Forms: 1–6 streng, (pl. 3 strengen, -us, 3–6 strenges), 4 streing, strenge, 4–6 strynge, 4–7 stringe, 5–6 stryng, 5– string. [OE. stręng masc. = MLG. strenk, strenge, MDu. strenghe, stringhe (mod.Du. streng fem.), ON. streng-r masc. (Da. streng, Sw. sträng):—OTeut. type *straŋgi-z; another declensional form is found in MLG. strank, strange masc., OHG. stranc masc. (MHG. stranc, strange masc., fem., mod.G. strang masc.):—OTeut. type *straŋgo-z, f. *straŋg-:—pre-Teut. *stroŋk-: *streŋk-.
The pre-Teut. root *streŋk- appears not to be known in this form, but a parallel form *streŋg- is represented by Irish (and Sc. Gaelic) steang cord, string, M. Irish srincne navel-string, Gr. στραγγάλη halter, L. stringĕre to bind, draw tight. Connection with STRONG a. is doubtful.]
I. A line, cord, thread.
1. A line for binding or attaching anything; normally one composed of twisted threads of spun vegetable fiber.
† a. In early use sometimes a rope or cord of any thickness (applied, e.g., to a cable, a rope forming part of the rigging of a ship, a bell-rope, etc.). In 16–18th c. applied jocularly to the hangman’s rope. Obs.
The expression ‘to go to heaven in a string’ (to be hanged) referred originally to the Jesuits who were hanged in the reign of Elizabeth.
a. 900. Ælfred, Blooms, in Cockayne, Shrine (1864), 175. Þeah þæt scyp si ute on ðære sæ … hyt byþ ʓesund … ʓyf se streng [cf. ancerstreng above] aþolaþ.
a. 1000. Andreas, 374. Streamas styredon, strengas gurron.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 8649. Octa had don, in stede of streng, Aboute his nekke a chayne heng,… & seide, Sire kyng! Mercy!
1506. in T. North, Bells Lincs. (1882), 506. Item payd for a stryng to the Sants bell, ob.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., 71 b. βρόχος is in latin laqueus, in englyshe an halter or a streng.
c. 1560. Interl. John Evang. (facs.), C 2 b. If he do here thy exclamacyon He wyll make the to stye. Actio. Not in a strynge I trowe.
1588. Wills & Invent. Durham (Surtees), II. 330. vj yockes, girded, 4 s. ij cowpe waines, with stringes, 8 s. 8 d.
1592. Greene, 2nd Pt. Conny-catching, B 2 b. The quest went vpon him and condemned him, and so the priggar went to heauen in a string.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Bloody Brother, III. ii. Three merry boyes are we, As ever did sing in a hempen string, under the gallow-tree.
a. 1708. T. Ward, England’s Reform., II. (1710), 47. Then may he boldly take his Swing, And go to Heaven in a String.
c. 1793. Burns, Epist. Esopus, 10. Where tiny thieves not destin’d yet to swing, Beat hemp for others, riper for the string.
1840. Barham, Ingol. Leg., Ser. I. Execution. To see a man swing At the end of a string, With his head in a noose.
¶ Literal rendering of Vulg. funiculus (a mistranslation; see the mod. Eng. Bibles).
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter civ. (cv.) 11. I sal give þe þe land of Chanaan, Stringe of þine heritage on-an. Ibid., cxxxviii. (cxxxix.) 3. Mi stie and mi stringe in-stepped þou nou.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xv[i]. 6. Strengis fel til me in fulbryght.
b. Chiefly applied, and gradually restricted, to a line of smaller thickness than that connoted by rope. In modern use: A thin cord or stout thread.
1154. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1137. Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here hæued.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 45. Þat ure ropes ne to-breken, þe bieð ibroiden mid þrie strænges.
c. 1290. St. Edmund, 167, in S. Eng. Leg., 436. Heo [sc. a hair shirt] nas i-sponne ne i weoue ake i-broide strengus longue.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 9353. Þe streng brac & he [sc. the pyx] vel adoun suche signe nas noȝt god.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 480/1. Strynge, cordula, instita, funiculus.
1631. H. C[rooke], Expl. Instrum. Chirurg., 15. But the Seton or string which is in the wound must be gently drawne to and againe.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, III. ii. Like the scraps of paper fastened by school-boys at the end of the string that holds their kite.
1908. [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 82. A string, pretty strong, with loop for the hand.
c. In generalized sense, as a material: Thin cord or stout thread used for tying parcels and the like: = TWINE sb.1 1.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., i. (1842), 21. Matches, string, and bladder are necessary.
1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. xxi. Lo, Miss Pross, in harness of string, awakening the echoes, as an unruly charger, whip-corrected.
1892. Greener, Breech-Loader, 77. It is best to balance the gun on thin string.
d. † A cord used as a whip-lash (obs.). Also U.S. ‘A common name among teamsters for a whip’ (Bartlett).
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John ii. 15. And he worhte swipan of strengon.
1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, Wks. 1910, II. 181. She bare a skourge, with many a knottie string.
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 28. Musick replyes, that Melanippides,… and such fantasticall heades, haue … with manye stringes, geuen her so many woundes that [etc.].
1839. Mrs. Kirkland, New Home, i. 12. Until by unwearied chirruping and some judicious touches of ‘the string’ the horses are induced to struggle as for their lives.
e. A cord used as a snare, rare.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 166. Un oysel ke est dist becaz Près du rivere est pris en laz [glossed streing].
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, cxxxix. [cxl.] 6. And strengis [Vulg. funes] þai strekid in snare.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VI. i. We walk in a world of Plots; strings universally spread, of deadly gins and fall-traps.
f. A cord for leading or dragging along a person or an animal; a leading-string, a leash. Also in figurative phrases (especially common in 17–18th c.), esp. to lead in a string, to have in (or on) a string = to have under control, to be able to do what one likes with.
a. 1300. Deb. Body & Soul, in Map’s Poems (Camden), 339. An hundred develes … with stringes him drowen, unthanc his, Til he kome to that lodli lowe, ther helle was.
1583. Melbancke, Philotimus, I j. Those that walke as they will,… perswading themselues that they haue the worlde in a string, are like the ruffian Capaney, who [etc.].
1590. Nashe, 1st Pt. Pasquils Apol., C 4 b. He perceiueth not in all this, that I haue his leg in a string still.
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, vi. 2383. The country parson may, as in a string, Lead the whole parish vnto anything.
