Forms: 1 stréon, stríon, 2–3 streon, 3–4 stren, 3–7 strene, 4 streone, 4–6 streen, 5–7 straine, 6–7 streine, streyne, 7 streene, 9 dial. strene, 7– strain. [OE. stréon, strion neut., a shortened form (recorded only in North.) of ʓestréon, ʓestríon (see I-STREON) OS., OHG. gistriuni, related to (ʓe)stréonan, (ʓe)stríenan, (ʓe)strýnan to acquire, gain (also to beget, procreate) = OHG. (ga)striunen, f. OTeut. (pre-Teut.) root *streu- to pile up; cf. L. struēs pile, struĕre to build.
The normal form in mod.Eng. would be streen; the actual form, which is found in the 15th c., but did not finally prevail until the 17th c., is due to association with STRAIN sb.2 or sb.3 The related STRENE v. did not survive beyond the 14th c., and therefore did not undergo the perversion of form.]
† 1. Gain, acquisition; treasure: = I-STREON 1. Obs.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. vi. 21. Ðer is strion ðin [Vulg. ubi est thesaurus tuus].
c. 1250. Prov. Ælfred, 184, in O. E. Misc., 113. Acte nis non eldere stren [Jesus MS. istreon], ac it is Godis lone.
c. 1275. Lay., 18609. Þe castles gode were of his hilderne streone.
II. † 2. Begetting, generation: = I-STREON 2.
Not recorded in OE., the supposed instance in Bæda’s Hist., I. xxvii. being due to an erroneous reading.
c. 1200. Ormin, 127. Þatt naffdenn þeȝȝ þurrh þeȝȝre streon Ne sune child, ne dohhterr. Ibid., 18889. Off moderr & off faderr stren.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 19. Ure helende crist is his onlepi sune, noht after chesunge ac after strene.
† 3. The germinal vesicle in the yolk of an egg.
c. 1305. Pop. Treat. Sci. (1841), 132. Urthe is a-midde the hevene as the streon a-midde theye.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 51. Breke ten egges in cup fulle fayre,… Þo strene also þou put away.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 54/2. Oui vmbilicus,… the streine or kenning of the egge.
1596. Barrough, Meth. Phisick, I. xxxviii. (1639), 61. Then put into the eye the streines of egs, ordered as I declared before.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, I. xii. 64. Take … sixe springs or straines of egges that are verie new.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 523. The strain of an egg, umbilicus ovi.
1764. Eliza Moxon, Eng. Housew. (ed. 9), 116. Take the yolks of two eggs and beat them very well, leaving out the strain.
4. Offspring, progeny: = I-STREON 3. Also fig. Obs. exc. arch.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 133. Vre drihten cleopede monnes streon sed.
c. 1200. Ormin, 16396. Forr þatt hiss stren all shollde ben Todrifenn & toskeȝȝredd.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 208. Ne not ich none sunne þet ne mei beon iled to one of ham seouene, oðer to hore streones.
a. 1225. Juliana (Bodl. MS.), 55. & wel bi semeð þe to beon & bikimeð to beo streon of a swuch strunde.
13[?]. King Alis., 511. A god … That hath y-laye by the quene, And bygete on hire a steorne streone.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, i. 1777. For te destruwen oure stren.
1621. Quarles, Esther, xviii. That remainder of proud Haman’s straine, Their hands haue rooted out.
1839–52. Bailey, Festus, 175. Child of the royal blood of man redeemed, The starry strain of spirit, thence we are.
5. Pedigree, lineage, ancestry, descent.
c. 1205. Lay., 29725. Of Bruttisce streonen.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 101. Bountee comth al of god, nat of the streen Of which they [children] been engendred and ybore.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, xxxviii. 345. A veleynes sone was he tho, and I-comen of a schrewed streen.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, II. i. 77. He must be a clene knyght withoute vylony and of a gentil strene of fader syde and moder syde.
c. 1530. Crt. of Love, 370. For though thy-self be noble in thy strene, A thowsand-fold more nobill is thy quene.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 32. Sacred Reuerence, yborne of heauenly strene.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 394. Hee is of a noble straine, of approued valour, and confirm’d honesty.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, V. xlii. Let them in fetters plead their cause (quoth hee) That are base peasants, borne of seruile straine.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XIV. 286. From ample Crete I fetch my Natiue straine; My Father wealthy: whose house [etc.].
