| 释义 |
▪ I. string, n.|strɪŋ|
Forms: 1–6 streng, (pl. 3 strengen, -us, 3–6 strenges), 4 streing, strenge, 4–6 strynge, 4–7 stringe, 5–6 stryng, 5– string.
[OE. stręng masc. = MLG. strenk, strenge, MDu. strenghe, stringhe (mod.Du. streng fem.), ON. streng-r masc. (Da. streng, Sw. sträng):—OTeut. type *straŋgi-z; another declensional form is found in MLG. strank, strange masc., OHG. stranc masc. (MHG. stranc, strange masc., fem., mod.G. strang masc.):—OTeut. type *straŋgo-z, f. *straŋg-:—pre-Teut. *stroŋk-: *streŋk-.
The pre-Teut. root *streŋk- appears not to be known in this form, but a parallel form *streŋg- is represented by Irish (and Sc. Gaelic) sreang cord, string, M. Irish srincne navel-string, Gr. στραγγάλη halter, L. stringĕre to bind, draw tight. Connexion with strong a. is doubtful.]
I. A line, cord, thread.
1. A line for binding or attaching anything; normally one composed of twisted threads of spun vegetable fibre.
†a. In early use sometimes a rope or cord of any thickness (applied, e.g. to a cable, a rope forming part of the rigging of a ship, a bell-rope, etc.). In 16–18th c. applied jocularly to the hangman's rope. Obs.
The expression ‘to go to heaven in a string’ (to be hanged) referred originally to the Jesuits who were hanged in the reign of Elizabeth.
a900ælfred Blooms in Cockayne Shrine (1864) 175 Þeah þæt scyp si ute on ðære sæ..hyt byþ ᵹesund..ᵹyf se streng [cf. ancerstreng above] aþolaþ. a1000Andreas 374 Streamas styredon, strengas gurron. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8649 Octa had don, in stede of streng, Aboute his nekke a chayne heng,..& seide, Sire kyng! Mercy! 1506in T. North Bells Lincs. (1882) 506 Item payd for a stryng to the Sants bell, ob. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 71 b, βρόχος is in latin laqueus, in englyshe an halter or a streng. c1560Interl. John Evang. (facs.) C 2 b, If he do here thy exclamacyon He wyll make the to stye. Actio. Not in a strynge I trowe. 1588Wills & Invent. Durham (Surtees) II. 330, vj yockes, girded, 4 s. ij cowpe waines, with stringes, 8 s. 8 d. 1592Green 2nd Pt. Conny-catching B 2 b, The quest went vpon him and condemned him, and so the priggar went to heauen in a string. a1625Fletcher Bloody Brother iii. ii, Three merry boyes are we, As ever did sing in a hempen string, under the gallow-tree. a1708T. Ward Eng. Ref. ii. (1710) 47 Then may he boldly take his Swing, And go to Heaven in a String. c1793Burns Epist. Esopus 10 Where tiny thieves not destin'd yet to swing, Beat hemp for others, riper for the string. 1840Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. i. Execution, To see a man swing At the end of a string, With his head in a noose.
¶ Literal rendering of Vulg. funiculus (a mistranslation; see the mod. Eng. Bibles).
a1300E.E. Psalter civ. (cv.) 11, I sal give þe þe land of Chanaan, Stringe of þine heritage on-an. Ibid. cxxxviii. (cxxxix.) 3 Mistie and mi stringe in-stepped þou nou. a1340Hampole Psalter xv[i]. 6 Strengis fel til me in fulbryght.
b. Chiefly applied, and gradually restricted, to a line of smaller thickness than that connoted by rope. In modern use: a thin cord or stout thread.
1154O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 1137, Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here hæued. c1200Vices & Virtues 45 Þat ure ropes ne to-breken, þe bieð ibroiden mid þrie strænges. c1290St. Edmund 167 in S. Eng. Leg. 436 Heo [sc. a hair shirt] nas i-sponne ne i-weoue ake i-broide strengus longue. 1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9353 Þe streng brac & he [sc. the pyx] vel adoun suche signe nas noȝt god. c1440Promp. Parv. 480/1 Strynge, cordula, instita, funiculus. 1631H. C[rooke] Expl. Instrum. Chirurg. 15 But the Seton or string which is in the wound must be gently drawne to and againe. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. ii, Like the scraps of paper fastened by school-boys at the end of the string that holds their kite. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 82 A string, pretty strong, with loop for the hand.
c. In generalized sense, as a material: Thin cord or stout thread used for tying parcels and the like: = twine n.1 1.