1681. H. More, Exp. Dan., 162. He [Alex. the Great] had the world in a string, as our English Proverbial Phrase is.
1682. Wit & Drollery, 77. My Dog in a String doth lead me,… For to the Blind, All Men are kind.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, II. i. By this means a Lady may … lead Twenty Fools about in a String, for two or three Years together.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 36. He’s the Captain’s humble Pig in a String.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VII. 324. They govern me as a child in strings.
1791. Cowper, Lett. to W. Bagot, 26 Feb. He either suffered prejudice to lead him in a string whithersoever it would, or [etc.].
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, 167. ‘Got him in a string,’ is when a man is made to believe one thing, several others follow as matter of course.
1894. F. Barrett, Justif. Lebrun, viii. 66. When they believed they had the world on a string.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 352. He … took me down the Woermann Road … as it were on a string.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 18 Sept., 8/2. Mr. H. said he was not a candidate on a string; he had his own convictions.
g. A thread on which beads, pearls, etc., are strung. (See 12.)
1612. Donne, Progr. Soul, 2nd Anniv., 208. And as these starres were but so many beads Strung on one string.
1676. Stillingfl., Def. Disc. Idol. Ch. Rome, I. i. § 13. 119. They … say their prayers exactly with their Beads, of which they have 180 on a string.
1830. Scott, Monast., Introd. As the string of a necklace links the beads, which are otherwise detached.
1867. Morris, Jason, XVII. 1170. Nor on one string are all life’s jewels strung.
† h. A fishing-line. Obs.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. xvi. 17 b. Eeles … haue so sharpe teeth, that there cannot be a string so good, but they will bite it asunder.
1615. E. S., Brit. Buss, in Arber, Eng. Garner, III. 642. Strings, for each man, six…. Every string must be fifty fathom long.
i. A cord for actuating a puppet. Also fig., esp. in to pull the strings, to control the course of affairs, to be the concealed operator in what is ostensibly done by another.
1860–70. Stubbs, Lect. Europ. Hist., I. i. (1904), 11. A king who pulled the strings of government so exclusively himself.
1868. Bright, Sp. Irel., 1 April, I. 426. Persons … who pull the strings of the Catholic world in the city of Rome.
c. 1880. Our Own Country, II. 257. Some men … who pulled the strings that influenced the mob.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., lx. II. 421. The same men continuing to serve year after year, because they hold the strings in their hands.
j. A bell-pull (? obs.); a check-string.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VI. 66. He pulled the string…. The coachman stopp’d.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., vi. The door [of his bedroom was] without a lock, and the bell without a string.
k. Each of the rudder-lines of a boat.
1852. R. B. Mansfield, Log Water Lily, 43. Coxswain could only lay down in the boat, and pull whichever string he was directed.
l. Weaving. (See quot.)
1891. Labour Commission, Gloss., String in length, is three yards three inches of warp. It is a method of measurement of work in the weaving trade to be paid by the piece at so much per string.
m. Figurative phrases. † To draw by one string: to be in accord, ‘pull together.’ † To hang (together) on or in a string: (of persons) to be united in purpose; (of things) to be closely connected. At one’s string’s end (dial.): see quot. 1854.
1558. W. Forrest, Grysilde Seconde (Roxb.), 159. Of thy noble Counselours the truthe to saye, Neauer hathe beene seene to drawe by one strynge More stedfastely sure then nowe at this daye.
1679. Hist. Jetzer, 23. The Bishop being able to get nothing out of them who all hung together on a string, commanded them however to proceed no further in so slippery a business.
1697. in Perry, Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch., I. 47. By. That is another subject. C. But it hangs all in a string.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), II. 153. A judge, not nominated, and employed by either party, would certainly not … hold himself warranted in going out of his string to act the part of Daniel.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., s.v., ‘He’s got to his string’s end,’ meaning he’s either got to the end of his purse or the end of his story.
2. transf. A natural string or cord.
a. In an animal body: A ligament, tendon, nerve, etc.; an elongated muscle or muscular fiber; the frænum of the tongue. Cf. EYESTRING, HEARTSTRINGS.
Exc. in string of the tongue, the sense is now rare. The word is occas. applied to a tough piece of fiber in meat or the like. (Cf. STRINGY a. 1.)
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 102. Ceorf þane streng under þara tunga.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 32. Dentz foreynz lange et filet Forteth tunge and strynge.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.). Þe instrumentes of þe voice … beþ longen, strenges [L. arteriæ; cf. ARTERY 1], þe þrote [etc.].
1525. trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., lxxiv. P iv. Seldom is broken the bone of the calfe, for it is an harde bone, and is defendyd with the strynges & synewes.
1526. Tindale, Mark vii. 35. The stringe off hys tounge was loosed [so later versions].
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., D j. Of what nature are the cordes? Answere. The strynges ben almoste as all of one nature … but yet the cordes more than the strynges. For lyke as the strynges be meane amonge the cordes and the bones, so be the cordes meane amonge ye strynges & the synewes.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. 159 b. You must in no wise shake them [sc. eggs] … leste you breake the stringes of lyfe [L. vitales fibras] that are but newely begun.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 21/2. Ligamentum,… the ligatures or strings of ye bones.
1614. W. B., Philos. Banquet (ed. 2), Pref. 3. The braine, and Strings thervnto offitiall.
1621. Lodge, Summary Du Bartas, I. 280. The Tendons, proceeding from the Muskles,… which the Physicions … haue called Synderique Nerues or Strings.
1686. Blome, Gentl. Recreat., II. 61. Instead of cutting off the Stern [of a young Spaniel], it is better to twist it oft…. And if thus pulled off, there is a string that comes out with it which doth hinder their madness.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 315. Whilst he draws the stones with his teeth, he has his two hands at liberty to hold back the strings of the stones that they are not drawn away; for the strings run up into the loins and backbone.
1757. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc., 20. The Flesh … will be nothing better than the Strings or Husk of Flesh.
1842. T. Webster, Encycl. Dom. Econ., § 4839. 860. In young mutton, the fat readily separates; in old, it is held together by strings of skin.
1890. Coues, Ornith., 329. These threads … are called chalazæ; they are the ‘strings,’ rather unpleasantly evident in a soft-boiled egg.
† fig. c. 1440. Gesta Rom. (1878), 235. She was hiliche greuid in alle the strenges of hir herte.
