1. Not subjected to straining or stretching; free from strain. Also fig.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 248. Pensyf, payred, I am for-payned, & þou in a lyf of lykyng lyȝte In paradys erde, of stryf vnstrayned.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., ix. 418. Taking a milk-white Bull, vnstrained with the yoke.
1690. Child, Disc. Trade, viii. 132. The Dutch … would buy our unstrained Cloth, and carry it into Holland, and there strain it.
1882. Minchin, Unipl. Kinemat., 126. The ratio of the strained to the unstrained area.
1894. Westm. Gaz., 1 June, 1/1. Their loyalty to the Cabinet would be unstrained by the work and worry of an Autumn Session.
transf. 1659. W. Chamberlayne, Pharonnida, V. II. 158. That usurped diadem; which he … beheld without His unstrained reach.
b. With for: Not strained after.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa (1811), VI. 177. The blush … was a deep-dyed crimson, unstrained for.
2. Not forced or produced by effort.
1580. Stanyhurst, Æneis, etc. (Arb.), 152. Heere percase carpers wyl twight his iollitye youthful. Strong reason vnstrayned that weake obiection aunswers.
1627. Hakewill, Apology Power & Providence of God, I. ii. 13. The Greekes call it ἀλήθεια, which by an easie and vnstrained derivation implies the breath of God.
a. 1639. T. Carew, Poems (1651), 130. The true brood of Actors, that alone keep naturall unstrain’d Action in her throne.
1776. Mickle, Camoens’ Lusiad, Introd. 140. The most natural unstrained harmony, is the just characteristic of the style of Camoens.
1802. Lamb, G. F. Cook, Wks. 1908, I. 47. This quality of unstrained mirth … is a prime feature in his character.
1871. Mrs. Whitney, Real Folks, xii. The pure, clear spaces where such things seemed to be fit and unstrained.
1898. Contemp. Rev., Aug., 188. Honours, like the gentle rain from heaven, fell upon him unstrained.
3. Not passed through a strainer; not cleared or purified by straining.
1828–32. Webster, s.v., Unstrained oil.
1853. Royle, Mat. Med. (ed. 2), 477. Press out the juice, and evaporate it, unstrained, to a proper consistence.
