verb
His story that a bushy-haired intruder had shot her strained the jury's credulity
As he strained at his bonds the rope cut more deeply into his wrists
I strained my back lifting that box of books
She strained to catch a glimpse of the prince. They strained to hear every word
Strain the soup to remove the bones. Strain the dregs from the wine. The water is then strained through sand
noun
Strains often hurt more than broken bones
The strain began to tell on all of us. Another rope was needed to relieve the strain on the first. This advertising budget will put a great strain on our resources
In the distance I made out the faint strains of skirling bagpipes
I detected a mellowing strain in her letters
noun
This sample of sweet pea came from an entirely different strain
There was a definite strain of ruthlessness in her character
US