Special collocations: strait gulf, † horehound (see quots.); strait jacket n. and v. = strait waistcoat n. and v.; strait-jacketed ppl. a., confined in a strait jacket (chiefly fig.); strait-jacketing vbl. n. and ppl. a.; strait work (see quot.). Also strait waistcoat.

1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Strait Gulf, an arm of the sea running into the land through a narrow entrance channel, as the Gulf of Venice.

1548 Turner Names Herbes 77 Stachys..maye be named in englishe litle Horehounde or *strayte Horehound.

1814 Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) III. iii. 119 A madman, whom..he has..by the wholesome discipline of a bull's pizzle and *strait-jacket, brought to..his senses. 1901 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 198 They intended..to put the national government and the national life into a strait-jacket.

1863 Reade Hard Cash II. xix. 313 The keepers, the very moment the justices left the house, would..*strait-jacket them, and starve them. 1891 Harper's Mag. July 220/1 Distrusting all efforts of school-masters to strait-jacket our speech into formulas borrowed from the Latin.

1894 G. B. Shaw Let. 2 Dec. (1965) I. 462 The dramatist is so *strait-jacketed in theories of conduct that he cannot even state his conventional solution clearly. 1937 Times Lit. Suppl. 16 Oct. 743/3 It is a great story, a little strait-jacketed by the official style of the communiqués. 1955 Straitjacketed [see lock-step s.v. lock n.2 20].

1950 Times 20 Mar. 3/3 Tendencies towards reducing Socialist democracy to a minimum, including the *strait-jacketing of opinion and the suppression of the initiative of the people. 1965 K. H. Connell in Glass & Eversley Population in Hist. xvii. 433 The Malthusian theory, freed of its mathematical strait-jacketing, had a precise relevance to Irish conditions. 1977 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 26 May 17/1 Paradoxically, he finds liberation in a succession of instrumental works, the Trio, Symphony, Concerto, and two Quartets, all written according to certain principles of Schoenberg's new, reputedly strait-jacketing twelve-tone system. 1979 Time Out 5–11 Oct. 20/3 The possible straitjacketing effect of producing another revue.

1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 244 *Straight work or Strait work, the system of getting coal by headings or narrow work. 1904 Daily Chron. 19 Mar. 9/5 Coal was got from mines either by the wide-work system or by straight⁓work.

    II. Strict, rigorous.
    † 6. a. Of conditions, sufferings, punishment, etc.: Pressing hardly, severe, rigorous. Obs.

c 1205 Lay. 22270 He wolde westen his lond and..mid fure mid stele streit gomen wurchen. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4736 [The day of dome] es þe mast day þat ever was yhitte, And þe straytest and þe mast harde. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 90 But here ys no stede to shewe of so hard and streyt science. c 1421 Lydg. Horse, Goose & Sheep 392 in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 31 At a streight neede thei can weel staunche blood. 1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 20 Preamble, The said John Tailer..and many other felons, [etc.]..dwellyd in a strayte and parlous Countrey for your sayd Besecher or any other your true subgettes without great jopertie of theire lyves to take and arrest theym. 1538 Starkey England i. iv. 120 Yf we coud deuyse a punnyschment more strayttur then deth, hyt were necessary to be ordenyd. a 1540 Barnes Wks. (1573) 202 If there were a generall Councell,..there must needes folow, both ouer him & you a streight reformation. 1550 Crowley Last Trumpet 1451 For God wyll punyshe in straite wyse Such as wyth him wyl be so bolde. 1550 in Strype Eccl. Mem. (1721) II. 239 We delight more in Clemency than the streit administration of Justice. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. v. 33 Bound vnto me, but not with such hard bands Of strong compulsion, and streight violence, As now in miserable state he stands. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 30 When he [God] hath them upon the hip by any deepe and straight sore and extremity.

    † b. Of modes of living, diet, etc.: Involving hardship or privation; severely regulated. Obs.

c 1300 St. Brandan (Percy Soc.) 35 There he was abbot of an hous.., and there he ladde a full strayte and holy lyfe. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 473 What ever þou haldes to þe of þo auter, over a streyte lyvelode ande symple cloþing, hit is not þine. c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xi. 79 Þei shull gete liberte of mynde [þat] entriþ into streiȝt lif. 1579 Lyly Euphues Wks. 1902 I. 252 If this seeme too straight a dyet for thy straininge disease, or to holy a profession, for so hollow a person. 1582 J. Hester Secr. Fioravanti i. xxiii. 26 Neither let them keepe any straight Diette. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. (ed. 2) M 4, To such straight life did it thence forward incite me, that..I married my curtizan,..and hasted..out of the Sodom of Italy. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 379 [He] led a streight life in continencie and austerity. Ibid. 426 They..in their Monasteries, are very abstinent in eating and drinking, containe their bodies in strait chastitie, [etc.].

    † c. Of a religious order, its rules, etc., also of a sect: Rigorous, strict. Obs.

c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 174 The reule of seint Maure or of seint Beneit, By cause that it was old and som del streit. c 1440 Jacob's Well xxvi. 178 Þe chanoun, after, schroof hym to þe bysschop of þat synne, & entryd in-to a streytere relygyoun. c 1490 Caxton Rule St. Benet 119 Þat they maye..execute the hole rewll and the better kepe it than it is accordyng to the abyte & their streyte professyon. 1577 tr. Luther's Comm. Galat. v. 19 (1580) 270 b, The Carthusians or Charterhouse monkes, whose order..is of all other the straitest & sharpest. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 50 There is a confession in the Family of H. N. more streight than euer was in the tyme of Popery.

    7. † a. Of a person, an agent: Severe, stern, strict, exacting in actions or dealings. Obs.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5406 So streit he was þat þei me leyde amidde weyes heye, Seluer þat nomon ne dorste hit nyme vor beye hor eye. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 45 If þei haue streit conscience to faile in þis þat hemself haþ bound him to, þei schuld haue mikil more to faile in þis þat Crist haþ bound hem to. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 11 Hur susters þe nonnys purseyvid, & was passand fayn þerof, becauce sho wa[s] so strayte vnto þaim, at þai myght have a cauce to accuse hur in. 1526 Tindale Luke xix. 21, I feared the, because thou arte a strayte man: thou takest vp that thou laydest nott doune. 1549 Coverdale etc. Erasm. Par. Jude 22 b, That whiche Pharao that straight and intolerable lorde was vnto them, the deuil was the same vnto vs. 1600 Holland Livy ix. xvi. 324 He was a man besides for seueritie streight, and of right great command..ouer his allies and confederates. 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 96 Fiue Talents is his debt, His meanes most short, his Creditors most straite. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 7 Such infirmities the Lord will not be so straite in.

    b. Rigorous in principles; strict or scrupulous in morality or religious observance. arch.

