Forms: α. 4– (straȝfte), strayth, streiȝet, streighte, streiht, 4–5 streiȝt, 4–7 streght, 4–8 streight, 5 (strath), streȝt, streith, streught, streygth, streyȝte, streyȝthte, 5–6 streghte, 5–8 streyght(e, 6 strayght(e, (Sc. strecht), 8 Sc. straicht, 4– straight. β. Sc. 4 stracht, strauȝt, strauht, strawt, 4–5 straȝte, 4–7 straght, 4–9 straucht, straught, 6 strauch. γ. Sc. 5 stright, stryȝte, 6 stricht. δ. 4 straitt, 4–5 streit(e, streyt(e, 4–6 strayt(e, 5 straict, 5–8 straite, 5–9 strait. [ME. streʓt, straʓt, orig. an adjectival use of the pa. pple. of strecchen to STRETCH.] A. adj.
† 1. As ppl. adj.: Extended at full length. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7677. With a streught arme he keppit the caupe on his clene sheld.
14[?]. Fifty-first Ps., 45, in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 281. Sithe þi flesche, lord, was furst perceyued And for oure sake laide streiȝt in stalle.
c. 1420. Anturs of Arth., 534. Hit was no ferly, in faye, His stedes startun on straye, With steroppus fulle stryȝte.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. II. 133. Quhairfor Ferithar receiuet the kingis Waipone, to wit, a naikit sworde, a bent and straucht out wande, in thir dayes called a sceptre.
† b. Spread out, broad. Obs.
a. 1366[?]. Chaucer, Rom. Rose, 119. And somdel lasse it was than Seine, But it was straighter [Fr. plus espandue] wel away.
2. Not crooked; free from curvature, bending or angularity.
c. 1350. Libeaus Desc. (Kaluza), 942. Hir nose was streiȝt [Cotton MS. strath] and riȝt.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 942. Hyt [sc. her neck] was white, smothe, streght and pure flatte Wyth-outen hole.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 1574. The Stretis were streght & of a stronge brede.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 35. On alle these fowles tho legges schune bene, Summe called, sum streȝt, as I haue sene.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 4. The plowes that goo with wheles, haue a streyghte beame.
1563. Mirr. Mag., Jane Shore, xx. And bent the wand that might have growen ful streight.
a. 1577. Sir T. Smith, Commw. Eng., i. (1589), 2. A rule is alway to be vnderstoode to be straight.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., III. i. 38. There is no mo such Cæsars, other of them may haue crook’d Noses, but to owe such straite Armes, none.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 129. This River is a very streight and broad river.
1667. Primatt, City & C. Builder, 52. Let him in the buying his timber, buy the streightest he can light on.
1678. R. L’Estrange, Seneca’s Mor. (1702), 213. A streight Stick in the Water appears to be crooked.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 121. Upright he walks, on Pasterns firm and straight; His Motions easy; prancing in his Gate.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Stairs, Straight Stairs … are such as always fly, that is, proceed in a Right Line, and never wind.
1737. Gentl. Mag., VII. 190. The Bill was hardly discernable, so I cannot say whether it was Streight or Crooked.
1767. Gooch, Treat. Wounds, I. 234. We are to consider the … shape of the weapon; whether it has a strait, or a rising edge.
1786. Burns, Vision, I. xi. And such a leg!… Sae straught, sae taper, tight and clean.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 123. Panicle stiff and straight.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 162. Fracture presents … mostly streight and parallel, rarely curved fibres.
1808. Parsons, Trav. Asia, xi. 230. The streets are all strait.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 485. Straight (rectus); not wavy or curved, or deviating from a straight direction in any way.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 138. This requires a blade with a straight edge like those of the pruning-knives now in general use.
1896. Law Times Rep., LXXIII. 615/1. The railway line … was perfectly straight for a distance of over 700 yards.
absol. 1718. Prior, Solomon, I. 190. Water and Air the varied Form confound; The Strait looks crooked, and the Square grows round.
b. Straight line: a line uniform in direction throughout its length; Geom. = right line, which is now rare.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., III. xvii. (1495), 61. One manere of the syghte is by strayte lynes vpon the whyche the lyknesse of the thyng that is seen cometh to the syghte.
c. 1537. De Benese, Measurynge Lande, A iiij. Of lynes one is a straygth lyne hangyng, ye seconde is a straygth lyne ouerthwarte [i.e., perpendicular and horizontal].
1551. [see RIGHT a. 2].
1610. Bolton, Elem. Armories, 87. Armorial Lines are in their first diuision Straight, or Crooked. Againe the Straight are either Direct, or Oblique.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., I. Ad Sec. viii. 118. Of all lines the straight is the shortest.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, II. xiv. I. 287. Instead of ascending in a streight Line, it [the flame] whirled round.
1726. Leoni, Alberti’s Archit., I. 9 a, The strait Line is a Line drawn from one point to another, the shortest Way.
1799. Han. More, Fem. Educ. (ed. 4), I. 240. Why in teaching to draw do you begin with strait lines and curves?
1840. Lardner, Geom., ii. 25. If from any proposed point P, several straight lines be drawn to a given straight line A B.
1870. B. Stewart, Elem. Physics, § 25. 28. The method of representing forces by straight lines.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Metaph., 182. If we proceed onwards in a straight line, we shall, admittedly, never come to the end of the line.
1885. Leudesdorf, Cremona’s Proj. Geom., 75. Through M … draw two straight lines to cut u in A and B.
c. Of a human form, a back: Erect, not crooked or stooping.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 168. A good Legge will fall, a strait Back will stoope, a blacke Beard will turne white.
1826. F. Reynolds, Life & Times, I. 232. He was young, tall, strait, and good-looking.
1855. Tennyson, Brook, 70. A daughter of our meadows,… Straight, but as lissome as a hazel wand.
1868. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, i. I. 31. You are as Straight as an arrow still.
d. Of a limb, etc.: Held with the joint not flexed.
