[f. STRAIN v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of stretching, extending, drawing tight, wrenching, etc.; the fact of being stretched, wrenched, etc.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 199. A Mannes lyme bicomeþ smal wiþ greet streynyng of ligaturis þat takiþ awei þe norisching of þe lyme.
1463–4. Rolls of Parlt., V. 501/1. Brode Cloth … after almanere rakkyng, streynyng or teyntyng therof.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 83. The ach that commeth by the wrinchyng or strenyng [printed streuyng] of any ioynte.
a. 1647. in Archæolgia, XII. 263. The ship went away without any straining of screws or tackles.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. iv. 157. The water the Pink had made by her working and straining in bad weather.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, IV. xx. So near they were, that they might know The straining harsh of each cross-bow.
1860. W. Collins, Woman in White, vii. The drawings … require careful straining and mounting.
1865. Swinburne, Poems & Ball., Lamentation, 69. With straining of oars.
2. Excessive exertion of the voice, lungs, eyes, etc.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 347/2. Bombyces,… long pipes which are very hardly filled with breath, and not without great straining of the breath.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., I. v. 10. My brest Ile burst with straining of my courage.
1639. N. N., trans. Du Bosq’s Compl. Woman, I. 28. The strayning of their countenance discovers, they have not modestie enough for silence, no more then sufficiency for discourse.
1680. Otway, Caius Marius, IV. i. It is the Lark, and out of Tune she sings With grating Discords and unpleasing Strainings.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 407, ¶ 1. Those Strainings of the Voice, Motions of the Body, and Majesty of the Hand, which are so much celebrated in the Orators of Greece and Rome.
1832. S. Warren, Diary Physic., II. iii. 122. There was … no knitting of the brows, or painful straining of the eyes.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Deronda, xv. I. 292. An uncommonly fine girl…. Really worth a little straining to look at her.
b. A violent muscular effort to evacuate the bowels, etc.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 721. In the ascent he and all the rest were surprised with so sudden panges of straining and casting, and some also of scouring, that the Sea-sicknesse is not comparable hereunto.
1677. Gilpin, Dæmonol. (1867), 307. That vomit … cannot be done without sickness, straining, and torture.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 244. The percentage of total solids in the fluid passed during straining, was less than half that passed when the patient remained passive.
c. The making a violent effort or strong endeavor (to do something, after an end or object).
1580. Lyly, Euphues Eng. (Arb.), 422. The Nightingale, which is saide with continual strayning to singe, to perishe in hir sweete layes.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. xiii. (1848), 248. The Shore being fixt, and immoveable, instead of making that come to him, his very strainings drew him and his Boat to that.
1800. Coleridge, in J. D. Campbell, Life (1894), 107. I find that I can without any straining gain 500 guineas a year.
1890. Spectator, 1 Nov., 589/1. Grand projects of street-improvement, many of which are mere strainings after a needless grandeur.
1898. M. Hewlett, Earthwork out of Tuscany (1899), Pref. p. xii. The straining of Botticelli to express the ineffable.
3. An urging or pressing too far, laying undue stress upon; wresting or distortion of meaning, forced construction or interpretation.
1528. More, Dyaloge, Wks. 107/2. I haue in these matters bidden him be bolde, without any strayning of curtesie.
1654. Jer. Taylor, Real Pres., 116. By some straining, the Lamb slain might signifie the slaying the Egyptians.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xv. III. 527. The words of the Act … may, without any straining, be construed as the Court construed them.
1908. Athenæum, 31 Oct., 535/2. They were forced into resisting such strainings of the prerogative as the Declaration of Indulgence.
4. Filtering, sifting, expressing.
1548. Elyot’s Dict., Expressio, a streynyng.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, C c/ij b. The streyning of a gnat is not swallowing of a cammell.
1640. Bp. Hall, Chr. Moder., I. xiii. 141. The presse is prepared for the grapes and Olives, and … neither of them will yeeld their comfortable and wholsome juyce without an hard strayning.
1718. Quincy, Compl. Disp. (1719), 66. Gums and inspissated Juices … are seldom fit for use before straining.
1883. Encycl. Brit., XVI. 691/2. Probably a straining of water from solid particles is effected by the lattice-work of the ctenidia or gill-plates.
b. concr. Something strained or extracted by straining; usually a strained liquor.
1580. Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., lxix. 29. Cast not awaie the sodden Barlie with the rest of the strainings.
1669. Rowland, Schroder’s Chym. Disp., I. iii. 6. Succus, in Shops are Expressions or Strainings, such as will mix with Water.
1887. A. M. Brown, Anim. Alkaloids, 82. The residue is filtered by pressure, and the united strainings are subjected to boiling or evaporation.
5. Saddlery. (See quot. 1875.)
1871. Saddlers’ Gaz., 1 May, 12/1. The webs used for the manufacture of a saddle are termed straining web, cross straining and diaper web.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Straining, a piece of canvas or leather, which, being drawn tightly over the tree, forms the foundation for the seat of the saddle…. It is called the straining, because the stretch is taken out of it by repeated wettings and stretchings.
6. attrib. and Comb. a. in sense 1: straining-arch, an arch designed to resist end-thrust; straining-beam (see quot. 1825); straining-frame, a frame on which paper, canvas, etc., is stretched; straining-leather (see quot. and sense 5); straining-piece = straining beam; straining-pillar, -post, a post from which wire fencing is stretched tight; straining-sill or -cill (see quot. 1825); straining-web (see 5).
1848. Rickman, Archit. (ed. 5), Descr. Engrav. p. xli. The angel corbel carries another arch, known as a *straining arch.
a. 1805. Robison, Syst. Mech. Philos. (1822), I. 545. The *straining beam and the trussbeam above it.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 572. Straining-beam; a piece of timber placed between two others, called queen-posts, at their upper ends, in order to withstand the thrust of the principal rafters.
1762–71. H. Walpole, Vertue’s Anecd. Paint. (1786), III. 80. On the *straining frame was written Gerard Soest pinxit.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 747. The paper designed for a transparency must be fixed on a straining frame, such as that of a drawing board without its pannel.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Straining-leather, a kind of web forming the seat of a hussar-saddle.
a. 1805. Robison, Syst. Mech. Philos. (1822), I. 669. The great use of the *straining piece is to give a firm abutment to the inner struts, without allowing any lateral strain on the stretcher.
1842. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., V. 361/2. In the inner trusses, instead of these short butting-pieces, long straining-pieces, reaching from one post to another, are used.
1883. J. Scott, Farm Roads, etc. 85. *Straining-pillars and posts fitted with … winding brackets.
1882. Worc. Exhib. Catal., III. 20. Strained wire fencing … with two kinds of *straining posts.
a. 1805. Robison, Syst. Mech. Philos. (1822), I. 547. The *straining sill Q gives a firm abutment to the principal braces.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 572. Straining-cill; a piece of timber placed upon the tie-beam at the bottom of two queen-posts, in order to withstand the force of the braces.
b. in sense 4, as straining-bag, -cloth, -tower.
1725. Bradley’s Family Dict., s.v. Sugar ¶ 1 Passing it thro a *Straining-Bag.
1742. Lond. & Country Brewer, IV. (ed. 2), 311. A Bag made of *Straining-cloth, such as Dairy Women use to pass their Milk through.
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 Oct., 5/2. There will be a *straining tower at Vyrniew [i.e., Vyrnwy], a profusion of filter-beds at Oswestry.
