- Straitest
- Strait Strait, a. [Compar. {Straiter}; superl. {Straitest}.]
[OE. straight, streyt, streit, OF. estreit, estroit, F.
['e]troit, from L. strictus drawn together, close, tight, p.
p. of stringere to draw tight. See 2nd {Strait}, and cf.
{Strict}.]
1. Narrow; not broad.
[1913 Webster]
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. --Matt. vii. 14. [1913 Webster]
Too strait and low our cottage doors. --Emerson. [1913 Webster]
2. Tight; close; closely fitting. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
3. Close; intimate; near; familiar. [Obs.] ``A strait degree of favor.'' --Sir P. Sidney. [1913 Webster]
4. Strict; scrupulous; rigorous. [1913 Webster]
Some certain edicts and some strait decrees. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The straitest sect of our religion. --Acts xxvi. 5 (Rev. Ver.). [1913 Webster]
5. Difficult; distressful; straited. [1913 Webster]
To make your strait circumstances yet straiter. --Secker. [1913 Webster]
6. Parsimonious; niggargly; mean. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
I beg cold comfort, and you are so strait, And so ingrateful, you deny me that. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.