| 释义 |
▪ I. straight, a., n., and adv.|streɪt|
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. streȝt, straȝt, orig. an adjectival use of the pa. pple. of strecchen to stretch.]
A. adj.
†1.
a. As ppl. adj.: Extended at full length. Obs.
c1400Destr. 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. a1420Aunters of Arthur 534 Hit was no ferly, in faye, His stedes startun on straye, With steroppus fulle stryȝte. 1596Dalrymple tr. 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.
a1366Chaucer Rom. Rose 119 And somdel lasse it was than Seine, But it was straighter [Fr. plus espandue] wel away.
2. a. Not crooked; free from curvature, bending, or angularity.
c1350Libeaus Desc. (Kaluza) 942 Hir nose was streiȝt [Cotton MS. strath] and riȝt. c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 942 Hyt [sc. her neck] was white, smothe, streght and pure flatte Wyth-outen hole. c1400Destr. Troy 1574 The Stretis were streght & of a stronge brede. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 35 On alle these fowles tho legges schune bene, Summe cralled, sum streȝt, as I haue sene. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §4 The plowes that goo with wheles, haue a streyghte beame. 1563Mirr. Mag., Jane Shore xx, And bent the wand that might have growen ful streight. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. i. (1589) 2 A rule is alway to be vnderstoode to be straight. 1611Shakes. 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. 1661J. Childrey Brit. Baconica 129 This River is a very streight and broad river. 1667Primatt City & C. Builder 52 Let him in the buying his timber, buy the streightest he can light on. 1678R. L'Estrange Seneca's Mor. (1702) 213 A streight Stick in the Water appears to be crooked. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 121 Upright he walks, on Pasterns firm and straight; His Motions easy; prancing in his Gate. 1728Chambers Cycl. s.v. Stairs, Straight Stairs..are such as always fly, that is, proceed in a Right Line, and never wind. 1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 190 The Bill was hardly discernable, so I cannot say whether it was Streight or Crooked. 1767Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 234 We are to consider the..shape of the weapon; whether it has a strait, or a rising edge. 1786Burns Vision i. xi, And such a leg!.. Sae straught, sae taper, tight and clean. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 123 Panicle stiff and straight. 1796Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 162 Fracture presents..mostly streight and parallel, rarely curved fibres. 1808Parsons Trav. Asia xi. 230 The streets are all strait. 1839Lindley Introd. Bot. 485 Straight (rectus); not wavy or curved, or deviating from a straight direction in any way. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 138 This requires a blade with a straight edge like those of the pruning-knives now in general use. 1896Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 615/1 The railway line..was perfectly straight for a distance of over 700 yards.
absol.1718Prior 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.
1398Trevisa 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. c1537R. De Benese Measurynge Lande A iiij, Of lynes one is a straygth lyne hangyng, y⊇ seconde is a straygth lyne ouerthwarte [i.e. perpendicular and horizontal]. 1551[see right a. 2]. 1610Bolton Elem. Armories 87 Armorial Lines are in their first diuision Straight, or Crooked. Againe the Straight are either Direct, or Oblique. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. i. Ad Sec. viii. 118 Of all lines the straight is the shortest. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece ii. xiv. I. 287 Instead of ascending in a streight Line, it [the flame] whirled round. 1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 9 a, The strait Line is a Line drawn from one Point to another, the shortest Way. 1799H. More Fem. Educ. (ed. 4) I. 240 Why in teaching to draw do you begin with strait lines and curves? 1840Lardner Geom. ii. 25 If from any proposed point P, several straight lines be drawn to a given straight line AB. 1870B. Stewart Elem. Physics §25. 28 The method of representing forces by straight lines. 1884tr. Lotze's Metaph. 182 If we proceed onwards in a straight line, we shall, admittedly, never come to the end of the line. 1885C. 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.
1599Shakes. Hen. V, v. ii. 168 A good Legge will fall, a strait Back will stoope, a blacke Beard will turne white. 1826F. Reynolds Life & Times I. 232 He was young, tall, strait, and good-looking. 1855Tennyson Brook 70 A daughter of our meadows,..Straight, but as lissome as a hazel wand. 1868Geo. 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.
1765Angelo Sch. Fencing 18 Keep a strait arm, in order to throw off his point. a1774Goldsm. Surv. Exp. Philos. (1776) II. 169 As painful as it would be to stretch out a finger streight that was contracted by an inflammation. 1940W. Faulkner Hamlet iii. ii. 200 Lying flat on his back in the darkness with his eyes open and his arms straight beside him, thinking of nothing. 1955Simple Gymnastics (‘Know the Game’ Ser.) 6/1 When your knees are as high as this, squeeze your legs together and lay back with straight arms.
e. Of hair: Not curly or waved.
1748Smollett Rod. Rand. xiii. (1768) I. 83 My hair..hung down upon my shoulders, as lank and streight as a pound of candles. 1774Pennsylv. Gaz. 23 Feb. 5/3 A native Irish servant man,..fair complexion, straight fair hair. 1886H. W. Lucy Diary Gladstone Parlt. 239 His pale face, his straight black hair.
f. Printing. straight accent: a macron.
1888Jacobi Printer's Vocab. 134 Straight accents, another term for long accents, thus—ā ē ī ō ū.
g. Arch. (See quots.)
[1666Act 18 & 19 Chas. II, c. 8 §5 Archworke of Bricke or Stone either straight or circular.] 1812P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 237 All vaults which have a horizontal straight axis, are called straight vaults. 1828― Masonry 110 Straight walls, those which have plane surfaces.
h. Anat. The distinctive epithet of certain structures (= mod.L. rectus).
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 31/2 Intestinum rectum,..the straight gut, or the arse gut. 1749Hartley Observ. Man i. i. §3. 99 The Four strait Muscles of the Eye. 1840E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. (1842) 339 The Straight or fourth sinus is the sinus of the tentorium. 1879G. C. 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.)
1822J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 171 The additions which this author has made to the genera of straight multilocular shells. 1841Penny 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. 1854A. Adams, etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 373 Straight-Foraminifers (Vaginulidæ).
j. Of the front of a coat or dress: Not fitting closely to the chest.
1893Daily News 5 Apr. 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’. 1906Daily 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]. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 832 Duc Theseus the streighte wey hath holde And to the launde he rideth hym ful right. c1425Hampole's Psalter Metr. Pref. 32 This is þe way to mannys syȝt; euen streygth wiþ out deseyt. 1488Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 493 And so forth the streyght wey till they came to Kylmagergan. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxvi. 1 Quhat is this lyfe bot ane straucht way to deid. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 22 This waye of religyon, whiche is the streyght waye to the perfeccyon of grace. 1533Bellenden Livy II. 6 Þan was It found expedient to send Icelius brother and numitorius son..þe strauchest way þai mycht to þe portis. 1535Coverdale Luke iii. 4 Prepare the waye of the Lorde, and make his pathes straight. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 28 He without long tariyng or aduisement, tooke the streight way to the sea syde. 1627Abp. 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. 1736Butler Anal. i. v. 93 If we were to suppose a strait Path marked out for a Person. 1820Scott 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. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xxxvii, Hetty..asked the straightest road northward towards Stonyshire.
(b) fig., in collocation with narrow, esp. in phr. straight and narrow path, a course of conventionally moral and law-abiding behaviour; freq. ellipt. in colloq. usage as straight and narrow. Cf. strait and narrow s.v. strait a. 3 b.
The latter use is a misinterpretation of Matt. vii. 14 ‘Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth vnto life, and few there be that finde it.’
1842J. E. Leeson Hymns & Scenes of Childhood 25 Loving Shepherd, ever near, Teach Thy lamb Thy voice to hear; Suffer not my steps to stray From the straight and narrow way. 1912T. Dreiser Financier xxiii. 253 In his younger gallivantings about places of ill repute, and his subsequent occasional variations from the straight and narrow path, he had learned much of the curious resources of immorality. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel iv. 275 Robbins..said that he..would have to follow the straight and narrow. 1959D. Buckingham Wind Tunnel xx. 161 He had unwittingly caused Madelaine to take a far more serious step off the straight and narrow. 1970Times 13 Feb. 10/4 It may be counted for consistency..that the White Paper should not have flinched..once again to sign-post the straight and narrow path. 1978F. Weldon Praxis x. 73 It's only the fear of pregnancy which keeps girls on the straight and narrow.
b. Of a look: Bold, steady.
c1400Destr. Troy 3758 Stokyn ene out stepe with a streught loke. 1898G. B. Shaw You never can Tell ii. 241 She takes his hand and presses it, with a frank, straight look into his eyes. 1922T. S. Eliot Waste Land (1923) ii. 12 He wants a good time. And if you don't give it him, there's others will, I said... Then I'll know who to thank, she said, and give me a straight look.
c. Of an aim, a stroke, a throw, etc.: Directed precisely to the mark.
1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor 33 All straight balls should be played straight back. 1837Dickens Pickw. vii, The ball flew from his hand straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket. 1859Ruskin Two Paths i. §32 The workman's whole aim is straight at the facts, as well as he can get them. 1884Sat. 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.
1899F. V. Kirby Sport E.C. Africa xxvii. 302, I had made up my mind to use my rifle, with the straightest powder I had. 1900Pollok & Thom Sports Burma 262 One need not necessarily burn straight powder.
e. colloq. Of an utterance: Outspoken, unreserved. Also, straightforward, not evasive. straight talk: a piece of plain speaking.
1894Sir J. D. 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. 1895Westm. Gaz. 11 Sept. 2/2 The jury..attributed the accident solely to the neglect of the Conservators... That is pretty straight. 1900Ibid. 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. 1903Ibid. 9 Jan. 2/2 It was a night of Straight Talks. 1959A. Sillitoe Loneliness of Long-Distance Runner ii. 178 ‘You'll get five years in Borstal if you don't give me a straight answer,’ he said. 1973J. Porter It's Murder with Dover vii. 70 Dover generously gave him a straight answer to a straight question. ‘No,’ he said. 1979‘A. Hailey’ Overload iv. viii. 333 Nim, give me the straight dope behind this Yale thing. What went wrong?
f. the straight tip (colloq.): see tip n.4 b.
g. Lawn Tennis. Applied to the sets in a match where the winner has not conceded a set. Also fig.