1765. Angelo, Sch. Fencing, 18. Keep a strait arm, in order to throw off his point.
a. 1774. Goldsm., Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776), II. 169. As painful as it would be to stretch out a finger streight that was contracted by an inflammation.
e. Of hair: Not curly or waved.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Rand., xiii. (1768), I. 83. My hair … hung down upon my shoulders, as lank and streight as a pound of candles.
1774. Pennsylv. Gaz., 23 Feb., 5/3. Ten Dollars Reward. Run away from the subscriber,… a native Irish servant man,… fair complexion, straight fair hair.
1886. H. W. Lucy, Diary Gladstone Parlt., 239. His pale face, his straight black hair.
f. Printing. Straight accent: a macron.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 134. Straight accents, another term for long accents, thus—ā ē ī ō ū.
g. Arch. (See quots.)
[1666. Act 18 & 19 Chas. II., c. 8 § 5. Archworke of Bricke or Stone either straight or circular.]
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., 237. All vaults which have a horizontal straight axis, are called straight vaults. Ibid. (1828), Masonry, 110. Straight walls, those which have plane surfaces.
h. Anat. The distinctive epithet of certain structures (= mod.L. rectus).
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 31/2. Intestinum rectum,… the straight gut, or the arse gut.
1749. Hartley, Observ. Man, I. i. § 3. 99. The Four strait Muscles of the Eye.
1840. W. J. E. Wilson, Anat. Vade M. (1842), 339. The Straight or fourth sinus is the sinus of the tentorium.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, ii. 30. The straight muscles, acting together, tend to draw it [the eyeball] backwards, while the oblique muscles are so placed as to oppose this tendency.
i. Zool. and Bot. (See quots.)
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 171. The additions which this author has made to the genera of straight multilocular shells.
1841. Penny Cycl., XXI. 183/2. Mirbel has proposed a classification of ovules. When the ovule has grown regularly with the hilum and chalaza at the base and the foramen at the apex, it is called a straight ovule, or orthotropous.
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 373. Straight-Foraminifers (Vaginulidæ).
j. Of the front of a coat or dress: Not fitting closely to the chest.
1893. Daily News, 5 April, 7/1. This shape is fitted in towards the waist at the back, but the fronts are ‘straight,’ a tailor’s technicality for ‘not fitting.’
1906. Daily Chron., 19 Sept., 4/4. The dress-improver and even the ‘straight-front’ were in the panoply of the society dame of nineteen centuries ago.
3. Direct, undeviating. a. Of a way or course: Leading directly to its destination; not deviating or circuitous. Also in fig. context.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 691. By wayez ful streȝt he con hym strayn [Vulg. Sap. x. 10 Deduxit per vias rectas].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 832. Duc Theseus the streighte wey hath holde And to the launde he rideth hym ful right.
c. 1425. Hampole’s Psalter, Metr. Pref. 32. This is þe way to mannys syȝt; euen streygth wiþ out deseyt.
1488. Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889), I. 493. And so forth the streyght wey till they came to Kylmagergan.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxvi. 1. Quhat is this lyfe bot ane straucht way to deid.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 22. This waye of religyon, whiche is the streyght waye to the perfeccyon of grace.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. 6. Þan was It found expedient to send Icelius brother and numitorius son … þe strauchest way þai mycht to þe portis.
1535. Coverdale, Luke iii. 4. Prepare the waye of the Lorde, and make his pathes straight.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 28. He without long tariyng or aduisement, tooke the streight way to the sea syde.
1627. Abp. Abbot, in Rushw., Collect. (1659), I. 456. To keep things in a streight course, sometimes in fits of the Gout, I was forced by my Servants to be carried into the Court.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. v. 93. If we were to suppose a strait Path marked out for a Person.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxiii. While, in pursuit of his interest, he made all the doubles which he thought necessary to attain his object, he often … missed that which he might have gained by observing a straighter course.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xxxvii. Hetty … asked the straightest road northward towards Stonyshire.
† b. Of a look: Bold, steady. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3758. Stokyn ene out stepe with a streught loke.
c. Of an aim, a stroke, a throw, etc.: Directed precisely to the mark.
1833. Nyren, Yng. Cricketer’s Tutor, 33. All straight balls should be played straight back.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., vii. The ball flew from his hand straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket.
1859. Ruskin, Two Paths, i. § 32. The workman’s whole aim is straight at the facts, as well as he can get them.
1884. Sat. Rev., 26 Jan., 108/1. The clumsy round-armed hit [in boxing] … is not esteemed so highly as a straight hit made directly from the shoulder.
d. Of gunpowder: = straight-shooting: see C.
1899. F. V. Kirby, Sport E. C. Africa, xxvii. 302. I had made up my mind to use my rifle, with the straightest powder I had.
1900. Pollok & Thom, Sports Burma, 262. One need not necessarily burn straight powder.
e. colloq. Of an utterance: Outspoken, unreserved. Straight talk: a piece of plain speaking.
1894. Astley, 50 Yrs. Life, I. 326. I made a vow … that I would never open that infernal Euclid book again, and, what is more, I never will! so that is straight.
1895. Westm. Gaz., 11 Sept., 2/2. The jury … attributed the accident solely to the neglect of the Conservators…. That is pretty straight. Ibid. (1900), 1 Sept., 1/2. One candidate … is already consoling himself in advance with the thought of the Straight Talks he will give the … deputations that are certain to descend upon him. Ibid. (1903), 9 Jan., 2/2. It was a night of Straight Talks.
f. The straight tip (colloq.): see TIP sb.4 b.
† 4. Of a mountain: Steep. Obs. (chiefly Sc.)
1475. Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.), 15. The streit high monteyns of Pirone.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. xxi. (S.T.S.), I. 218. Þai fled vp throw ane strate montane.
1549. Compl. Scot., Ep. Ded. (1873), 2. The quhilkz volffis ar nocht the rauand sauuage volffis of strait montanis ande vyild fforrestis.
a. 1800. Bonny Lizie Lindsay, xxiii. in Child, Ballads, IV. 262/2. The mountains were baith strait and stay.
5. Straight angle. † a. A right angle (obs.); b. in mod. use, an angle of 180°.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. xviii. I. 13. Those raies that come sidelong … give but a darke and dim light … in comparison of them that fall directly with streight angles.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 431. The best Figure for a Kitchin-Garden … is a Square of straight Angles.