1592. Lyly, Gallathea, III. i. 57. My wanton eyes which conceiued the picture of his face, and hangd it on the verie strings of my hart.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., III. xi. 57. Egypt, thou knew’st too well, My heart was to thy Rudder tyed by’ th’ strings.
b. in certain fishes. ? Obs.
1611. Cotgr., Cordé, Corded,… also, out of season; (a Metaphor from Lampreyes, which being out of season, haue a hard string in their backes).
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 140. Lamprey … considerable for having … Two pair of finns; either that which is the biggest of this tribe, having two very long strings from the upper jaw, and four shorter from the lower jaw [etc.].
1675. V. Alsop, Anti-Sozzo, iii. § 2. 155. A vein of his old thredbare Fallacy discovers it self, which I now perceive (like the poysonous string in the Lamprey,) he resolves shall run through his whole Discourse.
1725. Sloane, Jamaica, II. 289. The Old-Wife…. There is no Prickles in this Fish’s Fins only long Strings.
c. In plants: A cord, thread, or fiber; a ‘vein’ of a leaf; the tough piece connecting the two halves of a pod (in beans, etc.); a root-filament.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. i. (Bodl. MS.). In euerich rote manye maner knottes and stringes.
1573. Baret, Alv., S. 866. To pull of the small stringes of rootes, fibras radicum euellere, Cic.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 113/1. Neruus,… the nerue, sinew or string of a leafe, as in plantaine.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cxxxiii. The Roots [of Avens] consist of many brownish strings, or Fibres, smelling somewhat like unto Cloves.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 239. If you will pull it [sc. Broom] up you are apt to leave strings behind, the least of which will grow.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xxiii. 379. It may be objected, that the fore-part of these hinder Sheats might not be oblique enough to raise up the Strings of Roots or Stubble, which might come across them in their Way.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 671. They [sc. cardoons] are then to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings which will be found to cover them.
1880. Bessey, Bot., 16. There may almost always be seen in plant-cells bands or strings of protoplasm which lie in or between the vacuoles.
1884. Implement & Mach. Rev., 1 Dec., 6710/2. A rate of production equal to 47,000 strings of rhea per day.
1904. Nature, 18 Aug., 392/2. The vascular strings of the sugar-cane.
fig. 1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. xx. § 6. The Enquirye concerning the Rootes of Good and euill, and the strings of those Rootes.
1685. Bunyan, Seventh-day Sabbath, v. 118. Luther … had yet work hard enough to get his Conscience clear from all those roots and strings of inbred errour.
d. A tendril (of hops, vine, pea); a runner (of the strawberry, the potato). ? Now dial.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 146/1. Capreolus,… the strings that wind about and fasten the vine to the perches or polles: they be called tendrilles.
1675. Evelyn, Fr. Gard., 255. When your Strawberries shoot their strings, you must castrate them.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 131. If the Haum and Strings of the Hops be burnt every year.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 105. Peas … never thrive well till they can take hands with one another, that is, by their strings.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 622. After the potatoe plants have begun to throw out their wires or strings.
3. A cord or line (composed of vegetable fiber, gut, or fine wire) adapted to produce a musical sound when stretched and caused to vibrate.
a. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Th.), cxliii. 10. Mid tyn strengum ʓetoʓen hearpe.
c. 1000. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 311/16. Fidis, streng.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xxxii. 2. In harpe and sautre Of ten stringes to him sing yhe.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. ii. (1495), A iiij b. Strenges made of wulfes guttes … corrumpyth strenges made of shepes guttes yf … they be sette amonge theym as in lute or in harpe.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 256. The strenges of the harpe.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 351/2. Hypate,… a basse or base string: that string that maketh the base sound.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 598. All sounds on Fret by String or Golden Wire Temper’d soft Tunings.
1748. Hume, Enq. Hum. Und., VII. ii. We say … that the vibration of this string is the cause of this particular sound.
1811. Busby, Dict. Mus., String, any wire, or preparation of sheep or catgut, used in musical instruments.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Passion & Princ., viii. III. 110. The sweet tones of a harp, whose strings were swept with a master’s hand, sounded through the adjoining saloon.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 74. The most primitive material used for strings was, probably, twisted grass; next in time, the guts of animals; lastly, wire or silk.
1898. ‘H. S. Merriman,’ Roden’s Corner, vii. 73. Cornish remembered that he had been specially told to get a new bass string for the banjo.
b. fig. and in fig. context. Cf. CHORD sb.1 2 b.
To harp on one (the same, etc.) string: see HARP v. † To stretch a string: see STRETCH v. 19.
1583. H. Howard, Defensative, E j. We read … of a certaine … custome among the false prophets … to meete together:… at which times, I doubt not, but they tuned euery string with such a cunning wrest, as none could trippe them in theyr tale.
1636. Massinger, Gt. Dk. Florence, II. iii. Ever touching Upon that string?
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. II.), 14. You touch the right string of my inclination, when you pray me to praise … that Prince.
1655. Ld. Norwich, in Nicholas Papers (Camden), III. 217. But why touch I this string agayne?
1705. Collier, Ess. Mor. Subj., III. Pain, 19. This is scruing up the Strings too high in all Conscience.
1718. Pope, Lett. to Jervas, 12 Dec. But I must own, when you talk of Building and Planting, you touch my String.
1741. Richardson, Pamela (1824), I. 278. The dear man makes me spring to his arms, whenever he touches this string.
1748. Thomson, Cast. Indol., I. xxxi. But how shall I attempt such arduous string?
1789. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 6 Jan. No sooner did the King touch upon that dangerous string, the History of Music, than all else was forgotten!
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxxvii. I asked Mr. Vholes if he would like to live altogether in the country? ‘There, miss,’ said he, ‘you touch me on a tender string.’
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 320. What, another song to the old tune,—another play on the old string.
c. Pl. Stringed instruments; now only, such as are played with a bow. Also, in mod. use, the players on stringed instruments (in an orchestra or band). Cf. the attrib. use in 31 a.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter, cl. 4. Louys him in strenges & orgyns [1535 Coverdale vpon the strynges; Vulg. in chordis].
1820. Q. Mus. Mag., II. 414. The peculiar appropriateness of wind instruments to that element [water], and their decided preference over strings.
1880. Academy, 24 Dec., 467/1. Herr Joachim introduced last season his sextet for strings.
1884. Girl’s Own Paper, Nov., 20/1. By the ‘strings’ of an orchestra, we are always to understand merely such instruments as are played with a bow.
