strait Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water
    sound.
  2. noun a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs
    straits; pass.
  3. adjective satellite narrow
    • strait is the gate

WordNet

Strait adjective
Definitions
  1. A variant of Straight. Obs.
Strait adjective
Etymology
OE. straight, streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F. étroit, from L. strictus drawn together, close, tight, p.p. of stringere to draw tight. See 2nd Strait, and cf. Strict.
Wordforms
comparative Straiter ; superlative Straitest
Definitions
  1. Narrow; not broad.
    Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Matt. vii. 14.
    Too strait and low our cottage doors. Emerson.
  2. Tight; close; closely fitting. Shak.
  3. Close; intimate; near; familiar. Obs. "A strait degree of favor." Sir P. Sidney.
  4. Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.
    Some certain edicts and some strait decrees. Shak.
    The straitest sect of our religion. Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.).
  5. Difficult; distressful; straited.
    To make your strait circumstances yet straiter. Secker.
  6. Parsimonious; niggargly; mean. Obs.
    I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait, And so ingrateful, you deny me that. Shak.
Strait adverb
Definitions
  1. Strictly; rigorously. Obs. Shak.
Strait noun
Etymology
OE. straight, streit, OF. estreit, estroit. See Strait, a.
Wordforms
plural Straits
Definitions
  1. A narrow pass or passage.
    He brought him through a darksome narrow strait To a broad gate all built of beaten gold. Spenser.
    Honor travels in a strait so narrow Where one but goes abreast. Shak.
  2. Specifically: (Geog.) A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.
    We steered directly through a large outlet which they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad. De Foe.
  3. A neck of land; an isthmus. R.
    A dark strait of barren land. Tennyson.
  4. Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits.
    For I am in a strait betwixt two. Phil. i. 23.
    Let no man, who owns a Providence, grow desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever. South.
    Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts. Broome.
Strait transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To put to difficulties. Obs. Shak.

Webster 1913