1895Official Lawn Tennis Bull. 4 July 103 Stevens's persistent and accurate ground-strokes from the base⁓line, and his ability to reach and return everything safely proved too much for Fischer, who was beaten rather badly in straight sets. 1911Wright & Ditson's Official Lawn Tennis Guide 12 Except in the second set of this match, the two Doyles..were completely outclassed and Waidner and Gardner made rather easy work, winning in straight sets. 1936E. C. Potter Kings of Court vi. 99 If Brookes had been able to hold his service..it might have gone for a straight-set win. 1949D. C. Coombe Hist. Davis Cup 222 Petra won both his singles in straight sets. 1961Times 4 Jan. 11/3 Miss McAlpine should have won in straight sets. 1971Laver & Collins Educ. Tennis Player xxiii. 273, I picked up a little Spanish in that stretch of straight-set victories. 1980Guardian 20 Sept. 10/3 (heading) Straight set winners.
h. Consecutive, in unbroken sequence. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1899J. London Let. 30 Apr. (1966) 35 He spent 48 straight hours with me a couple of days before he went. 1963Wall St. Jrnl. 25 Jan. 31/3 American Photocopy Equipment stock was the most active stock for the second straight day. 1971Laver & Collins Educ. Tennis Player xxv. 291 I had won 30 straight matches since losing to Newcombe in June, the week before Wimbledon. 1976Morecambe Guardian 7 Dec. 8/9 Vale got off to a good start through their No. 1 Mike Ashby who won in fine style in three straight games. 1977Listener 10 Mar. 295/1 Company earnings..had reflected their 16th straight annual gain.
i. Racing. Designating a bet which backs (a horse, etc.) to win. Cf. pari mutuel.
1928Daily Sketch 10 Aug. 20/4 It..can be used either for straight or place betting. 1974P. Arnold Bk. Gambling viii. 88/1 If there are three to six runners, a straight forecast pool is also run. Bettors are required to name the first two horses to finish, in the correct order. 1976Webster's Sports Dict. 427/2 Straight,..[in] parimutuel betting. First place at the finish. When a straight wager is made, the bettor collects only if the competitor wins.
j. Straightforward, simple, uncomplicated. colloq.
1936Discovery Aug. 254/1 It is possible to perceive a sharp demarcation between what may be called ‘straight dowsing’ and ‘divination proper’. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Oct. 625/3 Any editor worth his salt is grateful to have slips, oversights, straight mistakes and insensitivities pointed out. 1962Times 5 July 15/5 The tapes all emerged as inferior in straight comparisons. 1972Wodehouse Pearls, Girls, & Monty Bodkin x. 143 Would he be cut in on the gross receipts, do you think, or is he on a straight salary?
†4. Of a mountain: Steep. Obs. (chiefly Sc.)
1475Bk. Noblesse (Roxb.) 15 The streit high monteyns of Pirone. 1533Bellenden Livy ii. xxi. (S.T.S.) I. 218 Þai fled vp throw ane strate montane. 1549Compl. Scot. Ep. Ded. (1873) 2 The quhilkz volffis ar nocht the rauand sauuage volffis of strait montanis ande vyild fforrestis. a1800Bonny 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°.
1601Holland 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. 1707Mortimer Husb. 431 The best Figure for a Kitchin-Garden..is a Square of straight Angles. 1889N. F. 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. a. Of conduct: Free from crookedness; frank, honest. Hence of persons and their attributes. Also in mod. colloq. use, law-abiding as opp. criminal. Cf. to go straight (b), sense 5 of the adv. below.
The present use (chiefly colloq.) is unconnected with that of the 16–17th c.
1530Palsgr. 326/1 Strayght, ryght in condycions, juste. 1541–2Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 15 §1 The..good order strayte and true dealing of the inhabitauntes of the said towne [Manchester]. a1628Preston New Covt. (1634) 233 To describe to you a right and straight man, when his end is right, and his rule is right. 1642Earl Leven Let. 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.
1864Kimball Was he Successful? 43 (Hoppe) You are honest too—straight as a shingle. 1890Spectator 22 Nov., There exists..a sort of instinctive appreciation of honesty which.. gives enormous influence to any big squatter who is really upright and ‘straight’. 1893Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Mar. 1 Having the reputation of being a fearless and independent divine, a straight man, true to his cloth and calling. 1901Bp. W. Stubbs in Ch. Q. Rev. Apr. 9, I think there never was such a life, so long, so brave, so devoted, so straight. 1904Shuddick 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. 1908W. 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. 1977J. Wainwright Day of Peppercorn Kill 37 Inky was straight... Ten years ago, Inky had walked away from prison..and, since that day, he hadn't put a foot wrong.
†b. Right, proper, fitting. Obs.
1538Starkey 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.
1853C. M. Yonge Heir of Redclyffe II. v. 70 If the right motives did not suffice to keep one straight..why then I should be..utterly good for nothing. 1868A. L. Gordon Let. Poems (1912) 370 She tried hard to cheer me up and keep me straight. 1876‘Ouida’ Winter City vi. 125 If only people ‘keep straight’ for the sake only of what other people say of them. 1886― House Party vii. (1887) 163 Do you really think that to have any influence on English public life it is necessary..to keep so very straight, as regards women, I mean, you know? 1890Pall 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. 1893Saltus Madam Sapphira 133 As God is my witness that girl is as straight as your sister. 1894Wilkins & 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. 1908R. 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.
d. slang (orig. U.S.). Conventional, respectable, socially acceptable. Also spec. (a) heterosexual; not practising sexual perversions; (b) not using or under influence of drugs; sober, abstinent.
1941G. W. Henry Sex Variants II. 1176 Straight... Also employed as meaning not homosexual. To go straight is to cease homosexual practices and to indulge—usually to re-indulge—in heterosexuality. 1959M. Zane Easy Living vii. 90 ‘You don't want a slug [of brandy], huh?’ ‘No thanks. I'm straight.’ 1960Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 524/1 Straight,..honest; normal. Depending on the context, denotes that the person referred to is not dishonest, not a drug addict, not a homosexual, and so forth. 1965San Francisco Examiner 5 Sept. 5/1 A lot of us have ‘straight’ friends. 1966A. Young in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 147 Why dont you buy this joint off me so I can be straight for lunch. 1967, etc. [see freak n.1 4 c]. 1968Globe & Mail Mag. (Toronto) 13 Jan. 6/1 Some straight (heterosexual) people also go there to watch the drag show (a floor show put on by men dressed and acting like women). 1971Psychol. Today May 43/1, I can see patterns, form, figures, meaningful designs in visual material that does not have any particular form when I'm straight. 1971‘M. Underwood’ Trout in Milk xx. 167 ‘Every perversion catered for.’.. ‘And what's yours, Mr Slatter?’.. ‘I'm straight.’ 1975N.Y. Times Bk. Rev. 30 Nov. 42/3 A fastidiously distant man without the hint of a sex life, straight or otherwise. 1976J. Crosby Snake (1977) ix. 43 Few of the revolutionary youth..threw it all up and came back to the straight world. 1978V. Martin Set in Motion v. 96, I wish I had some dope. I haven't been straight this long in years. 1981Q. Crisp How to become a Virgin vi. 88 All his spare attention was given to pointing out which bars were gay or had been gay, which restaurants were straight though run by homosexuals and so on.
7. a. Not oblique; either vertical or horizontal. Hence, a straight eye: ability to see whether an object is placed straight.
c1600Shakes. Sonn. cxxi. 11, I may be straight though they them selues be beuel. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vi, In its whole constitution it had not a straight floor. 1901Daily 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. Freq. in phr. to play a straight bat and varr. Also fig. 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. 1851W. 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. 1851Pycroft Cricket Field iii. (1854) 45 [He] always insisted on keeping the left elbow well up; in other words, on straight play. 1897Encycl. 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. 1944Blunden Cricket Country vii. 79 He simply played the straight-bat game. 1973Times 11 June 13/7 The British too..owed much of their greatness to their own self-esteem, and to the legend of straight bat, stiff upper lip, probity and detachment. 1975Times 1 Dec. 5/1 Mr Wilson and Mr Callaghan intend to play a straight bat at the EEC conference. 1979‘J. le Carré’ Smiley's People (1980) xiv. 164 When it came to the big stuff he always played a straight bat.
8. a. Predicatively: In proper order, not ruffled or disarranged. Esp. in colloq. phr. to keep a straight face († one's face straight): to refrain from laughing.
1831Society I. 64 The pleasure of seeing her kept his temper straighter than usual. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. ii, It would make all so straight again. 1847Helps Friends in C. I. vi. 92, I prefer real life..where there is no third volume [as in a novel] to make things straight. 1860Thackeray Lovel iii, Lay them books straight. Put the volumes together, stupid! 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ Valerie's Fate iii, Come and put your hair straight. 1887P. Fendall Sex to Last iii. x. III. 220 Five minutes' conversation..will set everything straight. 1888H. Morten Hospital Life 73 The small patients lay quiet in their cribs; everything was straight for the night. 1897Spectator 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’. 1953H. Miller Plexus (1963) iv. 137 All I felt called upon to do was to keep a straight face and pretend that everything was kosher. 1972J. Porter Meddler & her Murder x. 128 Miss Jones..managed to keep a straight face... The margarine represented a small secret triumph. 1974Scotsman 22 Apr. p. ix, Only in oil can you break off kelly and set down on rams while keeping a straight face.
b. colloq. Of accounts: Settled up, leaving nothing owing.