1526 Tindale Acts xxvi. 5 For after the most straytest [Gr. ἀκριβεστάτην] secte of oure laye lived I a pharisaye. 1577 J. Northbrooke Dicing (1843) 51 Age. Although they do, yet, for my parte, I will not bee so straite or scrupulous. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 9 Let but your honour know (Whom I beleeue to be most strait in vertue) That [etc.]. 1777 Priestley Matt. & Spir. Ded., Educated, as you know I was, in the very straitest principles of reputed orthodoxy. 1875 Lowell Spenser Writ. 1890 IV. 314 There is a verse,..‘Like that ungracious crew which feigns demurest grace,’ which is supposed to glance at the straiter religionists. 1890 Spectator 12 July, He never lost the confidence even of the most strait of his fellow-Churchmen, while the more advanced felt that they had his fullest sympathy.

    8. a. Of a commandment, law, penalty, vow: Stringent, strict, allowing no evasion. Obs. exc. arch.

c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xix. (Cristofore) 621 He..commawndment gef strat þar-to. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 211 For that a man scholde al unthryve Ther oghte no wisman coveite, The lawe was noght set so streite. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. liv. 193 A strayt couenaunt I-mad þer was Bi-twene me and Sathanos. 1485–6 Coventry Leet Bk. 527 The oth & charge of the Recorder, which in diuers thynges me thinketh full streyte. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxviii. 4 Thou hast geuen strayte charge to kepe thy commaundementes. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 278 b, The Duke of Wirtemburg hath accorded vpon moste straite conditions. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 79 And now (forsooth) takes on him to reforme..some strait Decrees, That lay too heauie on the Common-wealth. 1612 T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 6 His..strait charge to all posteritie, that one man should cleaue to one wife. 1630 R. N. tr. Camden's Eliz. i. 16 The Queene set forth a straight Proclamation, that they should not handle any such questions. 1870 Tennyson Coming of Arthur 261 Then the King..Bound them by so strait vows to his own self, That [etc.].

    † b. Of a legal instrument: Stringently worded, peremptory. Obs.

1503 in Acc. Fam. of Innes (1864) 91 Sesing and letters of assedatioun in the stratest forme can be devisit be the said Robert. 1565–6 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 417 Quhairunto we obleis us as said is in the stratest forme and sickir style of obligatioun that can be divisit. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 481 Hee..obtained a strait warrant to command the Gouernour..to deliuer mee ouer in the English hands.

    9. † a. Of actions, proceedings: Conducted with strictness. Obs.

c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 240 But Jhesu be my staff and my potent, Ovir streyt audit is lik t'encoumbre me. c 1440 Alphabet of Tales 355 Hafe compassion on hym, at ye make hym no lettyng when he commys afor þe strayte iugement of almyghtie God. c 1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxxii. 108 There þei dede rede þe myracles and discussed hem with grete diligens and streyt examination. 1530 Palsgr. 277/1 Strayte dealyng, rigeur. 1541 Elyot Image Gov. 17 He was exhorted to advaunce his astate..in princely porte,..leauyng his affabilitee and straight obseruacion of his lawes. 1586 Privy Council Let. in Maldon (Essex) Borough Deeds, Bundle 149 No. 12 Your owne example in the straite kepinge of these orders..will greatlie further the observinge of the same amonge the meaner sort. 1599 Warn. Faire Wom. ii. 895 Strait inquisition and search is made.

    b. Of guard, watch, imprisonment: Rigorous, strict. Cf. 2 b. Now rare.

1423 Jas. I Kingis Q. 25 In strayte ward and in strong prisoun. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) IV. 341 Seynte Iohn Baptiste was heded after that he hade bene in streyte kepynge or in prison in this yere. 1554 Ridley in Coverdale Godly Lett. Martyrs (1564) 61 We are..separated..and much straite watching of the baylifes is about vs that there be no priuy conference amongest vs. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. vi. 238 He had a strait watch set upon them. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. i. 6 Yea though she be well instructed, yet is she still under a more strait tuition. 1716 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. To C'tess Mar 21 Nov., She endures all the terrors of a strait imprisonment. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. iii, Back to thy Arrestment, poor Brissot; or indeed to strait confinement.

    † c. Of a siege: Close. Obs.

1603 Drayton Heroic Ep. vi. (Bl. Prince to C'tess Salisb.) 80 Thy brest..That may be batter'd, or be vndermin'd, Or by straite siege for want of succour pin'd. 1647 May Hist. Parlt. iii. vi. 101 Gloucester was thus beseiged, and the seige so straight, that no intelligence could possibly arrive at it. 1657 Trapp Comm. Job v. 20 [God delivered] the Rochellers by a miraculous shoale of shel-fish, cast up into their town in a strait seige.

    III. Limited in scope, degree, or amount.
    † 10. Scanty, poor in degree. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 24745 Þof mans wijt be neuer sa strait, Sco mai well bring it vnto nait.

    11. † a. Of fortune, means, circumstances: Limited so as to cause hardship or inconvenience; inadequate. Obs. Cf. straitened ppl. a.

c 1386 Chaucer Friar's T. 128 My wages been ful streite and ful smale. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 2533 Therefore sende we to Charles,..And certyfye him of oure strayȝte beinge. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1658) 25 A great Heir is often held to strait allowance. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §131 If he had not..been too much grieved and wrung by an uneasy and strait fortune, he would have been an excellent man of business. 1706–7 J. Logan in Pennsylv. Hist. Soc. Mem. X. 197 Money is hard to be got out of the Treasury these strait times. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 181, I am not of opinion..that virtue and prudence can always..mend a strait fortune. 1741 ‘T. Betterton’ Mem. Mrs. Anne Oldfield 1 Mrs. Oldfield being left in strait Circumstances, She and Daughter lived for some time with her Sister. 1780 A. Nash in Sparks Corr. Amer. Rev. (1853) III. 108 They were very soon reduced to strait allowance.

    b. Of a person: In want of, straitened for. Obs. exc. dial.