1887. Daily Tel., 14 March,, 3/3. (Cassell). With the orchestra little fault could be found beyond the weakness of the strings and lack of the unity without which individual excellence goes for nothing.
4. A bowstring; † a cord similarly used in a catapult, etc.
Beowulf, 3117. Þonne stræla storm strengum ʓebæded scoc ofer scild-weall.
c. 1205. Lay., 1454. He leadde an his honde enne bowe stronge & he þene streng up braid.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 359. He took his bowe in honde And vp the streng he pulled to his ere.
1420. in York Memor. Bk., II. (Surtees), 123. Et quod lez strynges pro arcubus, qui inventi erunt defectivi, sint forisfacti.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 142. Bowe, arrowes, sworde, bukler, horne, leisshe, gloues, stringe, and thy bracer.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. xx[i]. 12. With thy stringes thou shalt make ready thine arowes agaynst the faces off them.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XV. x. 50. As if they were bolts and darts discharged violently from the writhed and wrested strings of a brake or such like engine.
1611. Bible, Ps. xi. 2. They make ready their arrow vpon the string.
1795. Coleridge, Lines in Manner of Spenser, 30. When twang’d an arrow from Love’s mystic string.
1849. Lytton, K. Arthur, II. xcix. He did but pause, with more effect to wing The stone that chance thus fitted to his string.
1870. Bryant, Iliad, IV. 149. On the string He laid that fatal arrow.
b. In fig. phrase, To have two (many, etc.) strings to one’s bow: to have two (etc.) alternative resources.
1524. Wolsey, in St. Papers Hen. VIII., IV. 103. Ne totally to grounde you upon the said Quenes doinges, but to have 2 stringes to your bowe, specially whan the oone is wrought with a womans fingers.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 30. Ye haue many stryngis to the bowe.
1579, 1678, 1812. [see BOW sb.1 4 c].
[1644. R. Baillie, Lett. & Jrnls. (Bannatyne Club), II. 262. Allaster McDonnell wes the smallest string in his bow.]
1877. Spurgeon, Serm., XXIII. 113. She had three strings to her bow.
c. Hence second string, a second resource available if the first should fail.
1643. Plain English, 28. It would be a good second string in case the Parliament should … miscarry.
1911. Marett, Anthropol., iv. 113. When the Europeans first broke in upon the redskins of North America, they found them a people of hunters and fishers, it is true, but with agriculture as a second string.
d. Sporting. Said of a racehorse. Also of an athlete (see quot. 1897). Hence occas. without prefixed ordinal.
1863. Baily’s Mag., March, 102. Still Jennings has a very dangerous ‘second string’ in Valentine.
1884. Sat. Rev., 12 April, 469/1. La Touche … had won the [mile] race at Cambridge in about 4 min. 27 sec. … while the Oxford first string, Pratt, had occupied nearly 13 sec. more in covering the ground.
1893. Daily News, 22 April, 5/3. He ran a dead heat with the other Oxford string for first place in the One Hundred Yards Race.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 62/2. (Athletics) Strings … (2) ‘First,’ ‘second,’ and ‘third’ strings are the first, second, and third men chosen to represent a club in any event.
† 5. transf. in Geom. = CHORD sb.1 4. Obs. rare.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., Arith. (1597), 48 b. Sinus Rectus is the one halfe of a Chord or string of any Arke which is double to the Arke that is giuen or supposed.
1695. Alingham, Geom. Epit., 51. Many other useful Practises mecanicks perform by this Theo. as the finding the length of strings.
6. A piece of cord, tape, ribbon, etc. (often used in pairs) for tying up or fastening some portion of dress, for securing a hat or bonnet by being tied under the chin, for binding the hair, for closing a bag or purse.
13[?]. K. Alis., 208 (Laud MS.). Her ȝelewe her was faire atired Mid riche strenges of golde wyred.
1564. Reg. Privy Council Scot., I. 308. lxxxxvi stringis to hattis of diverse cullouris.
1588–9. Shuttleworths’ Acc. (Chetham Soc.), 50. For mottlaye to be a cloke bagge and for stringes to the same, vijs.
1604. Shaks., Oth., I. i. 3. Thou … who hast had my purse, As if ye strings were thine.
1674. in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1914), 30. Beare slypt out the runing string of his drawers and tyed it about his necke.
1737. in Sixth Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec., App. II. 120. A new invented Hoop Petticoat, with … strings for contracting the compass of a Petticoat from four yards in circumference to two yards.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xxvii. Our purses, my Lord Duke, are our own—We will not put the strings of them into your Highness’s hands, unless [etc.].
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xvii. Kate’s … duties being limited to holding articles of costume until Miss Knag was ready to try them on, and now and then tying a string, or fastening a hook-and-eye. Ibid. (1848), Dombey, xi. The Doctor was a portly gentleman in a suit of black, with strings at his knees, and stockings below them.
1878. Hardy, Ret. Native, V. iii. Her little hands quivered so violently as she held them to her chin to fasten her bonnet that she could not tie the strings.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, v. She wore just such a velvet string as this through the lace of her dress.
† b. In plural, the short cords, ribbons, or leather straps, formerly often attached (in pairs) to the edges of book-covers, to be tied in order to keep the book closed. Obs. (now usually called ties).
1583. in Dee’s Diary (Camden), 71. [A book] In paste-bords, with strings.
1585. Daniel, trans. P. Jovius’ Disc. Imprese, C v b. A Booke of accomptes, with leather stringes and buckles.
1641. Milton, Reform., I. 39. Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies have scarce saluted them from the strings, and the titlepage.
1646. Crashaw, Steps to Temple, On Mr. G. Herbert’s Bk., 5. When your hands untie these strings, Think yo’ have an Angell by the wings.
1663. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), I. 470. Both which [books] for strings and covers cost me 1s. 7d.
7. A cord or ribbon worn as a decoration; the ribbon of a knightly order. ? Obs.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 60. These Bramins … wear next to their flesh certain strings, the badge of their order.
1700. Prior, Carmen Sec., 386. Round Ormond’s Knee Thou ty’st the Mystic String, That makes the Knight Companion to the King.
1733. Swift, On Poetry, 468. When on thy Breast and Sides Herculean, He fixt the Star and String Cerulean.
1753. Foote, Englishm. Paris, I. Wks. 1799, I. 34. Belike they had been sent to Bridewell, hadn’t a great gentleman in a blue string come by and releas’d them.