1613Nottingham Rec. IV. 316 Southwell pence beinge in arrerage..Maister Hill..shall pay the same..and so to sett ytt straight for this tyme. 1798T. 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. 1900Westm. Gaz. 12 Apr. 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’; free from debt.
1730P. 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. 1894M. Dyan Man's Keeping (1899) 262 She..urged him to strive to get straight once more with his conscience and his God. 1914F. M. Ford Let. 22 Dec. (1965) 60 Of course if Conrad is not yet straight I don't want to exact this. 1960Jazz Rev. Sept.–Oct. 14 He was straight at this time—saved his money and everything. 1966Listener 8 Sept. 335/2 In the ten years after the war we made a huge effort to get straight by austerity and stringent controls.
d. In colloq. phrases, as to get (something) straight, to make (something) clear, to reach an understanding; to keep (someone) straight, to keep (someone) informed.
1862J. Blackwood Let. 17 Mar. in Geo. Eliot Lett. (1956) IV. 22, I suppose there is nothing in your remarks about language to clash with my paper last month. Keep me straight about this. 1920S. Lewis Main St. xiv. 167 Will,..I must get this straight. Some one said..all the doctors hate each other. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues viii. 124 Get this straight, we pure-and-simple jazzmen didn't scoff the ‘serious’ composers. Ibid. xi. 194 When he got straight on my version of My Blue Heaven I played the second harmony sax part along with him. 1946J. B. Priestley Bright Day x. 320 I'm going to risk telling you something... It's all ancient history, but..we might as well get it straight.
e. U.S. slang. Of a drug-user: drugged, ‘high’ (high a. 16 c). Cf. sense 6 d above.
1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues xii. 217, I know I'm gonna get straight now, I know you gonna put me on. 1951Life 11 June 120/1 While the cops were in the apartment they seized five teen-agers who came up to be put straight. 1965Life 26 Feb. 86/4 Once the addict has had his shot and is ‘straight’ he may become admirably, though briefly, industrious. 1971E. E. Landy Underground Dict. 178 Straight,..1...off drugs; clean. 2. A drug addict will use the word ‘straight’ to mean to use a drug—eg. I've got to get straight.
9. orig. 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; also fig.
1856N.Y. Courier & Enquirer Sept. (Bartlett), The present candidate of the straight Whigs for the Vice-Presidency. 1857N.Y. Times 14 Oct. (ibid.), The straight Republican Convention is to meet to-morrow. 1862J. R. Morris in Congr. Globe 7 July 3158/3, I supported the straight Democratic ticket. 1865Visct. Milton & W. B. Cheadle N.-W. Passage by Land ii. (1867) 33 As a Yankee would express it, they were geese and ducks ‘straight’—i.e., without anything else whatever. 1873Leland 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. 1874Slang Dict. 312 Straight, an American phrase peculiar to dram-drinkers; similar to our word neat. 1879Tourgee Fool's Err. vii. 28, I allers did like my liquor clar,—clar an' straight. 1892W. Pike Barren Ground N. Canada 128 We had bread at every meal, which is in itself a luxury after four months of straight meat. 1901W. Churchill Crisis viii. 432 Stephen had never learned to like straight whiskey. 1934J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra (1935) vi. 171 You want ginger ale with yours, or straight? 1940H. G. Wells Babes in Darkling Wood ii. iii. 194 She'll give up the ice, I expect, and settle down to straight Martini and gin. 1950‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xv. 119 ‘I'd like a coke.’.. ‘Little rum in it?’.. ‘Straight coke.’ 1977M. Hinxman One-Way Cemetery xx. 146 She handed him his glass. ‘Soda?’ ‘Straight.’ 1979Guardian 30 Oct. 10/4 People who vote the straight green ticket—rucksacks, sperm whales, recycling, and free-range hens.
b. straight poker, straight whist, etc.: the game in its unmodified form. straight four, straight five, straight six, straight flush: see quots.
1864W. B. Dick Amer. Hoyle 167 It [sc. Twenty-Deck Poker] is controlled by the same rules as Common or Straight Poker. 1882Poker; 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. 1895G. J. Manson Sporting Dict., Straight Five, a sequence or rotation of fives. Ibid., Straight Four. 1901R. F. Foster Bridge Introd. p. xii, Bridge..has completely taken the place of straight whist.
c. Of a grade of flour (see quots.).
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 454 Straight, even or uniform in quality. A term used in Commerce, and particularly among flour-dealers. 1883E. 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.
d. Mus. Applied to a kind of jazz characterized by adherence to a score or set orchestration and a lack of improvisation, or to a player of this kind of jazz. Also, of music or a musician: ‘serious’ or dance-band as opposed to jazz; = legitimate a. 2 e.
1926Melody Maker Feb. 15/2 His father was..one of the finest ‘straight’ saxophonists in the world. 1927Ibid. Apr. 329/3 The band is well drilled..but relies on stereotyped orchestration and ‘straight’ rendering. Moreover, there is nothing like enough solo work. 1928[see hot a. 8 g]. 1934S. R. Nelson All about Jazz ii. 40 This training is very useful where an orchestra has played for the cabaret, or any diversion where ‘straight’ music is employed. 1936Swing Music Apr. 37/1 Red Nichols was..a great ‘straight’ jazz trumpet. 1938Oxf. Compan. Music 777/2 It appears that the terms Straight Jazz (or Sweet Jazz) and Hot Jazz apply respectively to jazz played as written and jazz in which the extempore element is prominent. 1947Penguin Music Mag. May 28 Antony Hopkins has been much more affected by the jazz element in other ‘straight’ composers' works than by the original thing. 1961Guardian 16 Mar. 11/1 [He] is a ‘straight’ musician with some experience of jazz. 1971Daily Tel. 20 Jan. 10/6 A programme which covered fields as diverse as Renaissance polyphony, newly-commissioned music, both straight and jazzy, and swinging close-harmony arrangements.
e. Of animals: pure-bred. Cf. straight-bred, sense 9 a of the adv. below.
1972P. Newton Sheep Thief x. 80 They were straight merinos and pretty touchy to handle.
10. a. Theatr. ‘Serious’ as opposed to popular or comic. Cf. legitimate a. 2 b.
1895N.Y. Dramatic News 6 July 2/1 Trilby is the only ‘straight’ theatrical entertainment now left in New York. 1908Variety 16 May 15/1 A steady succession of comedy numbers..gave the two ‘straight’ acts closing the bill an almost impossible task to accomplish. 1928Observer 1 Jan. 11/4 Miss Gertrude Lawrence will then make her first appearance in ‘straight’ drama. 1928Punch 23 May 582/3 The character-actors have no doubt an easier task than the ‘straight’ actors. 1932Daily Express 27 June 3/3 Being determined to go into straight plays, she learned some poetry. 1937Sunday Express 21 Feb. 21/5 Luckily he has Naunton Wayne handling his best lines, revealing in his first straight part an easy sense of situation and character to back up his known comedy brilliance. 1959H. Pinter Birthday Party i. 4 This is a straight show... No dancing or singing... They just talk. 1970Guardian 19 Aug. 6/4 Feldman..has since appeared as a straight man..in a couple of Johnny Speight TV plays. 1981V. Glendinning Edith Sitwell xi. 151 Edith..loved music halls, which she preferred to the straight theatre.
b. Vaudeville. Applied to a performer who assumes a passive role as a feeder (feeder 11) or butt for a comedian; also transf.
1923N.Y. Times 15 July vi. 1/6 The method of the comedy team remains more or less unvaried. The team is composed, in the first place, of a comedian and a ‘straight’ man. 1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage iii. 37 The music-hall cross-talk act, where one of the characters is ‘straight’ and the other the comedian. 1957[see feeder 11]. 1961Sunday Express 18 June 19/1 For eight years he had been ‘straight man’ to Sid Field, one of the great comics. 1973R. Hill Ruling Passion ii. ii. 101 Pascoe looked doubtful. He was used to playing Dalziel's straight man. 1979J. Barnett Backfire is Hostile! i. 26 Smith knew he was being used as a straight man but played along with it.
c. Applied to a ‘serious’ novel, film, etc. which employs the conventional techniques of its art form.
1936‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles vi. 59 She was at that time shooting her first straight film. 1942H. Haycraft Murder for Pleasure ix. 203 Mr. Carr-Dickson..has been an incomparable boon to the English ‘straight’ detective story. 1953A. Upfield Murder must Wait x. 90, I write..straight novels, not these beastly thrillers. 1977Listener 30 June 866/4 Most crime reviewers have..been arraigned by novelists who think they would have got better treatment in straight novel columns. 1981F. McShane Sel. Lett. R. Chandler p. xv, He..rendered the actualities of American life as vividly and independently as any ‘straight’ novelist.
11. Comb.
a. Parasynthetic formations, unlimited in number, as straight-barred, straight-barrelled, straight-billed, straight-bitted, straight-bodied, straight-edged, straight-fibred, straight-grained, straight-hammed, straight-horned, straight-jointed, straight-leaved, straight-legged, straight-limbed, straight-minded, straight-necked, straight-nosed, straight-ribbed, straight-shaped, straight-sided, straight-stocked, straight-tusked, straight-veined, straight-winged adjs.
1832J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & Moths 171 The *Straight-barred Elm (Cnephasia rectifasciana).
1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4540/8 Stray'd or Stoln,..a black Gelding,..full chested, *streight barrel'd.
1811Shaw Gen. Zool. VIII. 329 One of the most beautiful of the *strait-billed Humming-Birds. c1875Cassell's Nat Hist. III. 309 The Parrots are divided into two large sections,..the Parrots proper..and..the straight-billed Parrots (Psittaci orthognathi).
1665Rea Flora i. 4 With a *straight-bitted Spade, or Turving-Iron..they will easily be flaied and taken up.