1889. Dupuis, Elem. Synth. Geom., § 36. 17. One-half of a circumangle is a straight angle, and one-fourth of a circumangle is a right angle.
6. Of conduct: Free from crookedness; frank, honest. Hence of persons and their attributes.
The present use (chiefly colloq.) is unconnected with that of the 16–17th c.
1530. Palsgr., 326/1. Strayght, ryght in condycions, juste.
1541–2. Act 33 Hen. VIII., c. 15 § 1. The … good order strayte and true dealing of the inhabitauntes of the said towne [Manchester].
a. 1628. Preston, New Covt. (1634), 233. To describe to you a right and straight man, when his end is right, and his rule is right.
1642. Earl Leven, Lett., 28 Nov., in Scott. Jrnl. Topog. (1847), I. 73/2. I am aboundantly persuaded of your integrity and straught desyres for the peace … of or poor distressed kingdome.
1864. R. B. Kimball, Was He Successful? iv. 54 (Hoppe). You are honest, too, Hiram—straight as a shingle.
1890. Spectator, 22 Nov., 741/2. There exists … a sort of instinctive appreciation of honesty which … gives enormous influence to any big squatter who is really upright and ‘straight.’
1893. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., March, 1. Having the reputation of being a fearless and independent divine, a straight man, true to his cloth and calling.
1901. Bp. W. Stubbs, in Ch. Q. Rev., April, 9. I think there never was such a life, so long, so brave, so devoted, so straight.
1904. Shuddick, How to arrange with Creditors, 32. If the debtor … has been what is called a straight man, the creditors … accept his proposal of a composition.
1908. W. W. Fowler, Soc. Life Rome, vi. 200. It is on the whole a pleasing letter…. The reader shall be left to decide for himself whether it is perfectly straight and genuine.
† b. Right, proper, fitting. Obs.
1538. Starkey, England, 38. Vertue … schowyth vs the ryght vse and streght, both of helth, strenghth, and beuty.
c. Of a person: Well-conducted, steady. Chiefly in to keep straight. Also, of a woman: Virtuous, chaste.
1868. A. L. Gordon, Lett., Poems (1912), 370. She tried hard to cheer me up and keep me straight.
1876. ‘Ouida,’ Winter City, vi. 125. I only people ‘keep straight’ for the sake only of what other people say of them. Ibid. (1886), House Party, vii. (1887), 163. Do you really think that to have any influence on English public life it is necessary—necessary—to keep so very straight, as regards women, I mean, you know?
1890. Pall Mall Gaz., 21 May, 5/1. Mr. Dolling amused his audience … by his description of a ‘straight girl,’ i. e., one a young fellow not merely walked out with, but intended to marry.
1893. Saltus, Madam Sapphira, 133. As God is my witness that girl is as straight as your sister.
1894. Wilkins & Vivian, Green Bay Tree, I. 185. She … meant to marry him in two or three years, if he proved he could keep straight in the meanwhile.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, viii. 83. And, now Jim came to think of it, she had shown that she was ‘straight.’ A woman who wasn’t would have behaved—well, differently.
7. Not oblique; either vertical or horizontal. Hence, a straight eye: ability to see whether an object is placed straight.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., cxxi. 11. I may be straight though they them-selues be beuel.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. vi. In its whole constitution it had not a straight floor.
1901. Daily News, 21 Sept., 6/4. As to the machine stitching, there is very little difficulty about that to anyone who has a straight eye.
Mod. I don’t think that picture is quite straight.
b. Cricket. Of the bat: Held so as not to incline to either side. Hence, straight play, play with the bat held straight.
1843. ‘A Wykhamist,’ Pract. Hints on Cricket, 7. The secret of all good Batting … is the playing with a straight or upright Bat.
1851. W. Clarke, Pract. Hints on Cricket, in E. V. Lucas, Hambledon Men (1907), 167. By the handle of the bat being nearer the bowler than the blade (always bearing in mind to keep it straight), the ball will be prevented from rising.
1851. Pycroft, Cricket Field, iii. (1854), 45. [He] always insisted on keeping the left elbow well up; in other words, on straight play.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 219/2. (Cricket), ‘How beautifully straight his bat is!’ is a remark often made about a good batsman. As a matter of fact ‘upright’ would be a more correct term than ‘straight,’ but ‘straight’ is the almost invariable epithet.
8. Predicatively: In proper order, not ruffled or disarranged. To keep one’s face straight (colloq.): to refrain from laughing.
1831. Society, I. 64. The pleasure of seeing her kept his temper straighter than usual.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., II. I. ii. It would make all so straight again.
1847. Helps, Friends in C., I. vi. 92. I prefer real life … where there is no third volume [as in a novel] to make things straight.
1860. Thackeray, Lovel, iii. Lay them books straight. Put the volumes together, stupid!
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ Valerie’s Fate, iii. Come and put your hair straight.
1887. P. Fendall, Sex to Last, III. x. III. 220. Five minutes’ conversation … will set everything straight.
1888. Honnor Morten, Sk. Hosp. Life, 73. The small patients lay quiet in their cribs; everything was straight for the night.
1897. Spectator, 25 Sept., 408/1. The story … is one which few people, to use an expressive vulgarism, will be able to read ‘with a straight face.’
b. colloq. Of accounts: Settled up, leaving nothing owing.
1613. Nottingham Rec., IV. 316. Southwell pence beinge in arrerage … Maister Hill … shall pay the same … and so to sett ytt straight for this tyme.
1798. T. Morton, Speed the Plough, IV. i. (1800), 52. Zur Philip did send vor I, about the money I do owe ’un; and said as how he’d make all strait between us.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 12 April, 7/1. He goes away with a straight book.
c. Of a person: Having settled one’s differences (with another); also, having balanced one’s account, ‘even.’
1730. P. Walkden, Diary (1866), 108. This morning Thomas Harrison had my horse a gate with a load of oats to the Lum … in return for his horse that I had once thither with a load of oats, so that we are now straight in the case.
