[f. STRAIN sb.1] intr. a. To strain back: to go back in pedigree (to an ancestor).
1856. H. H. Dixon, Post & Paddock, ii. (1860), 35. Tomboy strains back to Sorcerer, through Jerry and Smolensko.
1871. Daily News, 7 Dec., 5/6. One of his exhibits strains back to the Gledmere flock.
b. To strain after: to inherit the characteristics of.
1888. Mrs. Riddell, Nun’s Curse, I. vi. 97. You do not ‘strain after’ most of your family, for there has not been a Conway of Calgarry … that could bear to hear the truth.