1814. Byron, Ode to Napoleon, xviii. The gewgaws thou wert fond to wear, The star, the string, the crest.
† 8. Anglo-Irish. ? A stretched cord for laying out the boundaries of land: in phrase by lot and string. Hence, a document recording allotments of land. Obs.
1658. in T. A. Larcom, Down Surv. (1851), 246. 9thly. Your petitioners desire that the County of Kildare may be set out unto them by lott and string.
1666. in Prendergast, Cromw. Settlem. (1870), 199, note. The claymants produce a string whereby the lands were sett out … Mr. Petty swears that the paper signed was the original … that these strings had as much force as injunctions—that they took possession under them.
† 9. a. The cord or chain wound on the barrel of a watch. b. A chain or a cord for carrying a watch.
1646. Suckling, Aglaura, II. i. Like the string of a Watch Wound up too high.
1675. J. S[mith], Horolog. Dial., II. i. 38. You must first wind it [a watch] up rightly;… not too hastily, least you force the stop, and break the string.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., IV. iv. (1677), 324. If I should see a curious Watch,… and should observe the exact disposition of the Spring, the String, the Wheels, the Ballance, the Index, [etc.].
1680. Lond. Gaz., No. 1499/4. A silver Watch with a String. Ibid. (1701), No. 3692/4. Lost…, a Watch with a double Case…, a Green and Silver String with 2 Seals.
† 10. = SLING sb.2 3 c. Obs.
1718. Bp. Hutchinson, Witchcraft, vii. 104. After him Blew brought his Arm in a String.
† 11. = SCROLL sb. 3 b. Obs.
1797. Mrs. Berkeley, Poems G. M. Berkeley, Pref. p. cccclxviii. Mr. Monck Berkeley’s [motto]…, ‘VIVAT POST FUNERA VIRTUS’; which he engraved in the strings of his crest.
II. A number of objects strung on a thread; hence, a series, succession.
12. A thread or file with a number of objects strung upon it; a number (of beads, pearls, etc.) strung on a thread; a ‘rope’ of onions (ROPE sb.1 6); a number of herrings or other fish strung on a thread passed through the gills. Also, a number of things (e.g., sausages) linked together in a line.
1488–92. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 84. Ane string of grete perle contenand fyfti and a perle, and stringis of small perle.
1578. Invent. R. Sc. Wardr. (1815), 263. A string of cornellingis sett in gold.
1620. Shelton, 2nd Pt. Quiz., l. 335. I haue sent you (my beloved) a string of Corall Beads.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 124. These Pouseragues are Wheels, with a Rope hanging round them like a string of Beads without an end.
1732. Earl of Oxford, in Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.), VI. 153. We had herrings for dinner caught that very morning, and was the first string they had this year.
1737. Ochtertyre House Bk. (S.H.S.), 27. For two strings of flounders and a letter, 0 0 7.
1819. Keats, Otho, IV. i. Fetch me a missal, and a string of beads.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, iv. I. 60. Endless strings of sausages.
1834. Marryat, P. Simple, xxviii. The steward came down … loaded with cabbages, baskets of eggs, strings of onions, [etc.].
1874. H. H. Cole, Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus., 173. Bracelet. Six strings of pink glass beads.
1891. Field, 7 March, 344/1. A movement is making amongst the fish, several nice strings of codling having fallen to different boats.
1903. Mrs. H. Taylor, Pastor Hsi, vi. 43. He had no money to draw upon, and no means left of raising even a few strings of cash.
b. Lumber-trade. A number of logs fastened together to be carried down by a river.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 5 Jan. One string of lumber went over the falls on Friday afternoon of last week. Ibid. (1880), 14 Jan. With this decrease in the size of the logs, comes the constant increase in the number of strings into which the company are required to tie the logs.
c. Billiards. (See quots.) U.S.
1879. Webster, Suppl., String, the number of points made, in a game of billiards.
1891. Century Dict., String 9 (a) A number of wooden buttons strung on a wire to keep the score or tally of the game. There is a string for each player or side. (b) The score, tally, or number of points scored by either player or side at any stage of a game: as, he made a poor string at first, but won.
13. A number of animals driven in single file tied one to the other; a train of animals, vehicles or persons one behind the other.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 352. They generally plough with their Oxen in pairs, but with their Horses in a string, to prevent poching the land.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Miss Thistlethwayte, 1 April. The drivers take care to tie them [sc. camels] one to another with strong ropes, fifty in a string, led by an ass, on which the driver rides.
1820. Sporting Mag., VI. 79. The long string of carriages … increased the animation … of the scene.
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, 167. Dealers fasten the halter of one horse to the halter and tail of another, and so on to the amount of sixteen, twenty, or more, and either is a string. ‘Several strings of good horses entered Smithfield to-day.’
1830. Coleridge, Table-T., 5 Oct. I call these strings of school boys or girls which we meet near London—walking advertisements.
1842. Darwin, in Life & Lett. (1887), I. 320. Smugglers and their strings of pack-horses.
1849. Sir F. B. Head, Stokers & Pokers, iii. (1851), 41. A string of empty carriages … [to be] formed into the next departure train.
1885. Rudler & Chisholm, Europe, 175. A steam-tug with a long string of rafts or a heavily-laden barge in tow.
1902. S. E. White, Blazed Trail, iii. The train consisted of a string of freight cars.
1910. G. F. Wright, in The Fundamentals, II. I. 10. Strings of captives with evidently Jewish features.
b. A flock (of birds) flying in single file.
In quot. 1889 perh. confused with SPRING sb.2 15.
1801. J. Thomson, Poems Sc. Dial., 12. Just like to wild geese in a string, When aff they flee.
1813. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), I. 89. Not one string of birds came low enough to be fired at.
1889. F. A. Knight, By Leafy Ways, 70. We talk of a covey of partridges, a pack of grouse, a string of teal.
14. A set or stud of horses, beasts of draught or burden, † slaves.
a. 1734. R. North, Life Sir D. North (1744), 59. He procured him a String of Slaves out of his Chiurm, with a Capo, to work in his Building.
1764. Museum Rust., II. 163. This circumstance of seeing his highness’s string of mules, it was first induced me to think of breeding them.
a. 1809. Holcroft, Mem., I. xi. (1852), 36. Johnstone … had a string of no less than thirteen famous [race-]horses … under his care.
1814. Heyne, Tracts on India, 274. I learnt that a gentleman of my acquaintance was encamped near the town with a string of elephants.
1883. J. Gilmour, Among Mongols, xviii. 230. He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, droves of horses, and strings of camels.