1894. Mrs. Dyan, Man’s Keeping (1899), 262. She … urged him to strive to get straight once more with his conscience and his God.
9. U.S. a. Unmixed, undiluted; of spirits, ‘neat.’ Also qualifying a designation of a political party: Strict, rigid, extreme. To vote the straight ticket: to vote for all the official candidates of one’s party.
1856. N. Y. Courier & Enquirer, Sept. (Bartlett). The present candidate of the straight Whigs for the Vice-Presidency.
1857. N. Y. Times, 14 Oct. (ibid.). The straight Republican Convention is to meet to-morrow.
1862. J. R. Morris, in Congr. Globe, 7 July, 3158/3. I supported the straight Democratic ticket.
1865. Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle, Northwest Passage by Land, ii. (1867), 33. As a Yankee would express it, they were geese and ducks ‘straight’—i.e., without anything else whatever.
1873. Leland, Egypt. Sketch-Bk., 146. Pains have been taken to add ornament, though every other structure near it be of mud ‘straight’—or unmingled and plain.
1874. Slang Dict., 312. Straight, an American phrase peculiar to dram-drinkers; similar to our word neat.
1879. Tourgee, Fool’s Err., vii. 28. I allers did like my liquor clar,—clar an’ straight.
1892. W. Pike, Barren Ground N. Canada, 128. We had bread at every meal, which is in itself a luxury after four months of straight meat.
1901. W. Churchill, Crisis, viii. 432. Stephen had never learned to like straight whiskey.
b. Straight Poker, Whist, etc.: the game in its unmodified form. Straight four, five, six, straight flush: see quots.
1882. Poker; how to play it, 56. A Straight Flush (that is, a sequence of five cards, all of the same suit). Ibid., 72. Straight Poker or Bluff, as it is sometimes called, is played with a pack of fifty-two cards.
1895. C. J. Manson, Sporting Dict., Straight Five, a sequence or rotation of fives. Ibid., Straight Four.
1901. R. F. Foster, Bridge, Introd. p. xii. Bridge … has completely taken the place of straight whist.
c. Of a grade of flour (see quots.).
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 454. Straight, even or uniform in quality. A term used in Commerce, and particularly among flour-dealers.
1883. E. Ingersoll, in Harper’s Mag., June, 78/1. Bakers … use what is known as ‘wheat’ or ‘straight’ flour, which is the product of the five reductions, all the subsequent processes through which the middlings pass in making fine flour being omitted.
10. Comb. a. Parasynthetic formations, unlimited in number, as straight-barred, -barrelled, -billed, -bitted, -bodied, -edged, -fibred, -grained, -hammed, -horned, -jointed, -leaved, -legged, -limbed, -minded, -necked, -nosed, -ribbed, -shaped, -sided, -stocked, -tusked, -veined, -winged adjs.
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 171. The *Straight-barred Elm (Cnephasia rectifasciana).
1709. Lond. Gaz., No. 4540/8. Stray’d or Stoln,… a black Gelding,… full chested, *streight barrel’d.
1811. Shaw, Gen. Zool., VIII. 329. One of the most beautiful of the *strait-billed Humming-Birds.
c. 1875. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., III. 309. The Parrots are divided into two large sections,… the Parrots proper … and … the straight-billed Parrots (Psittaci orthognathi).
1665. Rea, Flora, I. 4. With a *straight-bitted Spade, or Turving-Iron … they will easily be flaied and taken up.
1603–26. Breton, Mad World (Grosart), 8/1. A … faire-handed, small-footed, *straight-bodied … gentlewoman.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2493/4. A Bay Mare,… streight Body’d,… strayed … on the 30th past.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 690. Wooden hooping, or *straight-edged laths, may be substituted for iron.
1886. Encycl. Brit., XXI. 819/2. s.v. Shipbuilding, Plank is either worked in parallel strakes, when it is called ‘straight-edged,’ or [etc.].
1785. Roy, in Phil. Trans., LXXV. 434. Very *straight-fibred deal was not … affected … by the humidity of the air.
1753. F. Price, Brit. Carpenter (ed. 3), 6. With some good, dry, and *strait-grain’d English oak.
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 52. Straight-grained pines and mahogany.
1903. Westm. Gaz., 31 Oct., 7/1. The purse is made of straight-grained, dark green morocco leather.
1714. Tickell, in Steele, Poet. Misc., 181. Truss-thigh’d, *straight-ham’d, and Fox-like form’d his Paw.
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 200. *Straight-horned Snout-Beetles (Orthocerata).
1887. Morris, Odyss., XII. 348. His straight-horned oxen.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4849/4. [Of a horse.] *Strait jointed behind.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 239. To lay good … straight-jointed floors in the sitting-rooms and passage.
1553. Paynell, trans. Dares Phryg. Destr. Troy, C v b. Polixena,… her members well made and well proporcioned, long fingerde, *streight legged.
1898. Conan Doyle, Trag. Korosko, v. 137. He walked slowly away, with his straight-legged military stride.
1909. Mrs. H. Ward, Daphne, iii. 49. The chairs and sofas were a trifle stiff and straight-legged.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 246. Hee was a Comely Personage, a little aboue Iust Stature, well and *straight limmed, but slender.
1860. Forster, Gr. Remonstr., 102. Robert Car was a poor but handsome young Scot,… straight-limbed, well-favoured,… and smooth-faced.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., vii. ‘Mr. Titmarsh,’ says he,… ‘you seem to be an honest, *straight-minded young fellow.’
1839. Yarrell, Suppl. Brit. Fishes, 47. The *Straight-nosed Pipe-Fish, syngnathus ophidion.
1821. S. F. Gray, Brit. Plants, I. 75. Nervature…. *Straight-ribbed, rectinervia, penninervia. Ribs running in a straight line.
1825. Scott, Talism., i. A long, broad, *straight-shaped, double-edged falchion.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 144. A *straight-sided canopy is sometimes used.
1871. W. Morris, in Mackail, Life (1899), I. 268. A terrible chasm, deep, straight-sided, and with water at the bottom.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, 33. A straight-stocked peece, I hold for the better.