1624. Heywood, Gunaik., I. 49. Young Epaphus … To Phaeton objects, that he was bred Of mortall straine.
1813. Scott, Trierm., I. i. Where is the maiden of mortal strain, That may match with the Baron of Triermain?
6. The descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 1021. For þe misbeȝeten stren Quic y schal now doluen ben!
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 4859. Bicause al is corumpable, And faile shulde successioun, Ne were ther generacioun Our sectis strene for to save.
c. 1440. Sir Gowther, 202. Thow comest never of Crists strene, Thou art sum fendes sone y wene.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XIII. viii. 622. He is … of the best men of the world comen and of the strene of alle partyes of kynges.
1569. Irish Act 11 Eliz., c. 1. (1621), 315. Least that any man … might be ledde … to thinke that the strene or lyne of the Oneyles should … hold or possesse anie part of the dominion … of Ulster.
1589. Warner, Albion’s Eng., VI. xxxi. (1592), 140. Of that Streene shall Fiue at length re-raigne.
1597. Beard, Theatre God’s Judgem. (1612), 465. His carkasse … was hanged vpon a gallowes, and all his kindred and children put to death, that there might not one remaine of his straine.
1624. Quarles, Job Militant, x. Med. xxviii. And left his Empire to another Straine.
1676. Shadwell, Virtuoso, I. i. It must needs be so; for Gentlemen care not upon what Strain they get their sons, nor how they breed ’em, when they have got ’em.
1688. Dryden, Brit. Rediv., 216. And for his Estian race and Saxon strain Might reproduce some second Richard’s reign.
1700. Prior, Carmen Sec., 73. Charlemain, And the long Heroes of the Gallic Strain.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Deronda, lxiii. IV. 247. I come of a strain that has ardently maintained the fellowship of our race.
b. Any one of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; an admixture of some racial or family element in a genealogy.
1863. Whyte-Melville, Gladiators, I. ii. 26. It might have been the strain of Greek blood which filtered through his veins, that tempered his Roman courage … with the pliancy, essential to conspiracy and intrigue.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 June, 11. These animals are usually a cross between the bulldog and the mastiff, and are all the better if dashed with a strain of the bloodhound.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 93. She’s just a Highland lady Touched with an Eastern strain.
1897. Times, 11 March, 12/2. He [Lord Coventry said] had not bought horses in Ireland as hunters which had any strain of hackney or cart-horse blood.
1902. R. Bagot, Donna Diana, ix. 103. The features were regular … with something about … the moulding of the nose and chin that suggested a strain of Jewish blood.
7. A race, breed; a variety developed by breeding. a. of animals.
1607. Markham, Caval., I. (1617), 26. I … know, that if a man will continue his breede altogether in one straine, without any alteration or strangenesse [he] shall in the ende finde his studd to decay.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XIV. 31. By them, Mastiues as austere As sauage beasts, lay euer. Their fierce straine Bred by the Herdsman.
1634. Brereton, Trav. (Chetham Soc.), 32. Coach-mares, bred but of his own straine.
c. 1650. in Thoms, Anecd. (Camden), 47. The cocke was match’t, and bearing Sir Thomas Jermin’s name…. Everyone wond’red to see Sir Thomas his streine cry Craven.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., ii. 55. Two Kids … Both fleck’d with white, the true Arcadian Strain.
1708. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. I. iii. (1743), 12. The Sheep of Cotswold have so fine a Wool, that the Spanish strain (’tis said) came from a Present of Edward I. made of these Sheep to Alphonso King of Spain.
1759. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, 46. The former hogs of the cross strain.
1847. W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 70/1. Crosses with the Hereford were tried,… but soon, after one or two generations, the defects of the Glamorganshire strain reappeared.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 246/2. To keep up a stock of first-rate fowls it is necessary every other year to cross the strain.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., i. 34. Eminent breeders try by methodical selection, with a distinct object in view, to make a new strain or sub-breed, superior to anything existing in the country.
1868. Field, 4 July, 22/2. Two Pups of his strain of the above breed [of St. Bernard’s].
1872. L. Wright, Illustr. Bk. Poultry, 207. Strain, a race of fowls which, having been carefully bred by one breeder or his successors for years, has acquired an individual character of its own which can be more or less relied upon.