1827Faraday Chem. Manip. i. (1842) 21 Matches, string, and bladder are necessary. 1859Dickens T. Two Cities ii. xxi, Lo, Miss Pross, in harness of string, awakening the echoes, as an unruly charger, whip-corrected. 1892Greener Breech-loader 77 It is best to balance the gun on thin string.
d. † A cord used as a whip-lash (obs.). Also U.S. ‘A common name among teamsters for a whip’ (Bartlett).
c1000Ags. Gosp. John ii. 15 And he worhte swipan of strengon. 1576Gascoigne Philomene Wks. 1910 II. 181 She bare a skourge, with many a knottie string. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 28 Musick replyes, that Melanippides,..and such fantasticall heades, haue..with manye stringes, geuen her so many woundes that [etc.]. 1839Mrs. Kirkland New Home i. 12 Until by unwearied chirruping and some judicious touches of ‘the string’ the horses are induced to struggle as for their lives.
e. A cord used as a snare. rare.
c1325Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 166 Un oysel ke est dist becaz Près du rivere est pris en laz [glossed streing]. a1340Hampole Psalter cxxxix. [cxl.] 6 And strengis [Vulg. funes] þai strekid in snare. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vi. i, We walk in a world of Plots; strings universally spread, of deadly gins and fall-traps.
f. A cord for leading or dragging along a person or an animal; a leading-string, a leash. Also in figurative phrases (especially common in 17–18th c.), esp. to lead in a string, to have in (or on) a string = to have under control, to be able to do what one likes with.
a1300Deb. Body & Soul in Map's Poems (Camden) 339 An hundred develes..with stringes him drowen, unthanc his, Til he kome to that lodli lowe, ther helle was. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus I j, Those that walke as they will,..perswading themselues that they haue the worlde in a string, are like the ruffian Capaney, who [etc.]. 1590Nashe 1st Pt. Pasquils Apol. C 4 b, He perceiueth not in all this, that I haue his leg in a string still. 1616R. C. Times' Whistle vi. 2383 The country parson may, as in a string, Lead the whole parish vnto anything. 1681H. More Exp. Dan. 162 He [Alex. the Great] had the world in a string, as our English Proverbial Phrase is. 1682Wit & Drollery 77 My Dog in a String doth lead me,..For to the Blind, All Men are kind. 1697Vanbrugh Relapse ii. i, By this means a Lady may..lead Twenty Fools about in a String, for two or three Years together. 1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 36 He's the Captain's humble Pig in a String. 1748Richardson Clarissa VII. 324 They govern me as a child in strings. 1791Cowper Let. to W. Bagot 26 Feb., He either suffered prejudice to lead him in a string whithersoever it would, or [etc.]. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf 167 ‘Got him in a string,’ is when a man is made to believe one thing, several others follow as matter of course. 1894F. Barrett Justif. Lebrun viii. 66 When they believed they had the world on a string. 1897M. Kingsley W. Africa 352 He..took me down the Woermann Road..as it were on a string. 1901Westm. Gaz. 18 Sept. 8/2 Mr. H. said he was not a candidate on a string; he had his own convictions.
(b) fig. (orig. U.S.), a limitation, condition, or restriction attached to something. Freq. in phr. no strings attached (cf. no strings s.v. no a. 5 d); also (with hyphen) as adj. phr.; hence strings-attached a. (rare).
1888in Dict. Amer. (1951) ii. 1665/1 Bob Ingersoll says there is a string to it. 1930Randolph Enterprise (Elkins, W. Va.) 19 Dec. 4/2 All the propositions with a string to them remind us of the..First of April joke. 1948G. E. Kirk Short Hist. Middle East viii. 242 The masses are accustomed to poverty and will listen to their own political leaders rather than to foreigners who offer them opulence with a political ‘string’ attached. 1951in M. McLuhan Mech. Bride (1967) 90/1 It has for its elements..imagination with no strings attached. 1953S. Plath Johnny Panic & Bible of Dreams (1977) ii. 151 Would he ask her out..just for herself, no strings attached? 1960Washington Post 16 Nov. a16/2 Much has been said about the desirability of aid without strings, and a strong case can be made for this in some areas where the need is economic. Certainly any strings ought to be obvious. 1969Daily Tel. 12 Dec. 1/1 The Government is to give a new {pstlg}7 million loan to Upper Clyde Shipbuilders... The new loan would not carry any ‘strings’. 1971Nature 16 Apr. 420/2 A ‘substantial’ effort will be made in the category called l'aide au développement, a strings-attached arrangement whereby state loans proffered for industrial development must be repaid if the project proves successful and profitable. 1976Women's Rep. Sept./Oct. 2/1 The feminist-run clinics in Australia..who persuaded the government to fund them (no strings attached). 1980Forest Products News (Wellington, N.Z.) XVII. i. 2/2 As a gesture of goodwill, NZFP has given ‘no-strings-attached’ aid to an experimental forestry venture in Northland. 1981J. B. Hilton Playground of Death v. 58, I could aspire to be his assistant editor... He was very proud of the Examiner's freedom from strings.
g. A thread on which beads, pearls, etc. are strung. (See 12.)
1612Donne Progr. Soul, 2nd Anniv. 208 And as these starres were but so many beads Strung on one string. 1676Stillingfl. Def. Disc. Idol. Ch. Rome i. i. §13. 119 They..say their prayers exactly with their Beads, of which they have 180 on a string. 1830Scott Monast. Introd., As the string of a necklace links the beads, which are otherwise detached. 1867Morris Jason xvii. 1170 Nor on one string are all life's jewels strung.
