a. [ad. L. stringentem, pres. pple. of stringĕre, to draw together, bind tight, also to touch lightly, graze.]
1. Astringent, constrictive, styptic, esp. with reference to taste. Also fig.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 149. Vitriol [giveth] a stiptic or a stringent taste.
1614. W. B., Philosopher’s Banquet (ed. 2), 72. Bitter Grapes are colde and stringent.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, Antipsych., III. iii. 20. What down doth dive Into the straitned Cuspis needs must strive With stringent bitternesse, vexation, Anxious unrest.
1858. Trench, Synon., xiv. (1877), 46. Harsh and stringent to the palate, as … unripe fruit, and the like.
2. That draws or binds tight; tightly enfolding or compressing. rare.
1736. Thomson, Liberty, IV. 188. The serpents, twisting round, their stringent folds Inextricable tie.
1849. Kitto, Daily Bible Illustr., I. XII. ii. 395. The twisted bags were perhaps used to subject the grapes to a further and more stringent pressure, after being taken from the foot-press.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, 135. I slept … with a stringent and profound slumber which not even the nightmares that wrung me could avail to break.
1898. Meredith, Odes Fr. Hist., 39. Adding to slavery’s chain the stringent twist.
3. Of reasoning: That compels assent, convincing.
1653. H. More, Antid. Ath., II. vi. (1712), 58. But I have dwelt too long upon this Theory; we’ll betake our selves to … what is more unexceptionably stringent and forcing.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Stringent, forcing, forceable, as To maintain a Truth in a stringent Way.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, xvii. Mr. Johnson’s argument was not the less stringent because his idioms were vulgar.
4. Of regulations, procedure, requirements, obligations, etc.: Rigorous, strict, thoroughgoing; rigorously binding or coercive.
1846. F. W. Newman, Lett., in Sieveking, Mem. (1909), 142. Nothing less severe … would brace England up to the stringent remedies which alone can save that country [Ireland].
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 235. A more stringent test was now added. Ibid. (1855), xx. IV. 480. They imagined that they had devised a most stringent limitation of the royal power.
1868. M. Pattison, Academ. Org., iv. 106. The other professors are under more stringent requirements to teach.
1884. Manch. Exam., 2 May, 4/7. It will need a stringent clause to guard against this abuse.
b. ? Rigorously urgent upon. nonce-use.
1862. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XIII. i. III. 420. Readers may consider how stringent upon Friedrich that question now was, and how ticklish to solve.
5. Of the money-market: Tight. Cf. STRINGENCY.
1891. in Century Dict. And in later U.S. Dicts.
6. Fort. = RASANT. Obs. rare.
1673. Sir J. Moore, Mod. Fortif., 18. The Line coming from the Point of the Bastion … and drawn upon the face … to the Curtain … is called the Line stringent, and shews how much of the Curtain … will clear or scour the Face.
1711. Milit. & Sea Dict. (ed. 4), s.v. Line, Line Razant, Stringent or Flanking, or Second Flank.
Hence Stringently adv.; Stringentness.
1659. H. More, Immort. Soul, II. ii. 129. That the former part is false I shall now demonstrate, by proving more stringently, That [etc.].
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Stringentness, binding Quality.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, viii. A clever, frank, good-natured egoist; not stringently consistent, but without any disposition to falsity.
1884. Manch. Exam., 2 Dec., 5/1. The principle of population has been applied more stringently than was at first proposed.