1603–26Breton Mad World (Grosart) 8/1 A..faire-handed, small-footed, *straight-bodied..gentlewoman. 1689Lond. Gaz. No. 2493/4 A Bay Mare,..streight Body'd,..strayed..on the 30th past.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §690 Wooden hooping, or *straight-edged laths, may be substituted for iron. 1886Encycl. Brit. XXI. 819/2 s.v. Shipbuilding, Plank is either worked in parallel strakes, when it is called ‘straight-edged’, or [etc.].
1785Roy in Phil. Trans. LXXV. 434 Very *straight-fibred deal was not..affected..by the humidity of the air.
1753F. Price Brit. Carpenter (ed. 3) 6 With some good, dry, and *strait-grain'd English oak. 1843Holtzapffel Turning I. 52 Straight-grained pines and mahogany. 1903Westm. Gaz. 31 Oct. 7/1 The purse is made of straight-grained, dark green morocco leather.
1714Tickell in Steele Poet. Misc. 181 Truss-thigh'd, *straight-ham'd, and Fox-like form'd his Paw.
1854A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 200 *Straight-horned Snout-Beetles (Orthocerata). 1887Morris Odyss. xii. 348 His straight-horned oxen.
1711Lond. Gaz. No. 4849/4 [Of a horse.] *Strait jointed behind. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. § 239 To lay good..straight-jointed floors in the sitting-rooms and passage.
1553Paynell tr. Dares Phryg. Destr. Troy C v b, Polixena{ddd}her members well made and well proporcioned, long fingerde, *streight legged. 1898Conan Doyle Trag. Korosko v. 137 He walked slowly away, with his straight-legged military stride. 1909Mrs. H. Ward Daphne iii. 49 The chairs and sofas were a trifle stiff and straight-legged.
1622Bacon Hen. VII, 246 Hee was a Comely Personage, a little aboue Iust Stature, well and *straight limmed, but slender. 1860Forster Gr. Remonstr. 102 Robert Car was a poor but handsome young Scot,..straight-limbed, well-favoured,..and smooth-faced.
1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. vii, ‘Mr. Titmarsh,’ says he,..‘you seem to be an honest, *straight-minded young fellow’.
1839Yarrell Suppl. Brit. Fishes 47 The *Straight-nosed Pipe-Fish, syngnathus ophidion.
1821S. F. Gray Brit. Plants I. 75 Nervature... *Straight-ribbed, rectinervia, penninervia. Ribs running in a straight line.
1825Scott Talism. i, A long, broad, *straight-shaped, double-edged falchion.
1816J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art I. 144 A *straight-sided canopy is sometimes used. 1871W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 268 A terrible chasm, deep, straight-sided, and with water at the bottom. 1598Barret Theor. Warres 33 A straight-stocked peece, I hold for the better.
1882W. B. Dawkins in Contemp. Rev. Aug. 307 The *straight-tusked elephant.
1839Lindley Introd. Bot. 132 *Straight-veined [leaves].
1854A. Adams etc. Man. Nat. Hist. 209 *Straight-winged Insects (Orthoptera).
b. In concord with n., forming combs. used attrib. or as adjs., as in straight-line, straight-needle, straight-tube.
1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 425/2 The square or *straight-line chuck..is peculiar to the rose-engine. 1884F. 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. 1900Engineering Mag. XIX. 728 A straight-line motion of a moveable piston.
1875Knight Dict. Mech. 2120/2 The sewing-machine for leather is similar to the ordinary *straight-needle machine, but is stronger.
1901Scotsman 13 Mar. 10/7 Four types of large *straight tube boilers.
c. Special combinations and collocations: straight A('s) U.S., uniform top grades; straight arch, an arch having radiating joints but a straight intrados and extrados line; straight-armed a. Cricket, with the arm unflexed; spec. designating a style of round-arm bowling with a straight arm, or an exponent of this style (now Hist.); straight arrow N. Amer. slang, an honest or genuine person; also as adj. and adv.; 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 chain Chem., a chain of atoms that is neither branched nor closed in on itself to form a ring; usu. attrib. (with hyphen); straight-claw Zool., a bird of the genus Orthonyx; straight coal Mining (see quot.); straight cut Cinemat., a complete cut between sequences (as opposed to a fade or a dissolve); straight drive Cricket, a drive in which the ball is struck back down the pitch towards or past the bowler; also as v. trans.; hence straight driver, straight driving vbl. n.; straight-edge(d) razor = straight razor below; also ellipt.; straight eight Mech., (a motor vehicle having) an internal combustion engine with eight cylinders arranged in a straight line; freq. attrib.; similarly straight four, straight six; (cf. in-line a. 1 a); straight-faced a., solemn, serious (cf. sense 8 a); hence straightfacedly adv., straightfacedness; straight fight, an election in which there are only two candidates; straight goods U.S. slang, the truth; an honest person; straight-grain(ed) a. (see quot. 1929); 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 job U.S. slang, a single-unit truck, one with its body built directly on to its chassis; straight-joint floor Arch. (see quot.); straight leg U.S. Mil. slang, a member of the ground staff as opposed to one of the flying personnel (see also quot. 1967); straight mute, a simple cone-shaped mute for a trumpet or trombone; straight-necked a., having a straight neck; (of a fox) running with a straight neck or without deviation; straight pein a., designating a type of hammer which has the pein in line with the handle; freq. absol. as n.; straight razor, a razor with a long blade that folds into its handle for storage, a cut-throat razor (see cut-throat 1 d); straight-run a. Chem., (of a petroleum fraction) produced by distillation without cracking or other chemical alteration of the original hydrocarbons; straight stall Mining = straight coal; straight stitch, in Embroidery, a single, short, detached stitch; also as adj., designating a simple type of sewing-machine; hence straight-stitching a.; straight-tail Ornith. (see quot.); straight-time a. orig. and chiefly U.S., of or relating to remuneration received for work performed within normal or regular hours; also absol. (cf. overtime n. a); straight-wing, an insect of the family Orthoptera. Also straight-edge.
1926Amer. Oxonian July 98 It isn't merely four years of football, four years of *straight A, and ten thousand activities that make a winner [of a Rhodes Scholarship]. 1948Chicago Daily News 20 Sept. 18/2 In pre-medical college Jim. S. was a brilliant student—straight A's. 1960Encounter Nov. 29/1 The straight-A students..sometimes slipped away without anyone's noticing. 1980TWA Ambassador Oct. 77/2, I have a daughter who is the movie⁓star type, brighter than hell and has straight A's in college.
1663Gerbier Counsel 63 *Staight Arches. 1842Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. V. 251/2 Straight Arch, or Plat Band, with joints converging to a common centre.
1827Sporting Mag. Nov. 11/1 If necessary, admit the *straight-armed bowling, allowing it to go as high as the shoulder, so that the back of the hand be kept under when the ball is delivered. 1828Ibid. Feb. 244/2 Straight-armed bowlers are invariably slow bowlers. 1934W. J. Lewis Lang. Cricket 31 Various obsolete names applied to round-arm bowling when it was first introduced:..straight-arm (or -armed) bowling, i.e. with the arm extended horizontally. 1961Times 12 July 4/5 Suttle gathering runs with that curiously rigid, straight-armed hook of his.
1969Time 22 Aug. 43 The new eco-activists include groups as *straight-arrow as the Girl Scouts. 1969New Yorker 11 Oct. 194 Smith, a wonderfully old-fashioned straight arrow. 1977C. McFadden Serial (1978) xliv. 95/1, I keep trying to tell you, I'm really a straight arrow. 1978Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 6 Sept. 31/3 Tell the truth no matter what. And be straight-arrow about it. 1978J. L. Hensley Killing in Gold iv. 52, I hated not playing it straight-arrow with Ed.
14..in Harrow. Hell Introd. 25 The horss hath xxv propertes... After the asse, well-mouthid, well-wyndid, *streght-bakked. 1819M. Edgeworth Let. ? 10 Mar. (1971) 181 Lady Elizabeth's mother a fine straight-backed thin dried benevolent smiling eyed looking woman whom I like much. 1830Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) II. 356 No straight-backed, bloated fellow,..called a publican. 1847W. C. L. Martin Ox 48/1 Excellent cattle,..large, staight-backed, deep, and broad-breasted. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede xl, The mother's a whimpering thing..; however, she's a straight-backed, clean woman, none of your slatterns. 1915Begbie Cage ii. 41 The grandmother in a straight-backed chair, the child on a stool at her feet.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 244 *Straight bit, a flat or ordinary chisel for boring.
1812P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 105 The *Straight Block is used for shooting short joints and mitres, instead of the jointer.
1890J. B. Tingle tr. E. Hjelt's Princ Gen. Org. Chem. i. ii. 18 If the carbon atoms of a nucleus are joined together in a single *straight chain, they are said to form a simple or normal chain. 1934Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CCXVIII. 145 Among organic chemical compounds the straight-chain hydrocarbons are of particular interest because of the simplicity of their properties. 1965Phillips & Williams Inorg. Chem. I. iv. 138 A relatively simple example is provided by the difference between the branched and straight-chain hydrocarbons. 1971Straight chain [see ladder polymer s.v. ladder n. 6].
1894–5Lydekker Roy. Nat. Hist. III. 438 The..yellow-headed *straight-claw (Orthonyx ochrocephalus), is characterised by the short and straight beak.
1883Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining 244 *Straight coal, an excavation made in the Thick coal, having the solid coal left on three sides of it.
1953K. Reisz Technique Film Editing iii. 245 While the spectator is still laughing, he is already plunged—through a *straight cut—into the next sequence. 1959Straight cut [see cut n.2 15].
[1877C. Box Eng. Game Cricket xxvi. 449 Drive, a hard forward hit; it is designated on, off, or straight according to the course taken by the ball.] 1898K. S. Ranjitsinhji With Stoddart's Team (ed. 4) iv. 72 McKenzie plays with a very straight bat,..most of his runs being obtained by *straight drives on either side of the bowler. 1927G. A. Terrill Out in Glare v. 95 Clement played his first ball defensively;..off-drove the next for three. Fosbery straight-drove the next for two. 1959J. Fingleton Four Chukkas to Australia xvi. 135 He straight-drove Davidson. 1971Times 15 Feb. 8/2 Jenner..made some punishing straight drives off Lever.
