string Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a lightweight cord
    twine.
  2. noun stringed instruments that are played with a bow
    bowed stringed instrument.
    • the strings played superlatively well
  3. noun a tightly stretched cord of wire or gut, which makes sound when plucked, struck, or bowed
  4. noun a sequentially ordered set of things or events or ideas in which each successive member is related to the preceding
    train.
    • a string of islands
    • train of mourners
    • a train of thought
  5. noun a linear sequence of symbols (characters or words or phrases)
  6. noun a tie consisting of a cord that goes through a seam around an opening
    drawstring; drawing string.
    • he pulled the drawstring and closed the bag
  7. noun a tough piece of fiber in vegetables, meat, or other food (especially the tough fibers connecting the two halves of a bean pod)
  8. noun (cosmology) a hypothetical one-dimensional subatomic particle having a concentration of energy and the dynamic properties of a flexible loop
    cosmic string.
  9. noun a collection of objects threaded on a single strand
  10. noun a necklace made by a stringing objects together;
    strand; chain.
    • a string of beads
    • a strand of pearls
  11. verb thread on or as if on a string
    draw; thread.
    • string pearls on a string
    • the child drew glass beads on a string
    • thread dried cranberries
  12. verb add as if on a string
    string up.
    • string these ideas together
    • string up these songs and you'll have a musical
  13. verb move or come along
    string along.
  14. verb stretch out or arrange like a string
  15. verb string together; tie or fasten with a string
    • string the package
  16. verb remove the stringy parts of
    • string beans
  17. verb provide with strings
    • string my guitar

WordNet

String noun
Etymology
OE. string, streng, AS. streng; akin to D. streng, G. strang, Icel. strengr, Sw. sträng, Dan. stræng; probably from the adj., E. strong (see Strong); or perhaps originally meaning, twisted, and akin to E. strangle.
Definitions
  1. A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. Shak.
    Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. Prior.
  2. A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments. "A string of islands." Gibbon.
  3. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together. Milton.
  4. The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme. "An instrument of ten strings." Ps. xxx. iii. 2.
    Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of lute, or viol still. Milton.
  5. The line or cord of a bow. Ps. xi. 2.
    He twangs the grieving string. Pope.
  6. A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root.
    Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom. Bacon.
  7. A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
    The string of his tongue was loosed. Mark vii. 35.
  8. (Shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
  9. (Bot.) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.
  10. (Mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein. Ure.
  11. (Arch.) Same as Stringcourse.
  12. (Billiards) The points made in a game. = to have other strings in one's bow
String transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect Strung ; past participle Strung (R Stringed ); present participle & verbal noun Stringing
Definitions
  1. To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin.
    Has not wise nature strung the legs and feet With firmest nerves, designed to walk the street? Gay.
  2. To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order to play upon it.
    For here the Muse so oft her harp has strung, That not a mountain rears its head unsung. Addison.
  3. To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads.
  4. To make tense; to strengthen.
    Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood. Dryden.
  5. To deprive of strings; to strip the strings from; as, to string beans. See String, n., 9.

Webster 1913