1884. A. Peloni, in Expositor, Jan., 35. The animals which man has bred into new and specialized strains.
b. of plants.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl. (1846), VI. 42. It has … taken a number of years to obtain what florists term a ‘strain’ of flowers likely to lead to great results.
1849. J. F. Wood, Midland Florist, iii. 121. Every tulip grower is aware of the importance of getting a good strain of any given variety.
1908. Ch. Times, 20 March, 392/4. Begonias, gold medal strain, equal to any in the kingdom.
c. of microbes, etc.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 636. Numerous strains of vaccine lymph have, from time to time been raised from the equine source.
1904. E. Klein, in Brit. Med. Jrnl., 3 Dec., 1508/1. Another point leading to a similar interpretation is observed in some strains of B. anthracis.
8. Inherited character or constitution.
1603. B. Jonson, Sejanus, I. i. ’Tis wee are … degenerate from th’ exalted streine of our great Fathers.
1605. Shaks., Lear, V. iii. 40. Sir, you have shew’d to day your valiant straine And Fortune led you well.
a. 1671. Tillotson, Serm., iii. 135. Intemperance and Lust breed infirmities and diseases, which being propagated, spoil the Strain of a Nation.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 1176. A strain, indoles.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, ii. Neither in mien nor in features was this creature like her sire, and yet she was of his strain; her mind had been filled from his, as the cup from the flagon.
b. An inherited tendency or quality; a feature of character or constitution derived from some ancestor; hence, in wider sense, an admixture in a character of some quality somewhat contrasting with the rest.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., II. i. 91. For sure vnlesse he know some straine in mee, that I know not my selfe, he would neuer haue boorded me in this furie.
1605. Lond. Prodigal, III. ii. 172. Such mad straines as hee’s possesst with all.
a. 1627. Hayward, Edw. VI. (1630), 7. Because Heretickes for the most part haue a straine of madnesse, he thought it best to apply her with some corporall chastisements.
1633. Heywood, Eng. Trav., I. The French is of one humor, Spaine another, The hot Italian hee’s a straine from both.
1704. Swift, Mech. Operat. Spir., in Tale Tub, etc. 289. A Fanatick Strain, or Tincture of Enthusiasm.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, i. She really has a strain of nobility under all her flightiness.
1899. P. H. Brown, Hist. Scot., II. ii. I. 95. There was in him a strain of superstition which distorted his vision in all matters concerned with the church.
1906. Lit. World, 15 Nov., 489/2. There was … a strain of insanity in the family.
† c. A characteristic instance (of a person’s qualities). Obs.
1685. Temple, Gardening, Wks. 1770, III. 204. It was no mean strain of his philosophy to refuse being secretary to Augustus. Ibid. (1695), Hist. Eng. (1699), 146. It looks like a Strain of his usual Boldness and fearless Temper.
9. A kind, class, or sort (of persons), as determined by community of character, conduct, or degree of ability. Now rare.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iii. 97. Mist. Page. Hang him dishonest rascall: I would all of the same straine, were in the same distresse.
1600–9. Rowlands, Knaue of Clubbes, 32. A Cittie wanton full of pride and lust, Of Venus straine and disposition iust.
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 57. And that by the confession even of some of his owne straine.
1645. Featley, Dippers Dipt (1646), 21. So we haue had but too just cause to complain of the like outrages committed by some of the Zelots of that Straine.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., ii. 4. Their [sc. the Druids’] high conceipt of their excellency above the ordinary straine of men.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 172. The Councell that grannted such power to a partie of that straine, were malitiously intended.
1693. Dryden, Persius, V. 164. Thou, who lately of the common strain, Wert one of us.
1746. Francis, trans. Hor., Sat., I. i. 131. A bold Wench, of right Virago Strain.
1847. Emerson, Poems, Threnody, 141. The world … was not ripe yet, to sustain A genius of so fine a strain.
b. A kind, class or grade (of things). ? Obs.
1612. T. Taylor, Titus i. 1. (1619), 24. The contemplation of things of an higher strain.
1646. J. Maxwell, Burd. Isaachar, 4. All crimes and scandals of highest strain, namely, such as are civilly punishable by death.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, V. (1723), 249. But these Alterations are of a quite different Strain.
1702. S. Parker, trans. Cicero’s De Fin., IV. 231. Hitherto your Objections have been Vulgar and of Course; and therefore I promise myself you have a higher Strein in Reserve.
