STRAITEN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Straiten

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verb

Straiten v. t. (past & past part. straitened; pres. part. straitening)

To make strait; to make narrow; hence, to contract; to confine. "Waters, when straitened, as at the falls of bridges, give a roaring noise." "In narrow circuit, straitened by a foe."

To make tense, or tight; to tighten. "They straiten at each end the cord."

To restrict; to distress or embarrass in respect of means or conditions of life; used chiefly in the past participle; as, a man straitened in his circumstances.

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Etymology of 'Straiten'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Straiten" Quotes from Famous Books

... thy gates throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters which the LORD thy God hath given thee; in the siege and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall straiten thee. The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children which he hath remaining: so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall ...

— Select Masterpieces of Biblical Literature • Various

... beams of day, To keep him curb'd, nor let him lift his eyes To see where happiness, where misery lies. They lead him blind, and thro the world's broad waste Perpetual feuds, unceasing shadows cast, Crush every art that might the mind expand, And plant with demons every desert land; That, fixt in straiten'd bounds, the lust of power May ravage still and still the race devour, An easy prey the hoodwink'd hordes remain, And oceans roll ...

— The Columbiad • Joel Barlow