1889. Baden-Powell, Pigsticking, 120. A man to whom money is no object will naturally complete his ‘string’ with Arabs or small thoroughbred Walers.
† b. A set (of persons); a band, a faction. Obs.
1579–80. North, Plutarch, Publicola (1595), 108. Brutus … had maried their own sister, and had many children by her. Of the which the Vitellians had drawen to their string, two of the eldest of them.
16[?]. Rob. Hood & Maid Marian, xii. in Child, Ballads, III. 219/1. ‘O hold thy hand,’… said Robin Hood, ‘And thou shalt be one of my string.’
1699. Bentley, Phalaris, 484. All of that String, Bacchylides, Simonides, Pindar, got their livelyhood by the Muses.
† c. Sc. = FILE sb.2 7. Obs.
1627. Sir T. Kellie, Pallas Armata, 125. Stand right in your Ranks and your Stringes.
15. A number of things in a line; a row, chain, range.
1683. [R. North], Discourse Fish & Fish-ponds, vi. (1713), 17. The third Pond may be a Work of another Year; and if the Ground lies fair for it,… I would not be without it; for it will … fill up a Range or String of Waters, which two doth not.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., lv. V. 544. A long sea-coast, [Croatia] indented with capacious harbours, covered with a string of islands.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 166. Eastward of this lake, lie several small ones, which extend in a string to the great carrying place.
1843. LeFevre, Life Trav. Phys., III. III. viii. 184. A string of houses built after the model of the peasants’ habitations.
1862. G. P. Scrope, Volcanos, 365. Thence radiate several elevated embranchments or strings of conoidal hills.
16. A continuous series or succession (e.g., of stories, questions, incidents, historical personages).
1710. Felton, Diss. Classics (1718), 19. If this [sc. the ballad theory of the Homeric poems] be true, they are the completest String of Ballads I ever met with.
1713. Guardian, No. 42, ¶ 6. Sir Harry hath what they call a String of Stories, which he tells over every Christmas.
1772. Ann. Reg., 52/2. He then read to the House a string of resolutions under thirteen heads.
1797. Burney, Lett. to Mme. D’Arblay, 28 Sept. I had a string of questions ready to ask.
1839. Col. Hawker, Diary (1893), II. 165. Made a string of indispensable visits, that I could not catch a moment to do before.
1843. S. R. Maitland, Dark Ages, xv. (1890), 286. The brief records of whole strings of abbots, priors, &c.
1859. Helps, Friends in C., Ser. II. II. i. 10. The man … who masters long strings of facts.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), I. App. 712. We now come to the long string of English writers who accuse Eadric.
1884. Law Times Rep., L. 278/1. Lyell administered to Kennedy a long string of interrogatories.
1902. S. E. White, Blazed Trail, vi. The reptilian gentleman let out a string of oaths.
† b. Oxford slang. (See quots.) Obs.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 20. 104. These commodious sets of syllogisms are call’d strings, and descend from undergraduate to undergraduate,… so that, when any candidate for a degree is to exercise his talent in argumentation, he has nothing else to do but to enquire amongst his friends for a string upon such or such a question, and to get it by heart, or read it over in his cap…. I have in my custody a book of strings upon most or all of the questions discussed in a certain college.
1780. Gentl. Mag., L. 277. Every undergraduate [at Oxford] … has in his possession certain papers, which have been handed down from generation to generation, and are denominated strings. [Footnote, In our Sister University called arguments.]… These strings consist of two or three arguments, each on those subjects which are discussed in the schools.
c. A continuous utterance, a ‘screed.’ contemptuous.
1766. Goldsm., Vicar W., xiv. Did he not talk a long string of learning about Greek?
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1871), I. 5. It sounds like a string of mere gabble.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., III. 236. The fox sang a string of doggerel.
d. The ‘thread,’ sequence (of a narrative). rare.
1833. J. S. Sands, Poems, 105 (E.D.D.). Whiles the soul Is apt to tak a rigmarole; And o’ her tale to lose the string.
1860–70. Stubbs, Lect. Europ. Hist., I. ix. (1904), 116. Events … not of great interest as touching the string of Charles’s history. Ibid. (1876), Early Plantag., v. 86. We must now return to the direct string of the story.
17. Printing. (U.S.) See quot. 1891.
1891. Century Dict., String.… A piece-compositor’s aggregate of the proofs of types set by him, pasted on a long strip of paper. The amount of work done is determined by the measurement of this string.
1898. Milwaukee Sentinel, 11 Jan., 3/1. Printers … who found it no unusual thing to ‘paste up’ ‘strings’ that averaged more than 1,500 an hour.
III. In various transferred uses.
† 18. A ray, line of light. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 17983. Þe leome gon striden a ueire seoue strengen.
† 19. A length of wire. Obs.
1435. Coventry Leet Bk., I. 181. And then that wire that the mayster supposithe wille be cherisshed atte gurdell, he shall com to his girdulmon and sey to hym ‘Lo, here is a stryng or ij, that hathe ben mysgouerned atte herthe.’
† 20. (See quot.) Obs.
1545. Elyot, Dict., Canterii be the pieces, whiche do lye vnder a piece of tymber whan it is sawen, which som do call strynges.
21. Mining. A thin vein of ore or coal; a ramification of a lode.
1603. G. Owen, Pembrokesh. (1892), 91. The stringe is a smale narowe vayne sometymes ij iij or iiij foote in biggnes.
1619. S. Atkinson, Discov. Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club), 37. From Short-clough water he removed unto Long-clough-brayes,… to seeke gold in solidd places: where be discovered a small stringe thereof.
1653. Manlove, Lead Mines Derbysh., 270 (E.D.S.). Stickings and stringes of oar.
1747. Hooson, Miner’s Dict., s.v. Break-off, But if it happen that it break into several Leadings or Strings.
1855. [J. R. Leifchild], Cornwall, 98. Some of the copper veins in Herland mine … eventually passed away east and west in mere strings, scarcely thicker than paper.
1867. Murchison, Siluria, ii. (ed. 4), 27. The frequent recurrence of thin strings of copper-ore.
† 22. A rail, bar of iron or wood on which something slides or runs. Obs.
1778. W. Hutchinson, Northumb., II. 417. Wheels of iron, the fellies or rims of which are hollow, so as to run upon strings of wood adapted thereto, with which the roads are laid.
1790. W. Marshall, Midl. Co., I. 143. On this bar or string of iron, a ring, with a chain passing to the wheels, plays freely from end to end.