1662 J. Strype in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 178 If you are not too straight of money, send me some. 1866 W. Gregor Banff Gloss., Stret... (3) In want of; as ‘He's gey stret o' siller.’ 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. s.v. Stret, ‘As we're so stret for speakers to-dee,’ was the commencement of an oration at an agricultural dinner.

    12. Of words: Limited in application or signification. Obs. exc. dial.

c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 415 And, for hit were to streyte to lordship of Crist to be a special lord of Jude or Jerusalem, þerfore he bad þat þei schulde calle him Lorde. 1480 Coventry Leet Bk. 456 The seid Maire & his Brethern seyn that the wordes in the seid Tripartite be not so speciall & streyt as the seid prior taketh hem. 1558 Traheron Expos. John G iij, The worlde in this place signifieth al men. For it can not be taken in a straighter sense. 1654 Z. Coke Logick 78 When a word is larger or straighter then the thing meant thereby, let another word, if it may be had, be put in the room. 1901 J. Prior Forest Folk iii. 36, ‘I never—that is hardly ever—quarrel about anything.’ ‘That {oqq}hardly ever's{cqq} a bit stret for what's in't.’

    † 13. Strictly specified, exact, precise, definite; esp. of an account, exactly rendered. Obs.

1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. v. 5644 For men sal þan strayte acount yhelde Of alle þair tyme. 1580 Lyly Euphues Wks. 1902 I. 308 Wee shall all bee cyted before the Tribunall seate of God to render a straight accompt of our stewardshyp. 1619 Hieron Penance for Sin xiv. Wks. 1620 II. 217 Touching the word Create: in strait speaking, it betokeneth the making of a thing of nought. 1638 T. Whitaker Tree Hum. Life 4 To prescribe a pondus or streight weight and measure of nutriment to all tempers.

    14. Of friendship, alliance, etc.: Close, intimate. Now rare.

c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 1 He was sworne of the kynges preuye and streayte counsayle. 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtier ii. (1900) 137 Suche as are coopled in streicte amitie and unseparable companye. 1568 J. Fen tr. Osorius' Confut. Haddon i. 1 Both for the streight friendshippe, as also for the long acqueintaunce betwene vs. 1587 Golding De Mornay ii. 18 There ye see yet a streighter vnitie. a 1617 Bayne On Eph. (1658) 162 There is a most neer and strait union among the faithful. 1626 Bacon New Atl. 25 By that time..I was fallen into straight Acquaintance, with a Merchant of that Citty, whose Name was Ioabin. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. iv. §259 As a compliment to this kingdom, with which it [Spain] was then in strait alliance and confederacy. 1650 Earl of Monmouth tr. Senault's Man become Guilty 19 The difficulty is to know how the Soul..contracts Sin... To this I answer, that her streight union with the body is one cause of her sin. 1873 H. Rogers Orig. Bible i. (1875) 24 Or any similar strait alliance..of religion and morality.

    † 15. a. Reluctant and chary in giving; close, stingy, illiberal. Obs.

c 1290 Beket 335 in S. Eng. Leg. 116 Of is ordres he was ful streit..and he was in grete fere For-to ordeinen ani Man: bote he þe betere were. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 390 Avarice,..Thurgh streit holdinge and thurgh skarsnesse Stant in contraire to Largesse. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1784 Of þin annuitee, þe paiement,..Þou dredest, whan þou art from court absent, Schal be restreyned, syn þou now present Vnneþes mayst it gete, it is so streit. Ibid. 4522 But if so be,..Thow [a miser] correcte thy greedy appetyt, And of streit kepynge empte þy delyt. c 1440 Lydg. Secrees 763 Twen moche and lyte A mene to devise Of to mekyl And streight Coveitise. a 1475 Ashby Active Policy 253 [To be] Ne to liberal for no frendlynesse. Ne ouer streit for noo necessite. 1483 Vulgaria abs Terentio 17 To be more sparynge and streytere [L. vt frugalior sim]. 1595 Shakes. John v. vii. 42, I begge cold comfort, and you are so straight And so ingratefull, you deny me that. a 1628 Preston Breastpl. Love (1631) 62 Not to use them [our opportunities] because wee have straight hands and narrow hearts, is a signe we want love to Christ.

    b. Of a person's ‘heart’: Contracted in sympathies, narrow. (Cf. strait-hearted, -ness, in 17.)

1760 Sterne Serm. Luke x. 36–7 How often do you behold a sordid wretch, whose strait heart is open to no man's affliction, taking shelter behind an appearance of piety.

    IV. Combinations.
    16. In parasynthetic adjs., as strait-bodied, strait-breasted, strait-breeched, strait-chested, strait-clothed, strait-coated, strait-necked, strait-sleeved, strait-toothed, strait-waisted.

1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iv. i, This *straight-bodied Citty attire..will stirre a Courtiers blood. a 1668 R. Lassels Italy (1698) I. 61 Genoa look'd..like a proud young lady in a strait-bodied flower'd gown.

1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 453/2 That is narrow or *streite breasted.

1666 Char. Mary-Land (1869) 68 The *straight-breecht Commonalty of the Spaniard.

1620 Venner Via Recta vi. 95 They are..hurtfull to the phlegmaticke..and them that are *straight chested.

c 1450 Brut 297 Þe wemmen..were so *strete cloþed þat þey lete hange fox tailes..with-inforþ hire cloþis, forto hele and heyde hire ars.

1858 Mrs. Gore Hecklington I. xiv. 301 The *strait-coated young Reverence who replaced at the parsonage his defunct wide-skirted father-in-law.

1808 Jamieson Addit. s.v. Buck, To make a guggling noise, as liquids when poured from a *strait-necked bottle.

1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 16 b, This cleaueth iust to the body, and is so narrow and *strayte sleeued, that there is no wrincle at all in the garment.

1700 Transactioneer 18 One wide-toothed Comb, One *strait-toothed Comb. 1725 Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Drying Hemp, There must be..an open or wide-tooth'd, or nick'd Brake, and a close and strait-tooth'd Brake [for hemp or flax].

c 1450 Brut 297 Long large and wyde cloþis..; & anoþer tyme schorte cloþis & *stret-wasted.

    17. Special comb.: † strait-handed a., close-fisted, grasping, stingy; hence † strait-handedness; † strait-hearted a., ungenerous, exacting, mean; hence † strait-heartedness; † strait-mouthed a., reticent, uncommunicative; † strait-winded a., short of breath.

1600 G. Abbot Jonah 38 They who are otherwise *straight-handed enough in promoting that which is good, will spare no cost at all to further that which is evil. 1679 J. Goodman Penitent Pardoned iii. vi. (1713) 378 God is neither narrow hearted, nor strait-handed.

