frequently_asked_questions_files/Oxford Thesaurus.pdf

catch a glimpse of the prince. They strained to hear every word.
5 filter, sift, drain, screen, sieve; winnow, draw off,
separate; purify, seep, percolate: Strain the soup to remove
the bones. Strain the dregs from the wine. The water is then
strained through sand.
--n. 6 sprain, injury, damage, harm, wrench: Strains often
hurt more than broken bones. 7 anxiety, worry; effort,
exertion, stress, tension, pressure, burden; tax, demand,
obligation: The strain began to tell on all of us. Another rope
was needed to relieve the strain on the first. This advertising
budget will put a great strain on our resources. 8 Often,
strains. air, melody, tune, song, sound, music: In the distance
I made out the faint strains of skirling bagpipes. 9 tenor,
tone, drift, inclination, tendency, quality, spirit, mood,
humour, character, complexion, cast, impression, thread, vein,
theme: I detected a mellowing strain in her letters.
strainý n. 1 family, stock, ancestry, roots, extraction, derivation,
(family) background, heritage, descent, parentage, lineage,
pedigree, bloodline, race, line, descendants: This sample of
sweet pea came from an entirely different strain. 2 trace,
hint, suggestion, suspicion, soup‡on, streak, trait, mark,
indication, vestige, evidence, sign: There was a definite
strain of ruthlessness in her character.
strained adj. laboured, forced, artificial, stiff, tense, awkward,
uneasy, uncomfortable, difficult, tension-ridden,
self-conscious, unnatural, insincere, put-on: His already
strained relations with his wife scarcely improved when he met
Lisa.
strait adj. 1 narrow, tight, constricted, constricting, confining,
confined, restricting, restricted, limited, limiting, rigorous,
demanding, exacting; difficult, straitened: Strait is the gate
and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be
that find it.
--n. 2 Usually (except in gazetteers), straits. narrows,
channel: We coasted through the Straits of Magellan with all
sails flying. 3 dire or desperate or sore straits. bad or poor
state or condition, trouble, predicament, plight, mess, dilemma,
tight spot, hot water, US bind Colloq pickle, jam, scrape,