23. † a. = STRINGHALT. Obs.
1650. Bulwer, Anthropomet., 205. A Gelding (that was proud of a string).
1823. Pursglove, Pract. Farriery, 204–5. The string, or spring halt … is termed by some authors the blind spavin.
† b. A form of constipation in cattle. Obs.
1776. Compl. Grazier (ed. 4), 40. The Hind Spring or String is when they [sc. kine] become bound in their body, and cannot dung.
c. Sc. In plural: see quot. 1798.
1798. R. Douglas, Agric. Roxb. & Selkirk, 149. Calves … are sometimes seized with an inflammation in the intestines, provincially called liver-crook, or strings.
1802. G. V. Sampson, Statist. Surv. Londonderry, 214. Calves are liable to a disorder, called the strings.
† 24. A narrow ridge on the surface of a flint.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 53. The Flint constituting the Body of the Stone, of the Cylinder, and the String about it, is all of the same Colour and Substance.
25. U.S. A line of fencing.
1794. Washington, Lett., Writ. 1892, XIII. 20. I was led to form the plan of having but one public road through my Mount Vernon tract,… along the string of fence that divides the upper from the lower fields.
26. Carpentry. a. = string-board (see 32); often with qualifying word or words; b. = rough string (ROUGH a. 21).
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 65. A Pair of winding Stairs, having a Nuel in the Center, and a Side or String for the Circumference.
1737. W. Salmon, Country Builder’s Estimator (ed. 2), 25. Of Stair-Cases…. 1. Steps of common Stairs, Strings and String-boards, and Bearers included, of Oak, 8d. per Foot.
1812. P. Nicholson, Mech. Exerc., 184. Sometimes the risers [are] mitred to brackets, and sometimes mitred with quaker strings.
1849. [P. Nicholson], Carpentry, II. 3. Those pieces which support the ends of the steps are called strings.—That against the wall is called the wall string; the other, the outer string.
1886. Morse, Jap. Homes, iv. 197. [The staircase] has two side-pieces, or strings, in which the steps, consisting of thick plank, are mortised.
27. Shipbuilding. (See quots.)
1711. W. Sutherland, Shipbuild. Assist., 164. Strings; parts used to strengthen; and what are called Clamps in the lower parts, are termed Strings upward.
1750. Blanckley, Naval Expos., 165. String is that strake of Plank within Side of the Ship that is wrought over the upper Deck Ports in the Wast.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 154. String. One or two planks withinside, next under the gunwale, answering to the sheer-strakes withoutside.
28. Arch. = string-course or -molding (see 32).
1817. Rickman, Archit., 50. A plain string is also sometimes used as a cornice.
1842. Ecclesiologist, I. 199. Ancient lancets have not, indeed, invariably strings underneath them.
1850. T. Inkersley, Inq. Styles Romanesque & Pointed Archit. France, 323. A moulded inclined plane above a flowered string.
29. The String of Lorn: see quot. 1678.
a. 1678. in Highland Papers (S.H.S.), II. 85. The mountain betwixt Lochow and Lorn called the String.
1889. in Ld. A. Campbell, Waifs & Strays Celtic Tradit., I. 28. She fled with the precious deeds across the String of Lorn.
30. Shetland. A strong tidal current in a narrow channel. [ON. strengr.]
1884. C. Rampini, Shetld. & Shetlanders, ii. 80. Even in crossing a string of tide the fishermen always betook themselves to their oars.
1887. Jesse M. E. Saxby, Lads of Lunda, 131. I am sure we could not cross that string of tide in safety.
IV. attrib. and Comb. 31. Obvious comb. a. In sense ‘made or consisting of string,’ as string bag, ball, netting, rug; ‘containing string,’ as string box, case; Mus. (see 2 c), as string band, instrument, † man, † minstrel, music, musical instrument, quartet, trio; b. similative, as string colo(u)r; string-colo(u)red, -like, -tailed adjs.
1901. B. Pain, Another Englishwoman’s Love-Lett., xxvi. 116. A *string-bag full of parcels.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed (1900), 232. Dick … played aimlessly with the tins and *string-ball on the counter.
1860. Sala, Baddington Peerage, I. xvi. 290. There was a *string-band and a wind-band at the Apollo Belvidere.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., x. Mr. Snagsby has dealt … in *string boxes, rulers, inkstands,… ever since he was out of his time.
1899. Pall Mall Gaz., 26 Dec., 3/2. *String-cases in red morocco.
1899. Daily News, 20 March, 8/7. The creamy lace … will be deep enough in tint to be beige, or even *string-colour. Ibid. (1898), 19 Feb., 3/3. With collars and sleeves of *string-coloured guipure.
1705. Addison, Italy, Rome, 321. There is not One *String-Instrument that seems comparable to our Violins.
1859. Habits of Gd. Society, vi. 232. The zither, one of the sweetest and most touching of string instruments.
1882. Vines, trans. Sachs’ Bot., 120. Mosses, which have *string-like cell-groups in the stem.
c. 1470. in J. P. Collier, Engl. Dram. Poetry (1879), I. 39. Mynstrells … wherof some use trumpetts, some shalmes, some small pipes: some are *stringemen.
1498. in R. Henry, Hist. Gt. Brit. (1793), VI. 724. Item, for three *stryngmynstrels wages, 5 li.
1712. Addison, Spect., No. 361, ¶ 3. He added, that the Cat had contributed more to Harmony than any other Animal; as we are not only beholden to her for this Wind-Instrument, but for our *String Musick in general.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 300. He … makes … all sorts of *string-musical instruments.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 464. *String Netting … is made to cover glass bottles…, the network formed by the string protecting the more fragile object that it covers.
1875. J. Bishop, trans. Otto’s Violin, iv. (ed. 4), 52. A *string quartett, made by A. Engleder, of Munich,… possessed the following peculiarity of form. The upper half of each instrument was [etc.].
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, String quartet, (1) A composition in four parts, for two violins, viola and violoncello. (2) The group of stringed instruments in a band.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 464/2. *String rugs … are made from odds and ends of coarse Berlin or fleecy wool, which are either knitted up with string or worked into coarse canvas in loops.