1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. iv. iii. 410 The Romish doctrine makes their *strait-handednesse so much more injurious, as the cause of separation is more just.

1759 Sterne Tr. Shandy II. xvii, A *strait-hearted, selfish wretch.

1646 P. Bulkeley Gospel Covt. iii. 269 There is a *straightheartedness..towards the Lord, in not ministering to the things which concern his worship; the least portion is enough.

1664 R. Atkyns Orig. & Growth Printing 13 Some of them..are so *streight-mouth'd, that they do not declare the whole Truth of what they know on our Part.

1601 Holland Pliny xxii. xxii. II. 131 The white [Sowthistle]..is thought to bee as good as Lectuces, for those that be *streight winded, and cannot take their breath but vpright.

    B. n.
    1. a. A narrow confined place or space or way generally. Now rare or Obs.

1352 Minot Poems vi. 56 A bare now has him soght Till Turnay þe right gate, Þat es ful wele bithoght To stop Philip þe strate. c 1450 Merlin x. 160 Thei rode forth..to the straite be-twene the wode and the river. 1544 Betham Precepts War ii. xlvii. L ij, What is to be done when we do fyght in straites. Yf bothe the hostes mete and ioyne in strayte places, and neyther wyll recule,..then myne aduise is, [etc.]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. ii. vii. 40 He brought him through a darksome narrow strait To a a broad gate. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 154 Honour trauels in a straight so narrow Where one but goes abreast. 1672 J. Lacey tr. Tacquett's Milit. Archit. 28 It cannot entertain a good quantity of Souldiers to defend it by reason of its straits. 1719 De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 582 It was in a narrow Strait, between two..Woods, that we pitch'd our little Camp for that Night. 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems, Finite & Inf. 1 The wind sounds only in opposing straits.

in fig. context. 1611 Bible Lam. i. 3 All her persecutors ouertook her betweene [1885 (Revised) within] the straits.

    † b. pl. with sing. sense. Obs.

1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 135 Cheiflye fomente them on the strayghts betwene the fundament and the coddes. 1609 Bible (Douay) Num. xxii. 24 The Angel stoode in the streictes of two walles [Vulg. in angustiis duarum maceriarum]. 1741 Middleton Cicero II. x. 467 We got through the straits of the morass and the woods.

    2. fig. a. A narrow or tight place, a time of sore need or of awkward or straitened circumstances, a difficulty or fix. Now rare in sing.; still common in pl.

sing. 1544 Betham Precepts War i. cxxxvii. G vij, Whych thing is not to be done, but in a great strayte, & vrgent necessitie. 1642 Earl of Cork in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) V. 117 By..deceiuing the trust imposed vpon you, you put two gentlemen to a greate streighte. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables ccccxxx. 407 The Lion finding what a Streight he was in, gave one Hearty Twitch, and got his Feet out of the Trap. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) III. 241 The streight, which the discovery of my brother's foolish project had brought me into. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xxx, I would advise you to tell your strait to the Earl's chamberlain—you will have instant redress. 1847 Tennyson Princess i. 84 Take me: I'll serve you better in a strait. 1879 C. Rossetti Seek & Find 34 The sun..at the voice of one man..stood still; in the strait of another it retrograded.

pl. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding xii. xv. 474 But here marke thou, gentle Reader, into what straites these men be driuen. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. v. ii. 71, I know into what straights of Fortune she is driuen. a 1628 F. Grevil Sidney (1652) 18 That any man being forced, in the straines of this life, to pass through any straights, or latitudes of good, or ill fortune, might [etc.]. 1671 Milton P.R. ii. 415 Thy self Bred up in poverty and streights at home. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. (1690) 48 Upon these occasions,..Merchants are put to great straights and inconveniences. 1756 M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club) 200 He keept them in great straits for money. 1849 H. Martineau Hist. Peace v. ix. (1877) III. 379 Never were the Whig rulers reduced to more desperate straits. 1894 Solicitors' Jrnl. XXXIX. 3/1 The defendant..is known to be in straits financially.

    b. A dilemma; a difficulty of choice. ? Obs. Cf. strait v.
    In quot. 1611 only a contextual use of sense 2.

1611 Bible Phil. i. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two [Gr. συνέχοµαι δὲ ἐκ τῶν δύο]. a 1643 Cartwright Siege ii. vi, The Straight is this, Either you must ruine th' Effect, or lose Your beauty by consenting.

    † c. straits of time: pressure or insufficiency of time. Obs.

1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. vii. 84 In hearing parts in straights of time, thus we may examine only in those places where we most suspect the negligence. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Matt. xxvii. 61 It was done in haste, by reason of the straits of time.

    d. In generalized sense: Privation, hardship.

1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. ii. ii, They..did often deliver the Aristocrat brother officer out of peril and strait. 1872 Daily News 27 Sept., There will be almost an unprecedented amount of suffering and strait in our large towns.

    3. a. A comparatively narrow water-way or passage connecting two large bodies of water.
    When used as a geographical proper name, the word is usually pl. with sing. sense, e.g. the Straits of Dover, Straits of Gilbraltar (formerly † Straits of Morocco), Straits of Magellan, Straits of Malacca, and the Straits as short for any of these; with regard to Bass('s) Strait(s, Torres Strait(s, usage is divided, while Davis Strait rarely appears in the plural form. The use of the pl. for the sing. began in the 15th c. A few writers, chiefly of gazetteers, use the sing. consistently throughout.
    the Straits: in 17–18th c. usually = the Straits of Gibraltar; later, where there is no contextual indication, chiefly = the Straits of Malacca.

sing. 1375 Barbour Bruce iii. 688 As is the raiss of Bretangȝe, Or strait off Marrok in-to Spanȝe. c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 366 The Strayte Of Marrok. 1527 R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 251 They may return through the streight of Magellan. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. x. 43 b, We entred the streit of Hellespont. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 671 The small narrow streight of Menai. 1703 La Hontan's Voy. N. Amer. I. 83 We entered the Streight of the Lake of Huron, where we met with a slack Current of half a League in breadth, that continued till we arriv'd in the Lake of St. Claire. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 262 The narrow streight into the Euxine sea was a passage of difficult navigation. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. ii. vii. 319 note, Passengers used to speak across the streight from Mull to Hy. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poet. Wks. (1904) 153 That strait, called Bosphorus. 1887 W. D. Gainsford Winter's Cruise Mediterr. 294 At 1 p.m. we rounded Tarifa, and at 4.30 were off Trafalgar, and through the Strait. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas, M'Andrews' Hymn, Fra' Deli clear to Torres Strait.