1882. W. B. Dawkins, in Contemp. Rev., Aug., 307. The *straight-tusked elephant.
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 132. *Straight-veined [leaves].
1854. A. Adams, etc., Man. Nat. Hist., 209. *Straight-winged Insects (Orthoptera).
b. In concord with sb., forming combs. used attrib. or as adjs., as in straight-line, -needle, -tube.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 425/2. The square or *straight-line chuck … is peculiar to the rose-engine.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 249. [A] Straight Line Lever … a form of Lever Escapement chiefly used in foreign watches, in which the escape wheel arbor, the pallet staff, and the balance staff are planted in a straight line.
1900. Engineering Mag., XIX. 728. A straight-line motion of a moveable piston.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2120/2. The sewing-machine for leather is similar to the ordinary *straight-needle machine, but is stronger.
1901. Scotsman, 13 March, 10/7. Four types of large *straight tube boilers.
c. Special combinations and collocations: straight arch, an arch having radiating joints but a straight intrados and extrados line; straight-backed a. (a) lit. of a person, an animal, a chair, etc.; (b) not bending the back for work, idle; (c) not given to lounging, energetic; straight bit (see quot.); straight block, a kind of joiner’s plane; straight-claw Zool., a bird of the genus Orthonyx; straight coal Mining (see quot.); straight-haired a. (a) having straight hair, leiotrichous; (b) puritanical, prim; hence straight-hairedness; straight-horn Zool., an animal of the family Orthoceratidæ; straight hosiery (see quot.); straight-joint floor Arch. (see quot.); straight-necked a., having a straight neck; (of a fox) running with a straight neck or without deviation; straight stall Mining = straight coal; straight-tail Ornith. (see quot.); straight-wing, an insect of the family Orthoptera. Also STRAIGHT-EDGE.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 63. *Straight Arches.
1842. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., V. 251/2. Straight Arch, or Plat Band, with joints converging to a common centre, an example, Lincoln Cathedral and Greenwich Hospital.
14[?]. in Harrow. Hell, Introd. 25. The horss hath xxv propertes…. After the asse, well-mouthid, well-wyndid, *streght-bakked.
1830. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), II. 356. No straight-backed, bloated fellow,… called a publican.
1847. W. C. L. Martin, The Ox, 48/1. Excellent cattle,… large, straight-backed, deep, and broad-breasted.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xl. The mother’s a whimpering thing…; however, she’s a straight-backed, clean woman, none of your slatterns.
1915. H. Begbie, Cage, ii. 41. The grandmother in a straight-backed chair, the child on a stool at her feet.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 244. *Straight bit, a flat or ordinary chisel for boring.
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., 105. The *Straight Block is used for shooting short joints and mitres, instead of the jointer.
1894–5. Lydekker, Roy. Nat. Hist., III. 438. The … yellow-headed *straight-claw (Orthonyx ochrocephalus), is characterised by the short and straight beak.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 244. *Straight coal, an excavation made in the Thick coal, having the solid coal left on three sides of it.
1841. Miall, in Nonconformist, I. 242. One may bear timid, down-looking, *straight-haired dissenters who speak as small as a halfpenny whistle.
1910. J. McCabe, Prehist. Man, vii. 102. One of the great divisions of humanity, the ‘straight-haired’ men, or Leiotrichi.
1850. Huxley, in L. Huxley, Life & Lett. (1900), I. 52. I had expected a good deal of *straight-hairedness (if you understand the phrase) and methodistical puritanism, but I find it quite otherwise.
1861. P. P. Carpenter, in Rep. Smithsonian Instit., 1860, 167. They belonged to the Family Orthoceratidæ, or *Straight-horns.
1892. Labour Commission, Gloss., Straight Hosiery, articles made by cutting up into lengths a long seamless piece … and stitching upon them a stocking foot or sheet sleeve.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., § 2168. The chief sorts of floors may be divided into those which are folded,… and those which are *straight joint, in which the side joints of the boards are continuous throughout their direction.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. 127. He is coloured lyke a fallowe Deare, *straight necked, and hye, like an Ostryge, his head something higher then a Cammels.
1887. Field, 19 Feb., 232/3. They missed the good straight-necked fox from this covert which was brought to hand not long since at Terringham.
1900. Westm. Gaz., 12 Jan., 3/1. Scent was not of that reliable description which conduces to straight-necked foxes.
1860. Mining Gloss., S. Staffs. Terms, 80. *Straight Stall, an excavation made into the thick coal, having the solid coal left on three sides of it.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXV. 272/2. 21st Race [of Hummingbirds]. The *Straight-tails…. Bill very short; tail composed of long, delicate, pointed, graduated feathers.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 100. Orthoptera (*Straight-wings).
B. quasi-sb. and sb.
1. The adj. used absol. (quasi-sb.) in certain phrases.
† a. Upon straight: upright, erect. Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3841. Burthen hade ynoghe The fete of þat freke to ferke hym aboute, Or stond vppo streght for his strong charge.
b. On the straight: (a) along a straight line, not following irregularities of contour; (b) parallel with the side, as opposed to ‘on the cross’ = diagonally; (c) slang, behaving reputably.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 48. Work rated on running measure, and on the straight.
1894. Paris Mode, I. 31/2. It is usually cut on the cross…. The material is folded over to form a triangle, and in anything cut out of it in this position the threads run differently to what is cut on the straight.
1900. E. Wallace, Writ in Barracks, 103. O the garden it is lovely—That’s when Jerry’s on the straight!
c. Out of straight: deviating from the required straight form or position; not duly rectilinear, level or perpendicular; awry.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., iv. 66. You have the less danger that the Joynt is wrought out of straight. Ibid. (1683), Printing, xvi. 144. He may find out whether either or both of the Carriages are out of straight.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, III. 24/1. The bone broke … and in growing together again it got out of straight.
† d. To take the straight (in measurement): to measure in a straight line. Obs.
1805. State, Fraser of Fraserfield, 186 (Jam.). That the distance … taking the straight, and leaving the small angles and turns of the banks unnoticed, is about 2060 feet.