1925Country Life 8 Aug. 214/1 Of all the glorious *straight drivers I have ever seen, commend me to J. N. Crawford.
1904P. F. Warner How we recovered the Ashes vii. 119 There was a Lyons-like power about his *straight driving.
1972Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 27 May 4/2 When I was a small boy, my father used a *straight-edged razor... I tried using a straightedge, but I was a generation too late... I went over to the safety razor. 1973J. Rossiter Manipulators i. 8 He shaved his flat cheeks..with a straight-edge razor.
1926A. Huxley Jesting Pilate ii. 197 Heroes invariably have the time to drive in *Straight-Eights from Salt Lake City to New York. 1928Punch 17 Oct. 439/3 Several new ‘straight eight’ cars have recently been announced. The advantages of the eight-in-line unit are obvious. 1954Motor Man. (ed. 35) ii. 25 (caption) Daimler Straight⁓eight 36 h.p. petrol engine. 1963Bird & Hutton-Stott Veteran Motor Car 53 This formed the basis for the small, fast revving straight-eights so particularly associated with the name of Bugatti. 1982Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Mar. 249/5 The engine of the Type-41 Bugatti illustrated..is a straight-eight with all its cylinders in line.
1975Business Week 30 June 14/2 Pierce was, Crichton tells us with the *straight-faced assurance that makes his readers wonder what is fiction and what is fact, ‘a man destined to be so notorious that Queen Victoria herself expressed a desire to meet him’. 1983Washington Post 6 Mar. h 6/3 O'Down just turned 21. With the innocence of the newly famous, he's straight-faced when he says, ‘I want to grow old gracefully.’
1977Guardian Weekly 17 July 11/3 They were told *straight-facedly [that] the new Israeli premier was going all out to convince the Arabs that in their own interests Israel should keep the West Bank. 1982N. & Q. Apr. 142/1 One cannot help feeling that the straight⁓facedness of the glossing..detracts from the complete understanding of the passage.
[1900Times 3 Oct. 8/2 Dundee, where there will this time be a straight party fight, without the interposition of a labour candidate.] 1910Times 12 Jan. 9/1 Another very noticeable feature of the London elections is that there will be a *straight fight between the Government candidate and the Opposition nominee in all but three constituencies. 1957Ann. Reg. 1956 26 Comparisons had been complicated by the appearance or disappearance of Liberal candidates. Here..the comparison was between two straight fights.
1959Motor Man. (ed. 36) ii. 38 The crankshaft is arranged so that the pistons operate in exactly the same manner as they do in a *straight-four engine.
1892Harper's Mag. Dec. 138 I'm givin' yu' *straight goods, yu' see. 1903B. Kennedy Sailor Tramp i. xix. 156 What do I know..about him? Why that he's all right. That he's straight goods. 1922E. O'Neill Anna Christie iii. 181 You'd die laughing sure if I said that meeting you that funny way that night in the fog, and afterwards seeing that you was straight goods stuck on me, had got me to thinking for the first time. 1922― Hairy Ape iv. 40 Is all dat straight goods?
1880J. W. Zaehnsdorf Art Bookbinding xx. 88 Should the leather be ‘*straight grain’, it must only be creased in the one direction of the grain. 1929C. J. H. Davenport Roger Payne ii. 44 He [sc. Roger Payne] found that if a piece of morocco was slightly damped, and then vigorously rolled on itself by hand, that all its original markings became much more apparent. This leather when dry was found to have acquired a permanent surface configuration like a series of small, more or less parallel, wavy lines, which is now known as ‘straight grain’, largely found, for the first time, on many of Payne's finest bindings. 1963Straight-grain [see paste grain s.v. paste n. 8].
1892W. L. Andrews Roger Payne 16 The materials used by Roger Payne as coverings for his bindings were almost without exception either *straight-grained morocco or russian leather. 1956H. M. Nixon Broxbourne Library Styles & Designs Bookbindings 193/1 Material: Red straight-grained morocco, over pasteboards.
1841Miall in Nonconformist I. 242 One may hear timid, down-looking, *straighthaired dissenters who speak as small as a halfpenny whistle. 1910J. McCabe Prehist. Man vii. 102 One of the great divisions of humanity, the ‘straight-haired’ men, or Leiotrichi.
1850Huxley 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.
1861P. P. Carpenter in Rep. Smithsonian Instit. 1860, 167 They belonged to the Family Orthoceratidæ, or *Straight-horns. 1892Labour 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.
1955Amer. Speech XXX. 92 *Straight job, a single-unit truck, usually equipped with dual wheels. 1978S. Brill Teamsters v. 170 About thirty trucks, all ‘straight jobs’ (that is, one-unit vehicles rather than tractors pulling trailers) were backed against a ramshackle warehouse.
1842Gwilt 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.
1951Sun (Baltimore) 24 July 17/3 Witnessing the maneuver from the sidelines were a number of anxious ground officers or ‘*straight legs’. 1967Everybody's Mag. (Austral.) 18 Jan. 36/2 Today, in Vietnam, Australians are again catching up on American Army slang... An airborne soldier is called a Trooper, and he knows his counter-part on the ground as a Straight-leg.
1926Melody Maker Feb. 23/1 The modern player must be prepared to use every kind of mute, and novelties are constantly being produced. Most of the latter provide ‘stunt’..effects as against the ‘*straight’ mute, which merely softens the tone of the instrument. 1961A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Business Jargon 61 The most popular mutes for trumpet and trombone are the Straight Mute, which softens the volume about fifty per cent, retaining a certain amount of ‘attack’ quality; the Cup Mute, [etc.]
1577B. 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. 1887Field 19 Feb. 232/3 They missed the good straight-necked fox from this covert which was brought to hand not long since at Terringham. 1900Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 3/1 Scent was not of that reliable description which conduces to straight-necked foxes.
1904J. L. Bacon Forge-Practice i. 11 Several other types..are illustrated... A is a *straight-pene,..and C, a riveting-hammer. 1957R. Lister Decorative Wrought Ironwork ii. 11 Hammers..used by blacksmiths vary considerably in size and shape. One type is called a straight pane; its head has a slightly convex face at one end and a wedge-shaped termination or pane (sometimes formerly called a pen) at the other. 1964[see pein n.]. 1975R. A. Salaman Dict. Tools 223/1 The Scotch pattern [of hammers used in coopering] has a round face with chamfered neck... The straight pane is used for flaring hoops..to follow the bulge of the cask.
1959E. Fenwick Long Way Down v. 41 If you can use plain soap and don't mind a *straight razor. 1976‘Trevanian’ Main (1977) iv. 73, I use a straight razor.
1921Nat. Petroleum News (U.S.) 15 July 76/2 Such a product as 68–70 *straight-run gasoline is made principally from fresh crude. 1934Industr. & Engin. Chem. May 501/1 Similar studies were made of a ‘reformed’ gasoline produced by cracking a West Texas straight-run gasoline. 1973Hadley & Turner in G. D. Hobson Mod. Petroleum Technol. (ed. 4) xii. 441 The petroleum chemicals industry can call upon a variety of feedstocks, including natural gas and straight-run oil fractions.
1973Guardian 11 June 7/4 The Datsun 240K GT Skyline..[has] an ordinary *straight-six cylinder engine.
1860Mining Gloss., S. Staffs. Terms 80 *Straight Stall, an excavation made into the thick coal, having the solid coal left on three sides of it.
1918E. A. Archer Needlecraft ix. 99, I will start with chain-stitching... Start by taking a *straight stitch on the line. 1934M. Thomas Dict. Embroidery Stitches 194 Straight or Stroke Stitch consists of single isolated satin stitches of any desired length and worked in any required direction over short traced lines which have to be covered. 1961Observer 28 May 33/1 The cost of a sewing-machine can vary... Simple straight-stitch machines can be had for {pstlg}25 to {pstlg}30 hand operated.
1967E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage ii. 51 Even on a simple *straight-stitching domestic machine a wide variety of effects may be obtained.
1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 272/2, 21st Race [of Humming-birds]. The *Straight-tails... Bill very short; tail composed of long, delicate, pointed, graduated feathers.
1944Sun (Baltimore) 13 Oct. 7/7 *Straight-time earnings (which include incentive payments and merit increases). 1958Listener 10 July 43/2 The widely recognised problem of maintaining reasonable balance of earnings between semi-skilled workpeople paid by results and others—possibly highly skilled—who are traditionally paid on a straight-time basis. 1971Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Oct. 1/3 The construction workers..were working 60-hour weeks at straight time for an hourly rate of $2.27.
1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 100 Orthoptera (*Straight-wings).
B. quasi-n. and n.
1. The adj. used absol. (quasi-n.) in certain phrases.
†a. upon straight: upright, erect. Obs.
c1400Destr. 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.
1663Gerbier Counsel 48 Work rated on running measure, and on the straight. 1894Paris 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. 1900E. 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.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 66 You have the less danger that the Joynt is wrought out of straight. 1683Ibid., Printing xvi. 144 He may find out whether either or both of the Carriages are out of straight. 1851–61Mayhew 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.
1805State, 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.
e. the straight: the truth. Esp. in phr. to get (at) or hear the straight. U.S.
1866C. H. Smith Bill Arp 35 You should git the straight of it from one who seen it with his eyes. 1900E. A. Dix Deacon Bradbury 266 You've heared th' straight of it, Mr. Leavitt. 1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-Made Merchant xviii. 271 No one except the widow ever really got at the straight of Bud's conduct. 1951H. Giles Harbin's Ridge xviii. 161, I wanted to get the straight about this piece of land Faleecy John wanted. 1977‘L. Egan’ Blind Search iii. 38 Tell you something, I never heard the straight of that anyway. 1982‘W. R. Duncan’ Queen's Messenger xxv. 372 It will be recorded properly in the archives... The straight of it will exist.