pl. 1439 Rolls of Parlt. V. 31/2 Contres beyonde the Streytes of Marrok. 1547 Boorde Introd. Knowl. xxxvi. (1870) 213 They [Moors] wyl come ouer the straytes. 1582 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 83 The sea..Italye disioyncting with short streicts from Sicil Island. 1614 Ralegh Hist. World ii. xxviii. §2. 632 They returned home by the pillars and streights of Hercules (as the name was then) called now the straights of Gybraltar. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag., Penalties & Forf. 1 Commodities of the Levant Seas may be brought from any Port within the Straights. 1775 Cont. Sterne's Sent. Journ. III. 177 You may drop the bloody dagger in the streights of Dover and Calais, to cleanse its sanguinary blade. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. xxii, Through Calpe's straits survey the steepy shore. 1884 Cavenagh Remin. Ind. Official vii. 259 A succession of men-of-war and transports belonging to both nations passed through the Straits. The hospitality of Government House [Singapore] was tendered to all. 1887 C. D. Bell Glean. Tour Palestine etc. 313 Passing through the straits of Abydos, the vessel made her quiet way..into the Sea of Marmora.

    b. transf. and fig.

? c 1600 Cowley Ess. ix. Shortn. Life, It is, alas, so narrow a Streight betwixt the Womb and the Grave, that it might be called the Pas de Vie. 1666 G. Harvey Morbus Angl. iii. (1672) 9 The Infant..makes its sally out of the Womb, that's now grown too little to give it any longer harbour; and having thus passed the Streights, it's tossed into the wide world. 1805 Wordsw. Waggoner i. 10 Where the scattered stars are seen In hazy straits the clouds between. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. lxxxiv. 39 Mine own [spirit]..hovering o'er the dolorous strait To the other shore.

    c. pl. Short for Straits Settlements, the name formerly given to the British possessions in the Malay peninsula collectively (near the Straits of Malacca).

1884 Cavenagh Remin. Ind. Official vii. 372, I left the Straits a most flourishing colony. Ibid., I must always look back with pleasure to my connection with the Straits.

    d. pl. up the Straits (see quot. 1962); in the Mediterranean. Naut. slang.

1916 ‘Taffrail’ Pincher Martin i. 2 'Er commander's a werry nice gentleman; 'e was shipmates along o' me in th' Duncan up the Straits six year ago. 1962 W. Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 115/1 Straits, up the, serving on the Mediterranean Station in the Straits of Gibraltar.

    † 4. A narrow pass or gorge between mountains; a defile, ravine. Obs.

1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 458 Syne till a strate thai held thair way. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 64 Fra Tortouse passez men..by land thurgh þe straytes of mountaynes and felles. c 1450 Merlin xv. 256 The kynge.. sente hym worde to mete with hym at the streite of the roche magot. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. xv. 12, I wolde not counsayle you to passe the mountayns of Northumberlande, for there be mo than .xxx. streightes and passages. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 391 Having won the straites of thalpes. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. iv. xv. 129 Through which narrow streights, Alexander..made his armie to pass. 1627 May Lucan iv. F 5 b, Below safe passages are found Through windings darke; which straights if once the foe Had in possession. Cæsar well did know [etc.]. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) II. iii. i. 86 Leonidas..defended the streight of Thermopilæ with four thousand men. 1778 Pennant Tour Wales (1883) I. 111 They suffered the enemy to march along the streights of the country, till their forces were entangled in the depths of the woods.

    5. A narrow strip of land with water on each side, an isthmus. Now rare. (poet.)

1562 J. Shute tr. Cambini's Two Comm. 20 b, The walle of Esmilia, that was buylded vpon the straite called Isthmos. 1568 Hacket tr. Thevet's New found World lxx. 113 Daryen, a straight of lande [Fr. detroit de terre], so named of the Riuer of Daryen. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. xii. (1912) 74 Afterward he passed..to the Corinthians, prowde of their two Seas, to learne whether by the streight of that Isthmus, it was possible to know of his [Diaphantus'] passage. 1601 Holland Pliny iv. vii. I. 75 At the streights of Isthmus [ab Isthmi angustiis] beginneth Hellas. 1632 Lithgow Trav. vi. 297 Diuers have attempted to digge through this strait to make both Seas meete for a nearer passage to India. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. ii. (1851) I. 156 He supposed this strait or isthmus to be situated near the gulf of Darien. 1842 Tennyson Morte d' Arthur 10 A chapel..That stood on a dark strait of barren land. On one side lay the Ocean, and on one Lay a great water.

    6. A narrow part (of a river); pl. ‘narrows’. Now rare or Obs.

? 1427–9 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 364/2 Many diverses straites and daungers been in the entryng into the river of Humbre out of the See. 1568 Hacket tr. Thevet's New found World xxv. 40 b, The straight of our riuer being about a gunne shotte brode. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 199 That little river Lid, here at the bridge, gathered into a streight, and pent in between rocks, runneth down amaine. 1665 Manley Grotius' Low-C. Wars 481 Coming to the River..whose long and narrow Streights & Fords were very troublesome to passe. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 189 The long and terrific strait of the river set all further progress at defiance.

    † 7. A narrow lane, alley, or passage. Obs.

1614 B. Jonson Barth. F. ii. vi, Looke into any Angle o' the towne (the Streights or the Bermuda's) where the quarrelling lesson is read. a 1637 ― Underwoods, Ep. to Sackville 82 These men..turne Pyrats here at Land, Ha' their Bermudas and their streights i' th' Strand. 1622 J. Taylor (Water P.) Water-Cormorant D 2 b, And passing through a narrow obscure strait, The thieving knaue the purse he nimbly nims. 1712 [see pass n.1 3 f.].

    8. The narrow part (of anything tubular); a narrow passage in the body.

1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. (1568) 105 By that meanes it maye stoppe the strayte of the funnell. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 40 Dictamus is an Herbe..very wonderfull in losening & vnbinding the straights of the bodie. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 119 This strait..is circumscribed anteriorly by the symphysis of the pubes, on the sides by the rami. 1881 Trans. Obstetr. Soc. Lond. XXII. 41 The vaginal stricture necessitating the performance of the operation through a narrow unyielding strait. 1890 G. M. Gould New Med. Dict. s.v. Pelvis, Straits of Pelvis, superior and inferior, the planes of the inlet and outlet.