1893. E. H. Barker, Wand. Southern Waters, 64. *String-tailed, goggle-eyed, meagre cats that seize your dinner.
1874. Ouseley, Musical Form, 52. Thus are constructed symphonies and sonatas; *string-trios, quartetts.
32. Special comb.: string bark (tree) Austral., STRINGY-BARK; string-bean U.S., the French or kidney bean; string bed, the Indian charpoy; string-binder, a reaping-machine that ties the corn in sheaves; similarly string-binding ppl. a.; string-block, in a wooden-frame pianoforte, a block of wood holding the studs to which the fixed ends of the strings are looped; string board, a board that supports the ends of the steps in a wooden staircase; also collect. sing.; string-course (see quot. 1910); string-galvanometer, a galvanometer consisting of a fine conducting fiber, for measuring rapidly fluctuating currents; string-gauge (see quot.); † string-hough v. trans., to hamstring; † string hound, ? a leash-hound; string-jack, a jumping-jack; string-line, † (a) = CHORD sb.1 4; (b) Billiards (U.S.), the baulk-line; string-maker, one who makes string or strings; † also with reference to sense 16 b; † string-metal, ? metal for making wire strings for musical instruments; string-moulding, a molding carried horizontally along a wall; string organ (see quot.); string-pea U.S., a pea with edible pods; string-piece, (a) a long piece of timber serving to connect and support a framework (e.g., a floor, bridge); a longitudinal railway-sleeper (U.S.); a heavy squared timber carried along the edge of a wharf-front; † (b.) (see quot. 1842); string-pin = HITCH-PIN; string-plate, the metal plate into which the hitch-pins are inserted; † string-torments, a rendering of L. fidiculæ (pl.), an instrument of torture consisting of a number of thin cords; † string-watch, ? a watch having a string fitted to the fusee and barrel instead of a chain (cf. 9 a above); stringwood, a small tree of St. Helena, Acalypha rubra, now extinct, named from its pendent spikes of reddish sterile flowers (Treas. Bot., 1866).
1845. J. O. Balfour, Sk. N. S. Wales, 37. The *string bark tree is also useful.
1862. W. Archer, Products of Tasmania, 39 (Morris). Gum-topped String-bark, sometimes called white gum (Eucalyptus gigantea, var.).
1842. Hawthorne, Amer. Note-bks. (1868), II. 99. It was a very pleasant moment when I gathered the first *string-beans.
1895. Mrs. B. M. Croker, Village Tales, 16. We were presently conducted to an empty hut, provided with broad *string beds.
1911. H. Begbie, Other Sheep, i. 9. The priest … insisted upon my having a charpoy, or string-bed, for the night.
1891. Daily News, 10 Oct., 3/1. It is not so long since the master was entirely at the mercy of his labourers in harvest time…. The *string-binder has altered all that.
1910. P. M’Connell, Farm Equipm., 75. The modern string-binder was simply this machine plus a mechanical tier.
1882. Essex Herald, No. 4269/3. This is the second harvest in Australia in which *string-binding reapers of American manufacture have been used.
1851. W. Pole, in Rimbault, Pianoforte (1860), 163. The strings were looped at one end upon studs driven into a solid block of wood, which we may call the *string-block.
1703. R. Neve, City & C. Purchaser, 252. Stairs, with Rails, Ballasters, *String-boards, Posts.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 604. The price of string-board is regulated by the foot superficial.
1825. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., vi. 123*. *String-courses are those from which buildings begin to narrow upwards.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 451. A string course, or horizontal band.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 228. The sill always well sloped, to throw off the water, and having usually a string-course below, to prevent it from running down and discolouring the walls.
1910. C. H. Gregory, Gloss. Build. Constr., 42. String course. A distinctive horizontal course, projecting or flush, carried round a building, usually at floor level, to roughly mark the division of a building into floors.
1909. Westm. Gaz., 13 May, 5/2. The Einthoven *string galvanometer,… by means of which the beating of the heart can be measured with the greatest accuracy.
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, *String-gauge, a small instrument for measuring the thickness of strings for violins, guitars, etc.
1605. Willet, Hexapla Gen., 447. Some read they *string-haughed a bull.
1631. in Househ. Ord. (1790), 350. The Master of the Bows and *String Hounds.
1863. ‘Holme Lee,’ A. Warleigh, II. 205. Sinclair … stood like a *string-jack, his arms outstretched.
1551. *Stryngline [see CHORD sb.1 4].
1897. in R. F. Foster, Compl. Hoyle, 585. A ball whose centre is on the string line must be regarded as within the line.
14[?]. Nom., in Wr.-Wülcker, 686/32. Hic cordex, a *stryngmaker.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Filius, No. 20. 104. From whence it appears, that this Richard P—e was a great string-maker.
1833. Fardely, trans. Otto’s Treat. Violin, 60. The Neukirch string-makers.
a. 1626. Bacon, Physiol. Rem., Baconiana (1679), 96. Statua Metal, and Bell Metal, and Trumpet Metal, and *String Metal.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., Gloss., *String mouldings.
1837. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 57/2. An elegant three-light Gothic window, having a neat label and string mouldings.
1876. Stainer & Barrett, Dict. Mus. Terms, *String organ, a new musical instrument, the sounds of which are produced by the association of a free reed and wire string.
1891. Century Dict., s.v. Pea, The pods of the sugar-pea, skinless pea, or *string-pea are eaten, as in the case of ‘string-beans.’
1789. W. Jessop, Rep. Thames & Isis, 22. Flat Stones set edgeways [inside a Lock], with a *String piece of Elm at the Foot.
1802. G. V. Sampson, Statist. Surv. Londonderry, 323. The piers [of the bridge] … are bound together by 13 string-pieces, equally divided, and transversely bolted; on the string-pieces is laid the flooring.
1840. H. S. Tanner, Canals & Rail Roads U. S., 261. String pieces, wooden rails upon which the iron bars of rail-roads are placed.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., String or String Piece, that part of a flight of stairs which forms its ceiling or sofite.
1898. J. L. Williams, in Scribner’s Mag., May, 573/1. ‘Suicide or not?’… ‘No,… he just fell in off the stringpiece of the dock.’
1889. Brinsmead, Hist. Pianoforte, 181. The Brinsmead system of tuning requires no wood either to fasten the *string-pins or support the iron frame.
1827. Broadwood, Patent, in Newton’s Lond. Jrnl., Ser. II. (1830), IV. 132. A metallic plate … to be called the *string plate, into which the hitch pins are set, for the ends of the strings to be fastened to.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIX. ii. 353. Then were the rackes stretched…, the *string-torments also and the whips put in readinesse.
1686. Lond. Gaz., No. 2120/8. An old *String-Watch (in two Silver Cases).