2. A straight form or position; a level.
1645. Quarles, Sol. Recant., i. 2. Not all this knowledge can reduce the state Of crooked nature to a perfect Straight.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. xviii. (Roxb.), 142/1. Mounture the Morter, elevate the mouth of it from a streight to such a degree of height as is necessary for the slinging or casting out of the granado to the distance or place required.
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., 142. Winding Sticks are … for the purpose of ascertaining whether a surface be straight or not, if not, the surface must be brought to a straight by trial.
1904. Gallichan, Fishing Spain, 162. The rod flew back to the straight, and the line came mournfully limp to the bank. A grand fish lost!
3. A straight portion, e.g., of a race-course (see quot. 1897), a railway. Straight of breadth (Naut.): see quot. 1846.
1840. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 325. Straight of breadth, in shipbuilding, the space before, at, and abaft the dead-flat, in which the ship is of the same uniform breadth.
1864. Field, 16 July, 41/2. Three-quarters of a mile from home Fisherman’s Daughter began to draw up to the leaders; on entering the straight she went up to Spitfire Kitty, and heading her … went on with the lead.
1894. Crockett, Raiders, xlii. 355. The beast that hunted me gaining ever on the straight, and I at the turnings.
1897. Daily News, 13 Sept., 7/2. Then there are frequent and long stretches of ‘straight,’ that delight of the railway engineer.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 62/2. (Athletics) Straight, the section of the track between the last bend and the winning post.
1913. Times, Sept., 12/1. Seremond … retained his place, and when presently the field turned into the straight he was still in front.
4. Geom. A straight line. rare.
1892. G. B. Halsted, Elem. Synth. Geom., 4. The intersection of two planes is called a straight line, or simply a straight. Ibid. (1904), Rational Geom., 3. Two distinct straights cannot have two points in common.
5. In Poker and other games: A series of five cards in sequence but not of the same suit.
1882. Poker; how to play it, 16. A Sequence (sometimes called a ‘straight’). Ibid., 55. If more than one player holds a straight, the straight headed by the highest card wins.
1894. Maskelyne, Sharps & Flats, 84. A ‘four’; which can only be beaten when ‘straights’ are played by a ‘straight flush’—in other words, a sequence of five cards, all of the same suit.
1897. R. F. Foster, Compl. Hoyle, 182. (Poker), In straights, the highest card of the sequence wins.
C. adv.
Certain similative phrases, as straight as a dart, as a stick, etc., which primarily belong to the adj., are sometimes used colloq. in various senses of the adv. to which they have no pertinence.
1. In a straight course or line.
a. In a straight course; directly to or from a place; without deviation or circuit; by the shortest way. Also in modified sense (often indistinguishable from sense 2): Without any intermediate destination or interruption of journey.
13[?]. Bonaventura’s Medit., 1122. Se cryst aftyr hys deþ: For þy synne streyght to helle he geþ.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 3592. Þe Kinges sone … gart his [stede] goo, and streiȝet to him rides.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1461. But to his neces hous, as streyt as lyne, He com.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XIV. 22. Till Irland held he straucht his way.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 959. Jason … stird ouer the streame streght to þe lond.
14[?]. Hymns Virg. & Christ, 13. For myȝtili þou roos, & ran Streiȝt vnto þi fadir in trone.
c. 1440. Ps. Penit. (1894), 58. Delyvere me lord from my fon felle, For straught to the yfled am y.
c. 1450. in Aungier, Syon (1840), 284. He schal not come at the seyd grate, but he schal go streghte into the monastery.
c. 1500. Melusine, xix. 69. Hold strayte this way and ye shal not mys of it.
1528. More, Dyalogue, IV. Wks. 271/2. They make a vysage as though they came streight from heauen to teache them a newe better waye.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxiv. 220. There shall ye fynde your brother Huon, who is come strayte fro beyond ye see.
c. 1643. Ld. Herbert, Autobiog. (1824), 139. This piece of eloquence moved me so much that I went straight to his Excellency.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 204. When we had seen all these things, we took our way streight to Jerusalem.
1704. Swift, Batt. Bks., 253. Fame … fled up strait to Jupiter.
c. 1730. Ramsay, Vision, xxvii. He mountit upwarts … Straicht to the milkie way.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, IV. vi. The nearest way to it is straight along this street.
1858. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 380. Are you going straight to London?
1876. Trevelyan, Life Macaulay, I. i. 16. The captain … brought a party of sailors straight to the Governor’s house.
b. with advs., † forth (obs.), forward, on.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxiii. 200. Þat vr fot mowe þen go Streiht forþ wiþ-outen lettyng.
c. 1450. Capgrave, St. Aug., xxv. 34. With þe next wynd he and his felauchip sailed streit on-to Cartage.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot. (Rolls), II. 441. Fra Striuiling straucht on to the Eist se.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, IX. iii. When felicity is before us … we proceed strait forward.
1876. J. Saunders, Lion in Path, iii. He went straight on to the noble palace that had been placed at the service of James II some few years before.
1887. J. Ashby-Sterry, Cucumber Chron., 7. She tells me, I am to keep round to the right and go straight on. I follow her directions and pass by the Priory.
c. In a straight line, not crookedly.
1530. Palsgr., 842/2. Strayt, nat crokedly, droyt.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Adamussim, by rule, streight as a lyne.
1576. Gascoigne, Steele Gl., 718. O that al kings, would … Hold euermore, one finger streight stretcht out, To thrust in eyes, of all their master theeues.
1655. Marq. Worcester, Cent. Inv., § 76. How to write in the dark as streight as by day or candle-light.
1710. Swift, Jrnl. to Stella, 3 Nov. I cannot write straighter in bed, so you must be content.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 346. The drunken man … cannot be expected to walk straight either in body or mind.
1912. Wakeling, Forged Egypt. Antiq., ix. 102. It [the girdle buckle of Isis] is not correctly shaped and should not be cut straight off across the bottom.
† d. With reference to position. Directly (opposite), due (east, etc.). Obs.