2. A straight form or position; a level.
1645Quarles Sol. Recant. i. 2 Not all this knowledge can reduce the state Of crooked nature to a perfect Straight. 1688Holme 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. 1812P. 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. 1904W. M. 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. A straight portion, e.g. of a race-course (see quot. 1897), railway, or road; also fig. straight of breadth (Naut.): see quot. 1846; back straight: see back- B.; home straight = home-stretch (cf. stretch n. 8).
1846A. 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. 1864Field 16 July 41/2 Three-quarters of a mile from home Fisher⁓man'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. 1894Crockett Raiders xlii. 355 The beast that hunted me gaining ever on the straight, and I at the turnings. 1897Daily News 13 Sept. 7/2 Then there are frequent and long stretches of ‘straight,’ that delight of the railway engineer. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 62/2 (Athletics) Straight, the section of the track between the last bend and the winning post. 1903T.P.'s Weekly 2 Jan. 248/1 Good, I'm in the straight now!.. Thank Heaven that's done. 1913Times 1 Sept. 12/1 Seremond..retained his place, and when presently the field turned into the straight he was still in front. 1953K. Amis Lucky Jim i. 15 The car darted forward on to the straight. 1958Times 20 Aug. 2/7 Miss Itkina, of Russia, used the inside lane intelligently and was well ahead of the opposition entering the long home straight. 1968P. Dickinson Weathermonger iv. 59 You'll have to do the map-reading... I'll teach you as soon as we come to a safe bit of straight where we can't get surprised. 1976West Lancs. Even. Gaz. 13 Dec. 9/1 (Advt.), Scalextric, including pits, chicane, straights, 90 degree. 1977Arab Times 14 Dec. 10/2 In the longer sprint, the 400 m, Ayad Mooshari and Ali Sulaiman were easily the strongest runners in the home straight.
b. Aeronaut. A run or flight in a straight line (without turning).
1911Aeroplane 19 Oct. 471/2 In evening Sabelli rolling and Richey doing straights on brevet machine, the latter damaging chassis slightly in landing. 1914H. Rosher In Royal Naval Air Service (1916) i. 20 Yesterday I did five straights (straight flights) alone.
4. Geom. A straight line. rare.
1892G. B. Halsted Elem. Synth. Geom. 4 The intersection of two planes is called a straight line, or simply a straight. 1904― Rational Geom. 3 Two distinct straights cannot have two points in common.
5. a. In Poker and other games: A series of five cards in sequence but not of the same suit. inside straight, four cards which will form a straight if a fifth card of a particular value is added.
1841Spirit of Times 1 May 102/1 This last name [sc. Falsefu] is taken from the players of twenty-deck poker, and is used by them to represent a ‘straight’, or ace, king, queen, jack, and ten. 1866C. H. Smith Bill Arp 39 The Yankees had a strait, which would have taken Forrest and raked down the pile. 1882Poker; 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. 1894Maskelyne 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. 1897R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 182 (Poker), In straights, the highest card of the sequence wins. 1903‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny 210 He always would play jack, queen, king, ace, deuce for a straight. 1934M. Ellinger Poker 163 The odds against filling an inside straight flush are 3 to 1. 1951Amer. Speech XXVI. 99/2 Inside straight, a possible straight which is open in the middle, for example: 4-5-7-8. It takes a gun shot to hit it. 1968V. Nabokov King, Queen, Knave p. ix, I can only hope that my good old partners, replete with full houses and straights, will think I am bluffing. 1977G. V. Higgins Dreamland i. 11 Never draw to an inside straight.
b. Shooting. A perfect score, with every shot fired making a hit.
1903Forest & Stream 21 Feb. 160/1 In the 10-bird event Wade..and Curran each made a straight. 1931L. B. Smith Better Trapsmanship vii. 101 In the Atlantic Indian shoot in September, 1927, there were two 100 straights turned in for the championship. 1976Shooting Mag. Dec. 36/2 Three more straights [in skeet shooting] were shot by Minards, P. Spear and J. Cording.
6. slang.
a. orig. U.S. Unadulterated or very strong whisky. Cf. sense 9 a of the adj.
1862Harper's Mag. Aug. 312/1 [The] primer was simply a gill of Bourbon straight. 1905‘O. Henry’ in N.Y. World Mag. 12 Nov. 8/1, I managed to soak in a little straight. 1928Collier's 29 Dec. 42/2 There is Juarez whisky, for instance. It is sometimes called ‘American Straight’.
b. A cigarette, esp. one containing ordinary tobacco as opposed to marijuana.
[1923J. Manchon Le Slang 296 A straight = a straighter = a straight cut, une cigarette en tabac de Virginie.] 1959Esquire Nov. 70 j Straight,..an ordinary cigarette. 1973W. Tute Resident iii. 53 ‘I..never will be a dope head. I don't drop and I don't smoke—except straights.’ ‘You mean ordinary cigarettes?’ ‘Yes.’ 1977Radio Times 1–7 Apr. 41/4 Straights, cigarettes.
7. a. Vaudeville. A stooge; a ‘straight’ performer (see sense 10 b of the adj. above).
1933P. Godfrey Back-Stage xviii. 228 They had teamed up together, with Dora doing the ‘straight’ and Fred the red-nosed comedy stuff. 1941J. P. Marquand H. M. Pulham, Esquire xxix. 312 ‘A straight,’ Bill said. ‘Don't you know what a straight is? A straight's someone in a skit who has all the jokes thrown at him.’
b. In absol. use of the adj. (sense 6 d): one who conforms to the conventions of society; one who does not take drugs; a heterosexual. slang (orig. U.S.).
1967Observer (Colour Suppl.) 4 Dec. 28 Straight, conventional person, one who does not use cannabis. 1967W. & J. Breedlove Swinging Set xii. 146 The easy atmosphere..the abundant evidence of abundant wealth attract not only ‘straights’, but a variety of sexual thrill⁓seekers. 1968J. D. MacDonald Pale Grey for Guilt (1969) xii. 152 We don't bug the straights and why shouldn't they leave us alone? 1969Gandalf's Garden iv. 25/2 George King..has spent his life in a service that causes Straights to back away muttering ‘crack-pot’. c1971Come Together iii. 7/1, I have danced with a boy at a straight party where we were the only two gay people and the straights were looking at us. 1974‘K. Royce’ Trap Spider vii. 111 ‘I'm not having the stink of pot in this place.’.. ‘You straights are all the same.’ 1974K. Millett Flying (1975) iii. 279 Unctuous homosexual eager to prove its human worth to these archetypical straights. 1977Gay News 24 Mar. 10/4 It was a campaign shared and supported by a number of gays—even straights. 1980Daily Mirror 10 Apr. 13/4 Straights prefer ‘mums and dads’ type pop music made by bands like Boomtown Rats, Blondie and, more recently, Police.
8. A shoe designed to be worn on either foot.
1934Times 5 Feb. 13/5 In the seventeenth century men's and women's shoes and slippers seem without exception to be straights. 1968J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 125 During the Dark Ages, shoes were cut as ‘straights’, both shoes having the identical shape. 1976Sunday Post (Glasgow) 26 Dec. 6/5 My late father used to tell of bootmaking in his young day. People ordering footwear had to say they wanted a right and left. Otherwise they were supplied with ‘straights’, which fitted either foot.
C. adv.
Certain similative phrases, as straight as a dart, straight 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. c1350Will. Palerne 3592 Þe Kinges sone..gart his [stede] goo, and streiȝet to him rides. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1461 But to his neces hous, as streyt as lyne, He com. 1375Barbour Bruce xiv. 22 Till Irland held he straucht his way. c1400Destr. 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. c1440Ps. Penit. (1894) 58 Delyvere me lord from my fon felle, For straught to the yfled am y. c1450in Aungier Syon (1840) 284 He schal not come at the seyd grate, but he schal go streghte into the monastery. c1500Melusine xix. 69 Hold strayte this way and ye shal not mys of it. 1528More Dyalogue iv. Wks. 271/2 They make a vysage as though they came streight from heauen to teache them a newe better waye. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lxiv. 220 There shall ye fynde your brother Huon, who is come strayte fro beyond y⊇ see. c1643Ld. Herbert Autobiog. (1824) 139 This piece of eloquence moved me so much that I went straight to his Excellency. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 204 When we had seen all these things, we took our way streight to Jerusalem. 1704Swift Batt. Bks. 253 Fame..fled up strait to Jupiter. c1730Ramsay Vision xxvii, He mountit upwarts..Straicht to the milkie way. 1845Disraeli Sybil iv. vi, The nearest way to it is straight along this street. 1858Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 380 Are you going straight to London? 1876Trevelyan 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.
a1400Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. xxiii. 200 Þat vr fot mowe þen go Streiht forþ wiþ-outen lettyng. c1450J. Capgrave St. Aug. xxv. 34 With þe next wynd he and his felauchip sailed streit on-to Cartage. 1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 441 Fra Striuiling straucht on to the Eist se. 1782F. Burney Cecilia ix. iii, When felicity is before us..we proceed strait forward. 1876J. 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. 1887J. 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.
1530Palsgr. 842/2 Strayt, nat crokedly, droyt. 1538Elyot Dict., Adamussim, by rule, streight as a lyne. 1576Gascoigne Steele Gl. 718 O that al kings, would..Hold euermore, one finger streight stretcht out, To thrust in eyes, of all their master theeues. 1655Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. §76 To write in the dark as streight as by day or candle⁓light. 1710Swift Jrnl. to Stella 3 Nov., I cannot write straighter in bed, so you must be content. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 346 The drunken man..cannot be expected to walk straight either in body or mind. 1912Wakeling Forged Egypt. Antiq. ix. 102 It 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.