    † 9. pl. Cloth of single width, as opposed to broadcloth. (Cf. A. 4 b.) Obs.

1429 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 361/1 Fyn Streites of Essex for xxiiii s. a pece, commen Strettes xvi s. 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 8 All maner Clothes called Straytes to..conteigne.. in brede a yerde w{supt} yn the listes. 1545 Rates Custom Ho. d iij, vi Strayghtes for a clothe. 1553 Act 7 Edw. VI, c. 9 An Acte for the true makinge of white playne streightes and pynned white streightes in Devon and Cornwall. 15.. Christ's Kirk 13 in Bannatyne MS. (Hunter. Club) 283 Thair schone wes of the straitis. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Straights or Streights, a sort of narrow Kersey, or woollen Cloth.

    10. A tile about half the usual breadth used at the gable ends of a tiled roof.

1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 257 Strait, A Term us'd by Bricklayers, it is half, (or more, or less than half) a Tile in breadth, and the whole length. They are commonly us'd at the Gable-ends..to cause the Tiles to break Joint. 1887 Dict. Archit. (Archit. Publ. Soc.) s.v. Straight.

    11. attrib. and Comb. as in sense ‘of or pertaining to the Straits (of Gibraltar, Malacca, etc.)’, also ‘suitable for ships bound thither’; Straits-born a., born in the Straits Settlements; Straits Chinese, a Chinese born in one of the former Straits Settlements; also attrib. or as adj.; Straitsman, (a) a ship suitable for the Straits; (b) Australian (see quot. 1846); straits oil, a type of fish-oil (see quot. 1902), formerly made from fish caught in the straits between Newfoundland and Labrador; also ellipt.

1907 Q. Rev. July 180 The Straits-born Chinaman.

1897 Straits Chinese Mag. Mar. 1/2 A Straits Chinese Magazine has been started; and although its name indicates that it will mainly be controlled and carried on by Straits Chinese, nevertheless within its columns will be discussed all matters of interest to Straits people generally. 1968 Radio Times 28 Nov. 20/2 Straits Chinese: Joyce Galbraith recalls..the Chinese she knew in Singapore. 1969 J. M. Gullick Malaysia i. 28 The modern descendants of the earliest wave of Chinese immigration several centuries ago are the ‘Straits Chinese’ whose forebears intermarried with local women. 1970 M. Pereira Pigeon's Blood xiv. 156 The manager..was a Straits Chinese by the name of Yee-Shen, originally a native of Malacca.

1693 Luttrell Brief Rel. III. 7 The Streights fleet and their convoy. Ibid. 10 The Dutch Streights and West India fleets are arrived.

1799 Hull Advertiser 13 July 2/1 The good brigantine Lady Bruce..would make an excellent coaster or streightsman. 1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. in Australia II. xiii. 449 Straitsmen is the name by which those who inhabit the eastern and western entrance of Bass Strait are known.

1850 Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1849 165, I..claim..the combination of the straits oil with the magnesia. 1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 229 The oil is clarified and bleached by boiling and filtering. Thus refined it is called ‘straits’. 1902 Rep. U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries 226 ‘Straits oil’ and ‘bank oil’ were formerly well-known grades of cod oil, but these are now made entirely from menhaden.

1686 in T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. (1691) 69 Which upon due enquiry will appear to be very little more than a good Streights sheathing, and not above half so much as an East-India sheathing.

    C. adv.
    1. a. Tightly. Obs. exc. dial.

c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 197 Nos sumus quasi serpentes terre corpore adherentes... We bed alse þe neddre, hie smuȝð strect bi þe eorðe. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iv. 1689 After that þei longe compleined hadde And ofte I-kiste & streite in Armes folde That þe day gan rise. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 288 Þai þat schupe þaim to duel stil, strat stekine set þe ȝettis til. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 457 Hir hosen weren of fyn scarlet reed Ful streite yteyd. c 1400 Destr. Troy 2815 By the Regions of Rene rode þai ferre, Streit by the stremys of the stithe londys. c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 539 Sodeynly..constreynyd..Was the ground to close hys superfyciall face So strayte that to scape Eolus had no space. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 9 Þay bonden hym to þe crosse..so hard and strayte, þat þe blod wrast apon yche a knot. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §56 To be lose-skinned, that it stycke not harde nor streyte to his rybbes. 1534 More Dial. Comf. agst. Trib. iii. xxvii. (1553) V vij b, The scorneful crowne of sharpe thornes beaten doune vpon hys holye head so strayte and so depe, that on euerye parte hys blessed bloude issued out. 1561 Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtier ii. (1900) 197 The two..layed hande upon Cesar with me and helde him streict. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. II. 7 So strate vses the knot of vertue to be knutt betueine gud men. 1601 B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv, Sirrah, boy, brace your drumme a little straighter. 1684 R. Waller Nat. Exper. 38 Close then the folds of the Bladder, and bind it very strait round the Neck. 1884–6 Chester Gloss., Stret, tightly. ‘Tee it stret,’ tie it tightly.

    † b. With close bonds of fealty, friendship, servitude, etc. Obs.

1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxvii. (Vincencius) 401 For þo he brynt wes in þe fyre,..stratar to god wes he bundine. c 1400 Beryn 3643 Geffrey with his wisdom held hem hard & streyte. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 18 For by the faith, which I to armes haue plight, I bounden am streight after this emprize. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse 37 God, who raineth him [sc. the devil] so straight, that except he let him loose he can doo nothing. 1672 A. Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 28 Some that meddle in it do it chiefly in order to fetter men straiter under the formal bondage of fictitious Discipline.

    † 2. Close; with narrow opening. Obs.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 134 And kitte hem streit [L. strictius] aftir thi good vyndage, And, grapis fewe yhad, let kitte hem large [L. latius]. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. vii. 30 And still the ofter we loose [the offers], the straiter the doore opens, and the lesse is offer'd.

    † 3. In a crowded condition; with insufficient room. Obs.

c 1450 Lovelich Grail xlviii. 21 For so streite here, sire, we Sitte,..In distresse And In Mal Ese. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia ii. v. (1895) 159 To thintent the sycke..shuld not lye to thronge or strayte.