1512. Act 4 Hen. VIII., c. 1 § 1. The haven of Brest lyeth streight ayenst the South see costes of … Cornwall.
1530. Palsgr., 823/1. Strayght over agaynste,… vis a vis.
1820. Belzoni, Egypt & Nubia, II. 237. The tomb faces the north-east, and the direction of the whole runs straight south-west.
e. In a straight direction; not obliquely; directly to a mark or object, or following a moving object without deviation.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. iv. 25. Let thine eye lyddes loke straight before the.
1552. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1884), 28. A man … can nocht … gyd his lyif evin and strecht to the plesour of God without direction of the commandis.
1601. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 449/1. Discending eist the said gait lineallie throche the lie, straucht throw the Brounfauld.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 27. The statues … standing in a lifelesse posture with … their hands hanging straight downe.
1669. Sturmy, Mariner’s Mag., I. ii. 4. When you espy any Island,… by looking straight upon the Compass, you shall know upon what Point of the Compass the Object beareth from you.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., v. 95. And straight through the Stuff, as Work-men call it; that is, in a Geometrical term, perpendicularly through the upper and under-side.
1812. Sporting Mag., XXXIX. 187. The combatants hit strait with one hand at the head.
1821. Scott, Kenilw., xiv. Each … looked straight upon the wall which was opposite to them, without speaking to his companion.
1833. Nyren, Yng. Cricketer’s Tutor (1902), 13. If such an accident should happen, and the ball have been delivered straight to the wicket.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, iii. 17. He not only went straight as a die, but rode to hounds instead of over them.
1865. A. Trollope, Hunting Sk., 8. And he will ride this year!… He will ride straight.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, iv. He … looked this time straight into my eyes.
1890. Conan Doyle, White Company, viii. I am a man who shoots straight at his mark.
1897. Henty, At Agincourt, i. 13. There is not one of his age who can send an arrow so straight to the mark.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, xxvii. 299. Our party of five, including one lady who rode and shot equally straight.
f. With additional notion, which sometimes becomes the substantive sense: All the way, continuously to the end; ‘right’ across, through, etc. † Also with reference to time.
1446. Lydg., Nightingale Poems, i. 198. Fro morow to nyght be-tokenes All the tyme, Syth thou wast born streyght tyll þat thou dye.
1756. Nugent, Montesquieu’s Spir. Laws, VIII. xxi. (1758), I. 181. [They] march strait up to the capital.
1840. Parker, Gloss. Archit. (ed. 5), Reveal, Revel.… The term is principally used in reference to apertures which are cut straight through a wall, like modern doors and windows.
2. Immediately, without delay: = STRAIGHTWAY. Now poet. or arch.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 9484. Nu has him sathanas in wald,… To wais seruis straitt he him eild.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xli. (Agnes), 312. He gert thonnir & fire-slacht Stirk done þe payanis þar stracht.
1478. Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls, Bundle 50, No. 10 b. They ii. spake no word, butt streyte they smette at him wyth her wepynes.
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 1592. Let se what ye say; shewe it strayte.
1530. Palsgr., 813/2. Strayght, a coup.
1580. G. Harvey, Three Proper Lett., 38. If so be goods decrease, then straite decreaseth a goods friend.
a. 1608. Ralegh, Poems, Lie, 48. And when they do reply, straight giue them both the lie.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., I. 32. [She] fell straight in a sound.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, II. App. 69. His Fiat spoke and streight the thing is done.
1674. J. Howard, Engl. Mounsieur, III. v. 34. Wel. Is your Lady within? Porter. I am not sure sir, but i’le inform you strait, your patience a little sir.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr., II. 134. Whereupon the whole herd streight ran down a precipice, and were choaked in the Water.
1722. A. Philips, Briton, III. v. 32. My Chariot straight; another, for the Prince.
1755. Ridley, in World, No. 155 V. 130. Strait a voice more dreadful than thunder burst out.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), II. 59. She burst into tears, and straight quitted the room.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., VII. vii. The boat came close beneath the ship, And straight a sound was heard.
1843. Macaulay, Horatius, xix. The bridge must straight go down.
1849. Longf., Build. Ship, 1. Build me straight … a goodly vessel.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, li. 9. When as I look’d on thee … Straight my tongue froze, Lesbia.
† b. followed by prep. Immediately after, upon, at the same time with something. Also with adv., straight after, forth, forthwith, upon, with. Obs.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent, 3. For straight vpon the death of Edward the Confessor, William of Normandy … demaunded the Crowne.
1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, Wks. 1910, II. 184. Whom he no sooner sawe … But streight therwith his fancies fume All reason did convince.
1578. Timme, Calvin on Gen., i. 25. For this is the simple purpose of Moses, to shewe that the worlde … was not finished streight after the beginning, but [etc.].
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1594), 358. Straight vpon this, he [sc. David] sayth: It is not so with the wicked.
1654. T. Whalley, in Ussher’s Lett. (1686), 604. Read, if you please, his Epistle, ad Albertum Marchionem, Dedicatory, straight after the midst.
1536. Stories & Proph. Scripture, H iv b. And when the people creyed thus & the trompets sounded, then fell the walles of the toune [of Jericho] streyght forthwith all.
1543. Grafton, Contn. Harding (1812), 568. The quene … straight vpon shewed theim the same Peter. Ibid., 579. When he saw that thei [sc. the gates] could not easely be betten downe with any thyng, streight with he set fyre on theim.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 273. Dying straight after without issue.
c. Straight away, straight off, † straight an end: immediately, at once, without deliberation or preparation.
1662. Tuke, Adv. Five Hours, I. (1663), 7. We Prisoners made, were hurri’d streight away To their Quarters.
1778. Learning at a Loss, II. 147. ’Twas at his House they [two lovers] broke cover. And then took off strait an End to Edinburgh.
1873. Punch, 18 Jan., 29/1. If ever I meet a woman with lots of tin, who’s faultlessly beautiful, I shall marry her straight off.
1879. Miss Braddon, Cloven Foot, xxxvi. One of those tip-top firms in the City would have gone straight off to take counsel’s opinion.