1512Act 4 Hen. VIII, c. 1 §1 The haven of Brest lyeth streight ayenst the South see costes of..Cornwall. 1530Palsgr. 823/1 Strayght over agaynste,..vis a vis. 1820Belzoni 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.
1535Coverdale Prov. iv. 25 Let thine eye lyddes loke straight before the. 1552Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 28 A man..can nocht..gyd his lyif evin and strecht to the plesour of God without direction of the commandis. 1601Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 449/1 Discending eist the said gait lineallie throche the lie, straucht throw the Brounfauld. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 27 The statues..standing in a lifelesse posture with..their hands hanging straight downe. 1669Sturmy 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. 1678Moxon 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. 1812Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 187 The combatants hit strait with one hand at the head. 1821Scott Kenilw. xiv, Each..looked straight upon the wall which was opposite to them, without speaking to his companion. 1833J. Nyren Yng. Cricketer's Tutor (1902) 13 If such an accident should happen, and the ball have been delivered straight to the wicket. 1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Liv. iii. 17 He not only went straight as a die, but rode to hounds instead of over them. 1865A. Trollope Hunting Sk. 8 And he will ride this year!.. He will ride straight. 1886Stevenson Kidnapped iv, He..looked this time straight into my eyes. 1890Conan Doyle White Company viii, I am a man who shoots straight at his mark. 1897Henty At Agincourt i. 13 There is not one of his age who can send an arrow so straight to the mark. 1907J. 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.
1446Lydg. Nightingale Poems i. 198 Fro morow to nyght be-tokenes All the tyme, Syth thou wast born streyght tyll þat thou dye. 1756Nugent Montesquieu's Spir. Laws viii. xxi. (1758) I. 181 [They] march strait up to the capital. 1840Parker 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.
g. to think straight: to think clearly or logically. colloq.
a1916H. James Sense of Past (1917) ii. 60 He had already..asked himself when he should be able so to detach himself as to think at all straight about his book. 1973‘C. Aird’ His Burial Too xiii. 115, I can't begin to think straight as it is. 1980P. G. Winslow Counsellor Heart x. 137 He rubbed his forehead. ‘I haven't been thinking straight. Excuse me.’
2. a. Immediately, without delay: = straightway. Now poet. or arch.
a1300Cursor M. 9484 Nu has him sathanas in wald,..To wais seruis straitt he him eild. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xli. (Agnes) 312 He gert thonnir & fire-slacht Stirk done þe payanis þar stracht. 1478Maldon (Essex) Court Rolls Bundle 50, No. 10 b, They ii. spake no word, butt streyte they smette at him wyth her wepynes. c1520Skelton Magnyf. 1592 Let se what ye say; shewe it strayte. 1530Palsgr. 813/2 Strayght, a coup. 1580G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. 38 If so be goods decrease, then straite decreaseth a goods friend. a1608Ralegh Poems, Lie 48 And when they do reply, straight giue them both the lie. 1632Lithgow Trav. i. 32 [She] fell straight in a sound. 1642H. More Song of Soul ii. App. 69 His Fiat spoke and streight the thing is done. 1674J. 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. 1705Stanhope Paraphr. II. 134 Whereupon the whole herd streight ran down a precipice, and were choaked in the Water. 1722A. Philips Briton iii. v. 32 My Chariot straight; another, for the Prince. 1755Ridley in World No. 155 V. 130 Strait a voice more dreadful than thunder burst out. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) II. 59 She burst into tears, and straight quitted the room. 1798Coleridge Anc. Mar. vii. vii, The boat came close beneath the ship, And straight a sound was heard. 1843Macaulay Horatius xix, The bridge must straight go down. 1849Longfellow Build. Ship 1 Build me straight..a goodly vessel. 1871R. 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, straight forth, straight forthwith, straight upon, straight with. Obs.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent 3 For straight vpon the death of Edward the Confessor, William of Normandy..demaunded the Crowne. 1576Gascoigne Philomene Wks. 1910 II. 184 Whom he no sooner sawe..But streight therwith his fancies fume All reason did convince. 1578Timme 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.]. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1594) 358 Straight vpon this, he [sc. David] sayth: It is not so with the wicked. 1654T. Whalley in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 604 Read, if you please, his Epistle, ad Albertum Marchionem, Dedicatory, straight after the midst.
1536Stories & 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. 1543Grafton 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. 1610Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 273 Dying straight after without issue.
c. straight off, † straight an end: immediately, at once, without deliberation or preparation. See also straightaway adv.
1778Learning at a Loss II. 147 'Twas at his House they [two lovers] broke cover. And then took off strait an End to Edinburgh. 1873Punch 18 Jan. 29/1 If ever I meet a woman with lots of tin, who's faultlessly beautiful, I shall marry her straight off. 1879M. E. Braddon Clov. Foot xxxvi, One of those tip-top firms in the City would have gone straight off to take counsel's opinion.
3. In an erect posture, upright. Also straight up. straight set up: having an erect figure.
1535Coverdale 1 Esdras ix. 46 And whan he had red out the lawe, they stode all straight vp vpon their fete. 1718Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. iii. xviii, They..sat straught Upon 't. 1852Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vii, ‘Mas'r,’ said Tom—and he stood very straight—‘I was jist [etc.].’ 1899G. 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, straight dead. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 97 He put out his eiȝen in Reblata, and lad hym so in Babilon streiȝt blynde. c1400Song of Roland 691 Bothe streght ded the horse and his selue.
5. Honestly, honourably. Esp. in phr. to go straight: (a) colloq., to behave honourably; (b) colloq., to reform, to desist from criminal activities (cf. sense 6 a of the adj.); (c) slang, to conform to social conventions, spec. by renouncing drugs or homosexuality (cf. sense 6 d of the adj.).
1845Disraeli 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.’ 1864Field 2 July 4/1 Mr. Merry who runs his horses so straight, and who is backed with the same confidence as Lord Glasgow. 1888[see go v. B. 4 a]. 1888Times 26 June 4/5 As a rule I believe they [sc. jockeys] run very straight. It is ridiculous to suppose that they are generally dishonest. 1893F. 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. 1940Blunden Poems 1930–40 76 Fixing his pinchers on the snake, Thus spake The crab: ‘It's Time for you, mate, To go straight; No more crooked habits.’ 1968[see do v. B. 11 l]. 1973To our Returned Prisoners of War (U.S. Secretary of Defense, Public Affairs) 5 Go straight, (1) Give up the use of drugs. (2) Return to an approved life style. 1977D. E. Westlake Enough! ii. 59 ‘He's a fag.’.. ‘Well, maybe he's trying to go straight.’
6. Frankly, outspokenly. Also straight out and used colloq. as int. or intensively: really, certainly, definitely.
1874A. J. Munby Diary 22 Apr. in D. Hudson Munby (1972) 366 ‘Mrs Skeats,’ I said to her, quite straight, ‘Do you really think I could wish to be a lady?’ 1877Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 56 Speak right straight out and do not be afraid. 1880G. R. Sims Dagonet Ballads, Told to Missionary ii, Give it us straight now, guv'nor,—what would you have me do? 1894A. Chevalier in Humorous Songs, ‘Straight,’ says I, ‘I'm on the job, for better or for wuss.’ 1898J. Arch Story Life xii. 285 As my custom has ever been I spoke straight. 1898J. D. Brayshaw Slum Silhouettes 3, I could kill yer wiv my little finger. I could, straight. a1900S. Crane Gt. Battles (1901) 201 He knew how to speak straight as a stick to the common man. 1900G. Swift Somerley 124 You're a good 'un to tell me straight out like this. 1907H. Rashdall Theory of Good & Evil II. 89 n., Nietzsche..often says straight out what some of our English self-realizers only hint. 1914D. H. Lawrence Prussian Officer & Other Stories 211 I'm awfully sorry, I am, straight, Lois. 1949J. R. Cole It was so Late 61 She was a smasher—straight she was! 1969D. Francis Enquiry xi. 141 ‘You've never seen nothing like it,’ he said. ‘You wouldn't know it was a car, you wouldn't straight.’
7. orig. U.S.
a. slang. Without adornment, admixture, or dilution. Cf. sense 9 a of the adj.
1869S. Bowles Our New West 135 We had to take our victual and drink ‘straight’,—plain ham and bread and butter and black coffee,—or go without. 1873J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West 528 We lived on Navajo bread, coffee, and ‘commissary butter’, straight. 1902L. McKee Land of Nome 234 It was a rude shock..when I saw ‘Little Casino’ standing by the bar and drinking her whisky straight. 1947This Week Mag. 10 May 13/2 She was a bold..camp in days gone by and still drinks her liquor straight.
b. Jazz. to play (it) straight: to play without improvisation, but according to a score or set orchestration. Cf. sense 9 d of the adj. above.
1933Fortune Aug. 90/3 It seems to be congenitally impossible for Negro dance musicians to play straight. 1934S. R. Nelson All about Jazz iii. 66 Listen to the tune played ‘straight’, or as written. 1948Manone & Vandervoort Trumpet on Wing 26 Then we would play it straight. 1960M. T. Williams Art of Jazz iii. 18 The average listener is disappointed in anything played ‘straight’.
c. colloq. In a straightforward or simple manner; without embellishment or affectation; seriously, without ‘hamming’. Cf. senses 10 a, c of the adj. above.
1961A. Berkman Singers' Gloss. Show Business Jargon 84 Straight, (Mus.) As written, with no variations. (Thea[tr.]) without comedy (e.g. ‘play it straight’). 1975Country Life 25 Dec. 1799/1 He was able to render these [folk] songs ‘straight’, not in the cultured, genteel manner usually affected on the concert platform. 1976S. Wales Echo 23 Nov. 1/4 Eric and Ernie played it straight but still had their ‘audience’ laughing. 1978N.Y. Times 30 Mar. c16/1 One can strike for authenticity: collect old scripts and have them read, straight, by good actors.