    † 4. In strait or careful keeping, securely; in close confinement or strict custody. Obs.

c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16311 Haue þys y þen herte ful streit, How þey haue don vs many deseit. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 723 For in that cuntre Maydenys been I-kept for gelosye Ful streyte lyst they dedyn sum folye. c 1386 ― Merch. T. 885 Thogh they [Piramus and Tesbee] were kept ful longe streite oueral They been accorded rownynge thurgh a wal. c 1400 Destr. Troy 615, I hete you..The flese for to fecche, and ferke it away; And withstond all the stoure þat it strait yemys. 1461 Paston Lett. II. 52 The Duc of Somerset, [and others]..are comen into Normandy out of Scotland, and as yette they stand strete under arest. 1470–85 Malory Arthur viii. xxxv. 327 He took la beale Isoud home with hym and kepte her strayte that by no meane neuer she myght wete nor sende vnto Trystram nor he vnto her. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 376 He did emprison them..commaundyng the Jaylours to kepe them streyt in Irons. 1611 Bible 1 Macc. xiii. 49 They also of the towre in Ierusalem were kept so strait, that they could neither come foorth, nor goe into the countrey.

    5. Severely, oppressively; so as to cause hardship. Now rare.

a 1300 Cursor M. 24849 Strangli strait þan war þai stadd. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3814 He durst come oute on no party Of alle þe twelue monþe..So was he beseged streyte. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 880 Þus þay þrobled & þrong & þrwe vmbe his erez, & distresed him wonder strayt. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 214 His fader grete werres hadde With Rome, whiche he streite ladde. c 1440 Generydes 1462 Generydes..hym [a prisoner] delyueryd onto Anasore, A gentill knyght keping the prison ther, To kepe hym hard and strayte in his office. 1460 W. Paston in P. Lett. I. 516 He saythe it schuld go streythe with zow wytheowt zowr witnesse were rythe sofycyent. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 10 They were..compelled to eate all kinde of Vermine,..so harde and streit they were kept by the warre. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. viii, Danger drawing ever nigher, difficulty pressing ever straiter.

    † 6. a. With strictness of conduct or rule. Obs.

1390 Gower Conf. I. 167 Of these lovers that loven streyte. c 1400 Apol. Loll. 36 Þei kepe more specialy þe þings, & þe biddingis enioynid of men, & streytar þan biddingis & þingis enioynid of God. c 1400 Rule St. Benet (Prose) ii. 6 Þa þat ere froward and recles, Lede þaim þe straiter. c 1450 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert xxii. 95 Þei desired þat he schuld sumwhat tempir þe gret hardnesse of religion and suffir hem not to be kept so streith as þei wer be-for. 1535 Coverdale Ps. cxviii. 128 Therfore holde I straight all thy commaundementes, and all false wayes I vtterly abhorre.

    † b. With rigorous exactness; with strict correctness; exactly, precisely. Obs.

1338 R. Brunne Chron. (1725) 84 Tuenty ȝere had he þe land & nien moneth streite. Ibid. 139 Henry dred disceite, He wild, that his conant were holden stable & streite. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxv. (Thaddæus) 80 Fore quhais [saulis] þu mon reknynge ȝeld, [as] strate as for þine. a 1450 Myrc Par. Pr. 1424 Whether hyt [the sin] be gret or smal, Open or hud, wyte þow al... Byd hym telle euen straȝt. 1590 H. Smith Magistr. Script. 2 And though they iudge here, yet they shall be iudged hereafter, and giue account of their stewardship how they haue gouerned, as straite as their subiectes how they haue obeyed.

    7. Graspingly, stingily. Obs. exc. dial.

1390 Gower Conf. II. 136 The more he hath of worldis good, The more he wolde it kepe streyte. 1853 W. Watson Poems 16 (E.D.D.) They grip their gear sae stret They live an' die in their ain debt.

    8. Comb. with pa. pples., as strait-besieged, strait-braced, strait-embraced, strait-tied. Also strait-laced a.

1648 J. Beaumont Psyche ix. xviii, When sly Danger near Our *strait-besieged Soul or Body draws. 1847 Tennyson Princess Prol. 36 O miracle of women,..O noble heart who, being strait-besieged By this wild king to force her to his wish, Nor bent, nor broke.

1627 Drayton Agincourt cxc. 39 The dreadfull bellowing of whose *strait-brac'd Drumes, To the French sounded like the dreadfull doome.

1648 J. Beaumont Psyche i. clxxiv, Those arms that courteous Vine About her *strait-embraced Elm doth throw.

c 1520 Skelton Magnyf. 852 Beyonde Measure My sleue is wyde, Al of Pleasure My hose *strayte tyde.

▪ II. † strait, v. Obs.
    Forms: see the adj.
    [f. strait a.]
    1. trans. ? To brace up to effort.
    [Perh. a different word: cf. ON. streita-sk to struggle.]

1340–70 Alex. & Dind. 756 Summe [of your idols] ȝou strenkþen to striue & straiten ȝour minde, & somme eggen in ese to eten and to drinke.

    2. As rendering of Vulg. coartare, artare, lit. to press together, contract.

a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxxiv. 6 And aungel of lord straitand [Vulg. coartans] þaim. 1382 Wyclif Job xviii. 7 The goingis of his vertue shul be streitid [Vulg. artabuntur]. ― Joel ii. 8 Eche shal not streyte [Vulg. non coartabit] his brother, eche shuln go in his path.

    3. To narrow (e.g. the course of a river, a street).

1421 Coventry Leet Bk. 31 That þe Ryuer and the brokes..& allso the Red-dyche be enlargid..þe wiche, be encrochment of dwellers of both sydes, be strayted and narrowid, & with filthe, dong and stonys the watur stoppyd of his cours. 1510 Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) II. 69 [He] made..many wharffes stathes & keyes.. Wherby the seide porte is greatly streyted and hurted..and shippes..applyeng the same for straytnes therof oftymes in greate Jeopardie. 1530 Palsgr. 738/1 It is to wyde, you muste strayght it. 1606 Court Rolls 174/16 Wickham [Essex] View 23 Sept. (P.R.O.), Henry Finch hath straited the way in Mosepett Lane to the great annoyance of the King's people. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 1 The sea is so streited, that some thinke the land there was pierced thorow, and received the seas into it. 1615 Manwood's Lawes Forest xxiii. §7. 228 If any man haue stopped or strayted any Church-way, Mill-way, or other wayes..you shall do us to weet thereof.

    b. intr. To become narrowed, to narrow.

a 1552 Leland Itin. (1910) V. 52 Dargwent..casteth owt an arme of his abundant water that maketh a poole,..and afterward strayteth, and at the last cummeth ynto Dargwent, and so maketh an isle.