1885. P. M. Thornton, Harrow Sch., 80. We read of a Mr. Thomas Page,… to whom was paid £306. 16s. 6. straight away.
1911. Sir W. Ramsay, in Expositor, April, 360. He assumes straight away that the end of man and the aim of man’s life is to be righteous.
3. In an erect posture, upright. Also straight up. Straight set up: having an erect figure.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Esdras ix. 46. And whan he had red out the lawe, they stode all straight vp vpon their fete.
1718. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., III. xviii. They … sat straught Upon ’t.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., vii. ‘Mas’r,’ said Tom—and he stood very straight—‘I was jist [etc.]’.
1899. G. B. Shaw, You Never Can Tell, II. (1907), 261. Waiter. … Very high-spirited young gentleman, sir: very manly and straight set up.
† 4. As an intensive (= STARK adv.) in straight blind, dead. Obs.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), III. 97. He put out his eiȝen in Reblata, and lad hym so in Babilon streiȝt blynde.
c. 1400. Song of Roland, 691. Bothe streght ded the horse and his selue.
5. Honestly, honorably.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, II. xiii. ‘Don’t you think, Warner,’ said his wife, ‘that you could sell that piece to some other person?’… ‘No!’ said her husband, fiercely. ‘I’ll go straight.’
1864. Field, 2 July, 4/1. Mr. Merry who runs his horses so straight, and who is backed with the same confidence as Lord Glasgow.
1888. Times, 26 June, 11/5. As a rule I believe they [sc. jockeys] run very straight. It is ridiculous to suppose that they are generally dishonest.
1893. F. Adams, New Egypt, 27. There’s always room in a place like this for anyone who’ll … act straight, and be content with a reasonable profit.
6. Frankly, outspokenly. Also straight out.
1877. Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 56. Speak right straight out and do not be afraid.
1880. G. R. Sims, Dagonet Ballads, Told to Missionary, ii. Give it us straight now, guv’nor,—what would you have me do?
1898. J. Arch, Story Life, xii. 285. As my custom has ever been I spoke straight.
a. 1900. S. Crane, Gt. Battles (1901), 201. He knew how to speak straight as a stick to the common man.
1900. G. Swift, Somerley, 124. You’re a good ’un to tell me straight out like this.
1907. H. Rashdall, Theory of Good & Evil, II. 89, n. Nietzsche … often says straight out what some of our English self-realizers only hint.
7. Comb. a. With pples., forming adjs., as straight-cut, -falling, -flung, -going, -growing, -grown, -made, -shooting, -sliding, -spoken; † straight-bounded, bounded by straight lines; † straight-pight, having a tall and erect figure. Also with agent-noun, as straight-goer.
1614. T. Bedwell, trans. Schoner’s De Num. Geom., 43. Each of them is a right-angled and *straight-bounded figure.
1840. Thackeray, Shabby-genteel Story, viii. He wore … a black *straight-cut coat, and light drab breeches.
1887. Daily News, 24 June, 2/1. The *straight-falling folds of pale grey silk that fall round the slim shape of a fair-haired, dreamy-eyed woman.
1896. Kipling, Song of the English, England’s Answ., 26. Now ye must speak to your kinsmen,… After the use of the English, in *straight-flung words and few.
1857. G. A. Lawrence, Guy Livingstone, xxvi. 248. Foxes were strong and plentiful … and during two months of open weather, many a *straight-goer had died gallantly in the midst of the wide pasture-grounds.
1865. A. Trollope, Hunting Sk., 2. Though the nature of their delight is a mystery to *straight-going men, it is manifest enough, that they do like it [sc. hunting].
1884. Tennyson, Cup, I. i. 86. [You] may be foil’d like Tarquin, if you follow Not the dry light of Rome’s straight-going policy.
1765. Museum Rust., III. 242. Some small poles of ash, willow, or any *strait-growing wood,… must be procured.
1888. E[mily] Gerard, Land beyond Forest, II. l. 305. What more glorious than those *straight-grown stems…?
1581. C. T., in Farr, Sel. Poetry Eliz. (1845), 395. My *straight-made lims I will not crooke, To think of death, of deuill, or God.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. iv. 164. Beauty … for Feature, laming The Shrine of Venus or *straight-pight Minerva.
1901. Conan Doyle, in Wide World Mag., VIII. 113/1. The hard-riding, *straight-shooting sons of Australia and New Zealand.
1902. Westm. Gaz., 30 Aug., 3/1. He … only hopes that, in the matter of ‘straight-shooting powder,’ his master’s guests will prove equal to the occasion.
1869. Rankine, Machinery & Millwork, 314. A *straight-sliding slide-valve.
1848. Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. I. vii. 5. I’m a *straight-spoken kind o’ creetur Thet blurts right out wut’s in his head.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 454. Straight-spoken, plain-spoken; downright; candid.
b. Certain phrases in which straight qualifies another adv. are sometimes used attrib. or predicatively, becoming adjs. (when attrib. they are usually hyphened), as straight-ahead, -through; straight-up, perpendicular; straight-up-and-down, simple, presenting no difficulties; also candid, straightforward. Also STRAIGHTAWAY, STRAIGHTFORTH, STRAIGHTFORWARD, STRAIGHT-OUT adjs.
1836. Haliburton, Clockw., Ser. I. xxxvi. No strong-minded, *straight-a-head, right up and down man does that.
1895. Outing, XXVII. 200/1. A plain, straight-ahead skater.
1911. Marett, Anthropol., iv. 95. On the other hand, to improve the physical environment is fairly straight-ahead work, once we can [etc.].
1904. Punch, 30 March, 234/2. After one *straight-through reading of this strange story, an entire class had to pass an examination in it.
c. 1590. Montgomerie, Sonn., xxxii. 2. The lillie … Vhose staitly stalk so *streight vp is and stay.
1662. J. Davies, trans. Olearius’ Voy. Ambass., 205. Having on the very top of it a great Rock streight up.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 455. *Straight up and down, plain; candid; honest.
1903. Daily Chron., 15 April, 3/6. A straight-up-and-down business of the kind … should be a more attractive investment for British capitalists than the average run of gold and diamond mining schemes.
