Strait a., sb. and adv.

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 sb., 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.  Of a garment, etc.: Tight-fitting, narrow. Obs. exc. dial.

1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 353. Þey … haueþ … straiȝt hodes [L. capuciis strictis]. Ibid. (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.  Shaks., 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, trans. Würtz’ 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.  T. Hoby, trans. 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.  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, trans. 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.  Raleigh, 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.  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.  trans. 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.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 265. To open the strayte passages in the Alpes.

1611.  Shaks., 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 March. 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.

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.

  † 4.  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.  Maundev. (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 sb. and v. = STRAIT WAISTCOAT sb. and v.; 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 english litle Horehounde or *strayte Horehound.

1814.  Scott, Lett., 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.  B. Matthews, in Harper’s Mag., July, 220/1. Distrusting all efforts of school-masters to strait-jacket our speech into formulas borrowed from the Latin.

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 March, 9/5. Coal was got from mines either by the wide-work system or by straight-work.

  II.  Strict, rigorous.

  † 6.  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.

a. 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.  trans. 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.  trans. 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.  Hester, Secr. Phiorav., 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.  trans. 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.  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, 1. 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.  Shaks., 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.  Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 51 Age. Although they do, yet, for my parte, I will not bee so straite or scrupulous.

1603.  Shaks., 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, 56/2. 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.  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.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 278 b. The Duke of Wirtemburg hath accorded vpon moste straite conditions.

1596.  Shaks., 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., trans. Camden’s Hist. 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.  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.  James I., Kingis Q., 25. In strayte ward and in strong prisoun.

1432–50.  trans. 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. Yen though she be well instructed, yet is she still under a more strait tuition.

1716.  Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. 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. Parl., 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.  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 “hardly ever’s” a bit stret for what’s in’t.’

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

c. 1340.  Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 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. Brit. (1814), 1. He was sworne of the kynges preuye and streayte counsayle.

1561.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtier, II. (1900), 137. Suche as are coopled in streicte amitie and unseparable companye.

1568.  J. Fen, trans. 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 Monm., trans. Senault’s Man bec. 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.  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 be 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.  Shaks., 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, -breasted, -breeched, -chested, -clothed, -coated, -necked, -sleeved, -toothed, -waisted.

1601.  B. Jonson, Poetaster, IV. i. This *straight-bodied Citty attire … will stirre a Courtiers blood.

a. 1668.  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.  Daus, trans. 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…; & adoþer 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, Expos. 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 *straithandednesse 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.  sb.

  1.  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 broad gate.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., III. iii. 154. Honour trauels in a straight so narrow Where one but goes abreast.

1672.  J. Lacy, trans. 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.  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 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 plural.

  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.  Christina 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.  Shaks., 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.  Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 200. He keept them in great straits for money.

1849.  Ht. 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. ουνέχομαι 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 examme 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., 2/1. There will be almost an unprecedented amount of suffering and strait in our large towns.

  3.  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, of Gibraltar (formerly † of Morocco), of Magellan, 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; now, 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, trans. 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.  trans. Lahontan’s Voy. N. Amer., I. 83. We enter’d 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, 37. Fra’ Deli clear to Torres Strait, the trial o’ despair.

  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.  Raleigh, 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. 1660[?].  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 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.

  † 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.  Maundev. (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.  Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 391. Having won the straites of thalpes.

1585.  T. Washington, trans. 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, trans. Cambini’s Two Comm., 20 b. The walle of Esmilia, that was buylded vpon the straite called Isthmos.

1568.  Hacket, trans. 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, trans. 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., I. vi. Looke into any Angle o’ the towne (the Streights or the Bermuda’s) where the quarrelling lesson is read. Ibid. (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 sb.¹ 3 f.].

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

1558.  Warde, trans. Alexis’ Secr. (1568), 105. By that meanes it maye stoppe the strayte of the funnell.

1567.  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^t 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),’ also ‘suitable for ships bound thither’; Straits-born a., born in the Straits Settlements; Straitsman (a) a ship suitable for the Straits; (b) Australian (see quot. 1846).

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.

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.

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

  C.  adv.

  1.  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.  T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtier, II. (1900), 197. The two … layed hande upon Cesar with me and helde him streict.

1596.  Dalrymple, trans. 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.

c. 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 her 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, trans. 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. Ibid. (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 wele 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.  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.  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 laue 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, -braced, -embraced, -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.