    4. To shut up in or force into a narrow space.

c 1420 ? Lydg. Assembly of Gods 1633 Lyke as Eolus, beyng at hys large, Streytyd hym sylf thorow his owne lewdenesse. 1534 More Treat. Passion Wks. 1347/2 The tyme shall come whan..the churche by persecucion [shal be] so strayghted into so narow a corner, that..it shall seeme that there shall bee than no chrysten countreyes left at all. 1571 Campion Hist. Irel. vii. (1633) 23 All sorts brake truce and amity with the Gyants, and straited them up so, that from all corners of the land, they must needes assemble into one field. 1579 Fenton Guicciard viii. 442 At the beginning our towne was strayted. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Crassus (1595) 610 He..straighted the battell of his footemen [Amyot estroissit la bataille de ses gens de pied]. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 28 Which..yet suffisd, to hide them, though their men Were something streighted [Gr. στείνοντο δὲ λαοί]. 1612 J. Davies (Heref.) Muse's Sacrif. (Grosart) 83/2 My Body's but the Prison of my Soule; which straits her more, the more that Prison's free. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 21 Your best way will bee to howse them all night, viz.:—to lye them in some howse or barne wheare they may not bee straited for roome.

    5. a. ? To do violence to, to mar.

1390 Gower Conf. II. 341 Bot for he wolde be nomore Among the wommen so coveited, The beaute of his face streited He hath.

    b. To press hardly upon.

1460 J. Capgrave Chron. (Rolls) 309 Ther took he a preest of the secte, and othir servauntis of his, whom the lord Bergeveni streyted so, that thei told wher Oldcastelle was hid. 1594 in Highl. Papers (S.H.S.) I. 186 My Lord Argyll had straitit him verie sore about a band quhilk he had with Huntly. 1614 Gorges Lucan x. Argt., Cæsar..By ship to Pharos takes his flight. Where being straighted by his foes, From thence by swimming safely goes.

    c. To bring into straits, subject to hardship.

1579–80 North Plutarch, Sertorius (1595) 633 Hauing straighted his enemies with scarcitie of victuals. 1633 Orkney Witch Trial in Abbotsford Club Misc. 152 Scho and hir haill fammillie was straitit with drouth for the space off xx dayis ore ane mounth. c 1640 Mure Ps. cvii. 28 While straited thus in these extreams Wnto the Lord they cry. 1654 Vilvain Enchir. Epigr. v. xii. 95 Exter..Hath with ten sieges grievously bin streited.

    d. In pass., to be hard put to it, to be at a loss, to be nonplussed.

1611 Shakes. Wint. T. iv. iv. 365 If your Lasse Interpretation should abuse, and call this Your lacke of loue, or bounty, you were straited For a reply. 1624 T. White Repl. Fisher 357 We are not so straighted for words. 1646 R. Baillie Anabaptism (1647) 37 When in their debates against the baptism of infants they are straited with consequences from the circumcision of infants. 1647 Trapp Comm. Rev. xvii. 18 The Rhemists are so straited that they know not which way to turn them.

    6. To tighten (a knot).

a 1542 Wyatt in Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 66 And if I did, the lot, That first did me enchayne: May neuer slake the knot, But strayght it to my payne.

    7. To confine, restrict to a person, time, etc.; to confine within limits.

1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 102 b, His doctrine being not straighted within the boundes of Nature. Ibid. 399 Yet ought not this power be so narrowly streighted either to one Byshop onely..as though there were none other Remission of Sinnes.

    b. To restrict in choice. Const. between, betwixt (alternatives, options).

1633 Wariston Diary (S.H.S.) 110 Being straited by God (as I thought) betuixt three unsupportable burdens. 1637 Gillespie Engl. Pop. Cerem. ii. ix. 51 He is greatly mistaken, whiles he thinkes that a man can be so straited betwixt two scandalls, that he cannot choose but give the one of them. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 30 Straighted betweene the choice of either famine, warre, or pestilence.

    c. To restrict in freedom of action.

1533 More Apol. 249 Yet are they streyghted by the playne law that they may not so do at the seconde, whan the man is relapsed. 1613 Heywood Silver Age iii. i, Juno. Nor powers of heaven shall straight me till the deaths Of yon adultress and her mechal brats. a 1617 Bayne Lect. (1634) 272 God in none of these [things] is straited. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 149 Selfe hath hidebound thee and straited thee in thine owne bowells.

    8. To keep ill supplied, to stint.

1513 Sir E. Howard in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. iii. I. 149, I have geven such ordre in dispendyng of our vitaill that ther was never Army so straited, nat by one drynkyng in a day, wich I know well hath byn a grete sparyng. 1564 Harding Answ. Jewel xvii. 165 Herein I am more encombred with store, then straighted with lacke. 1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xxi. I. 581 And surely, I doe find this rule of his most true,..in case a man have land ynough for to let his grounds..rest every second yeare. But how if a man is streighted that way, and hath no such reach and circuit lying to his living? 1607 Bp. Hall Art Div. Medit. iv. Wks. (1625) 107 God hath not straited vs for matter, hauing giuen vs the scope of the whole world. 1669 W. Montagu in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) I. 446 We are so straighted here in our charities, as we can furnish as yet but two hundred pistoles towards all the Church charities.

    9. To reduce the duration or period of.

1571 T. Bannester Let. to Cecil 29 Mar. (P.R.O.) They went from yt, and streyghted owr yerelye Pencyon or Allowance to iij yeres. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 403 b, Whereas Gregory the 11. reduced the Jubilee to the 33. yeare..Paule 2. and Sixtus the 4...streighted the Jubilee to the 25. yeare, in the yeare 1475.

    10. To limit in amount or degree; also, to impute limitation to.

1533 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. Wks. 1121/2, I..sayed..that Frith was but a foole so to straite and to limite the power of almightye god. 1596 Babington Profit. Exp. 185 Now in the time of his Gospell his goodnes is not streyted or diminished. 1647 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iv. xli, So that the durance of the Deity We must contract, or strait his full Benignity.

    Hence † ˈstraited ppl. a.

1581 A. Hall Iliad vii. 125 Lycurgus..slue him downe in strayted lane [στεινωπῷ ἐν ὁδῷ], where club he could not weeld. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. 42 But that full right..did so unbind His straited sprights, that [etc.].

▪ III. strait
    obs. form of straight.

Oxford English Dictionary