8. U.S. colloq. Consecutively, in a row. Cf. sense 3 g of the adj. above.
1949H. Robbins Dream Merchants (1950) 45 Haven't you got any other films? People are getting tired of the same show for three weeks straight. 1951R. Bradbury Silver Locusts 106 He had been working in one of the new colonies for ten days straight, and now he had two days off and was on his way to a party. 1973[see series 17 a]. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 7 Feb. 9/4 It [sc. a stove] has an automatic thermostat that adjusts the damper, and can be loaded to burn for 12 hours straight.
9. Comb.
a. With pples., forming adjs., as straight-cut, straight-falling, straight-flung, straight-flying, straight-going, straight-growing, straight-grown, straight-hanging, straight-made, straight-shooting, straight-sliding, straight-spoken, straight-standing; also with agent-noun, as straight-goer; † straight-bounded, bounded by straight lines; straight-bred a., pure-bred, descended from one breed only (cf. sense 9 e of the adj.); straight-cut a., (a) cut on straight lines; (b) slang, honest, respectable; (c) applied to cigarettes made from tobacco with the leaves cut lengthwise into long strands; freq. absol. as n.; † straight-pight, having a tall and erect figure; straight shooter slang (chiefly U.S.), an honest person (cf. square shooter s.v. square a. 15 a).
1614T. Bedwell tr. Schoner's De Num. Geom. 43 Each of them is a right-angled and *straight-bounded figure.
1898Breeder's Gaz. XXXIV. 199/3 The Gazette is asked for information in reference to certain so-called ‘pure’ or ‘*straight-bred’ strains of pedigreed cattle.
1840Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story viii, He wore..a black *straight-cut coat, and light drab breeches. 1868G. M. Hopkins Jrnl. 14 Aug. (1959) 185 Fine. There were the travelling stack clouds with straight-cut under-sides. 1884Illustr. London News 18 Oct. 383/1 Cigarette smokers..will find the Richmond Straight Cut No. 1 superior to all others. 1895Irish Times 16 July 3 (Advt.), Kinney's straight-cut cigarettes. 1927G. W. Deeping Kitty ii. 21, I want some cigarettes,—straight-cuts—. 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid xiv. 139 He could..pick up a girl, even a straight-cut, and have her walk arm-in-arm with him. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 156 As british as bondstrict and as straightcut as when that broken-arched traveller from Nuzuland.
1887Daily 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.
1896Kipling 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.
1925J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods ii. 17 Whatever Dick Gale had done pointed the *straight-flying arrow for Bab's following.
1857G. A. Lawrence Guy Liv. 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.
1865A. 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]. 1884Tennyson Cup i. i. 86 [You] may be foil'd like Tarquin, if you follow Not the dry light of Rome's straight-going policy.
1765Museum Rust. III. 242 Some small poles of ash, willow, or any *strait⁓growing wood,..must be procured.
1888E. D. Gerard Land beyond Forest li. 305 What more glorious than those *straight-grown stems.
1935Amer. Speech X. 192/1 [In writing on fashion] adjectives [sic] in combination with present participles are common, as in much-looking and *straight-hanging. 1960Times 18 Jan. 15/2 Straight-hanging coats with flat backs are a speciality.
1581C. T. in Farr Sel. Poetry Eliz. (1845) 395 My *straight-made lims I will not crooke, To think of death, of deuill, or God.
1611Shakes. Cymb. v. iv. 164 Beauty..for Feature, laming The Shrine of Venus or *straight-pight Minerva.
1928S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge ii. 155 ‘I'll make the law and you furnish my fee,’ he used to say—but laughingly, of course, because he was a real square *straight-shooter. 1969G. M. Brown Time to Keep 176 ‘He's the decentest skipper ever I sailed with... Strict, but fair in his dealings.’ ‘A straight shooter.’ 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xxxiii. 376 She came from a place where the people were straight shooters.
1901Conan Doyle in Wide World Mag. VIII. 113/1 The hard-riding, *straight-shooting sons of Australia and New Zealand. 1902Westm. 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.
1869Rankine Machinery & Millwork 314 A *straight-sliding slide-valve.
1848Lowell Biglow P. Ser. i. vii. 5 I'm a *straight-spoken kind o' creetur Thet blurts right out wut's in his head. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 454 Straight-spoken, plain-spoken; downright; candid.
1913D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers xii. 334 The big, *straight-standing woman was trying to estimate the situation.
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-through, etc.; straight-ahead, simple, straightforward; spec. (orig. U.S.) with reference to popular music, pure, unadorned; straight-up, (a) perpendicular; (b) colloq., exact, complete; true, trustworthy; also as quasi-adv. (i) truthfully, honestly; = straight adv. 6; (ii) U.S., unmixed, undiluted (cf. sense 9 a of the adj.); straight-up-and-down, simple, presenting no difficulties; also candid, straightforward. Also straightaway, straightforth, straightforward, straight-out adjs.
1836Haliburton Clockm. Ser. i. xxxvi, No strong-minded, *straight-a-head, right up and down man does that. 1895Outing XXVII. 200/1 A plain, straight-ahead skater. 1911Marett Anthropol. iv. 95 On the other hand, to improve the physical environment is fairly straight-ahead work, once we can [etc.]. 1964Down Beat 17 Dec. 30 ‘McSplivens’ is a straight-ahead blues. 1977It May 27/2 Just high energy, straight ahead rock 'n roll of the seventies.
1904Punch 30 Mar. 234/2 After one *straight-through reading of this strange story, an entire class had to pass an examination in it.
c1590Montgomerie Sonn. xxxii. 2 The lillie..Vhose staitly stalk so *streight vp is and stay. 1662J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 205 Having on the very top of it a great Rock streight up. 1910A. Bennett Clayhanger i. ix. 71 This new Licensing Act will close every public-house..at eleven o'clock, and a straight-up eleven at that! 1936J. Curtis Gilt Kid v. 52 But Maisie was the only girl he had ever loved! That was straight-up. 1963L. Deighton Horse under Water xlix. 211 ‘What's the trouble?’ I asked. ‘I'm being followed,’ he said. ‘Really,’ I said. ‘Straight up,’ he said. ‘I wasn't sure until today.’ 1973W. J. Burley Death in Salubrious Place vii. 150, I don't know where he is, Mr Gill, straight up, I don't. 1975B. Garfield Death Sentence (1976) v. 30 He..beckoned the barmaid. ‘Dewar's straight up, darlin'.’ 1976Listener 8 Jan. 23/1 It proved to be a completely wasted sacrifice, for the programme it gave space to..was a straight-up disaster. 1979D. Sanders Queen sends for Mrs Chadwick 137 You might have something going there. That's if this is straight up. 1982R. Hill Who guards a Prince ii. vii. 149 You looked honest to me..and you sounded like a straight-up guy.
1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 455 *Straight up and down, plain; candid; honest. 1903Daily Chron. 15 Apr. 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.
▪ II. straight, v.|streɪt|
Forms: α. 5 streȝt, 5–9 streight, 6 strayght, 6– straight; β. Sc. 4 stracht, 4–5 straucht, 9 straught.
[f. straight a.]
†1. trans. To stretch (e.g. a body on the rack); to stretch out (one's limbs); to extend, stretch forth (a spear); refl. to lie down flat. Obs.
to straight a rope, to be hanged.
1375Barbour Bruce ii. 348 Thai straucht thar speris, on athir syd. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints iii. (Andrew) 645 And bad his tormentoris but bad þane one þe croice þai suld hym stracht. Ibid. xxii. (Laurence) 337, & þar-eftyre gert hyme straucht In til framis with al þare macht. c1400tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 69 Whenne þou risys fro slepe þou salt goo a lytyl, & euenly streight out þy membres. c1480Henryson Fox, Wolf & Cadger 185 Ȝe mon.. straucht ȝow doun in middis of the way. 1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxii. 67 Unto the crose of breid and lenth, To gar his lymmis langar wax, Thai straitit him with all thair strenth. a1800Lang Johnny More vii. in Child Ballads IV. 398/1 Whan the king got word o that, A solemn oath sware he, This weighty Scot sall strait a rope, And hanged he shall be.
†2. refl. and intr. To direct one's course, go. Obs.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 2032 Fra þe streme of struma he streȝtis & still mournes. Ibid. 3206 He streȝt him to struma & ouire þe streme ridis.
3. trans. To make straight, straighten. In later use chiefly Sc., to straighten (a stream, a boundary), to lay out (a corpse).
1530Palsgr. 738/1, I strayght a thyng that is crokyd or bendyd, je redresse. Strayght my wande, I praye you. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus A iv, The smith cooleth his yron to straight it & strenghthen it. 1612T. Taylor Titus ii. 6 (1619) 404 Experience wisheth vs to..straight a tree while it is a twigge. 1725P. Walker Life Peden Biog. Presbyt. (1827) I. 74 She..straighted his Body, and covered him with her Plaid. 1765A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 295 If a view to inclosing makes it necessary to straight the ridges, the levelling them should be the work of several years. 1776Adam Smith W.N. i. i. 6 One man draws out the wire, another straights it, a third cuts it. 1799J. Robertson Agric. Perth 365 Some brooks, which ran slowly with a winding course..have been streighted. 1818Scott Br. Lamm. xxiii, If the dead corpse binna straughted, it will girn and thraw, and that will fear the best o' us. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §936 All the ceilings..are..to be properly straighted (made even or smooth with the edge of a board or float). 1838W. Bell Dict. Law Scot. s.v. Marches, By the act 1699, c. 17, landholders may apply for a streighting of marches, and the judge ordinary may streight them. 1861Mrs. Stowe Pearl Orr's Isl. 18 Zephaniah Pennel straighted his tall form,—before bowed on his hands.
†b. To compose, clear up (care). Obs.
1604Breton Pass. Sheph. (Grosart) 9/1 Thus let all your Cares be straited.
Hence ˈstraighted ppl. a.
1835Fraser's Mag. XII. 13 The widow herself was a dead and straighted corpse.
▪ III. straight
obs. form of strait. |