†h. A fishing-line. Obs.
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvi. 17 b, Eeles..haue so sharpe teeth, that there cannot be a string so good, but they will bite it asunder. 1615E. S. Brit. Buss in Arber Eng. Garner III. 642 Strings, for each man, six... Every string must be fifty fathom long.
i. A cord for actuating a puppet. Also fig., esp. in to pull the strings, to control the course of affairs, to be the concealed operator in what is ostensibly done by another; to pull strings, to exert influence privately. Cf. string-pulling vbl. n., sense 33 below.
1860–70Stubbs Lect. Europ. Hist. i. i. (1904) 11 A king who pulled the strings of government so exclusively himself. 1868Bright Sp. Irel. 1 Apr. I. 426 Persons..who pull the strings of the Catholic world in the city of Rome. c1880Our Own Country II. 257 Some men..who pulled the strings that influenced the mob. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. lx. II. 421 The same men continuing to serve year after year, because they hold the strings in their hands. 1924M. Kennedy Constant Nymph iii. xvi. 213 With half a dozen strings within her reach, she had not made up her mind which to pull. 1938M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xxii. 404 I've been trying to pull a few strings myself..but there's an ominous frigidity on all sides. 1955G. Greene Loser takes All i. v. 26 Rice is still short, but I'm certain Aunt Marion can pull strings with the grocer. 1960News Chron. 30 Jan. 3/8 She admits she will pull any strings to get things done. 1979R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. viii. 265 He couldn't be dumb or they wouldn't have accepted him at Le Rosay. On the other hand, his father had strings to pull everywhere.
j. A bell-pull (? obs.); a check-string.
1748Richardson Clarissa VI. 66 He pulled the string... The coachman stopp'd. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. vi, The door [of his bedroom was] without a lock, and the bell without a string.
k. Each of the rudder-lines of a boat.
1852R. B. Mansfield Log Water Lily 43 Coxswain could only lay down in the boat, and pull whichever string he was directed.
l. Weaving. (See quot.)
1891Labour Commission Gloss., String in length, is three yards three inches of warp. It is a method of measurement of work in the weaving trade to be paid by the piece at so much per string.
m. Figurative phrases. † to draw by one string: to be in accord, ‘pull together’. † to hang (together) on or in a string: (of persons) to be united in purpose; (of things) to be closely connected. at one's string's end (dial.): see quot. 1854.
1558W. Forrest Grysilde Seconde (Roxb.) 159 Of thy noble Counselours the truthe to saye, Neauer hathe beene seene to drawe by one strynge More stedfastely sure then nowe at this daye. 1679Hist. Jetzer 23 The Bishop being able to get nothing out of them who all hung together on a string, commanded them however to proceed no further in so slippery a business. 1697in Perry Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch. I. 47 By. That is another subject. C. But it hangs all in a string. 1802–12Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) II. 153 A judge, not nominated, and employed by either party, would certainly not..hold himself warranted in going out of his string to act the part of Daniel. 1854A. E. Baker Northampt. Gloss. s.v., ‘He's got to his string's end,’ meaning he's either got to the end of his purse or the end of his story.
(b) In phrases (freq. attrib.) with sealing-wax, used to denote the unpretentious apparatus with which great discoveries may be made.
1962Daily Tel. 5 Mar. 20/5 The traditional British method of scientific research with ‘string and sealing wax’ will pay rich dividends. 1969New Scientist 28 Aug. 422/2 Systems which are..still in the string and sealing-wax stage of development. 1972Physics Bull. July 393/1 The individual with his sealing wax and string has been replaced by the battalion with a multimillion pound particle accelerator. 1975Nature 2 Oct. 349/1, I have been told that it is impossible to ‘put the clock back’. The assumption is that the age of string, sealing wax and enthusiasm has gone for ever. 1976Sci. Amer. Oct. 138/2 Blackett's world was no longer Rutherford's string-and-sealing wax one.
n. A hoax or trick. Cf. string v. 15, stringer 9. U.S. slang.
1851T. A. Burke Polly Peablossom's Wedding 92 Of course Mabe was innocent of the ‘string’. 1937E. H. Sutherland Professional Thief iii. 69 Many other shortcon games have been played, including the gold-brick,..the strap, the string (a variation of the string). [sic: ? read strap].
o. A fashion shade of the natural colour of string, a light greyish-brown. Also attrib. or as adj. Cf. string-colour, -coloured, sense 32 b.
1914Queen 24 Oct. 2 (Advt.), Colours—champagne, silver, Wedgwood, sky, string. 1923Daily Mail 7 June 6 In Ivory, String, Beige, Light Grey. 1949Dict. Colours Interior Decoration (Brit. Colour Council) III. 26/1 String, a colour standardised by B.C.C. in 1934. A similar colour is here shown under the name of String Beige. 1963Harper's Bazaar May 17 (Advt.), In navy, string, cedar, nut brown or black calf... In cardinal, white or string calf. 1972Vogue June 13/1 A kind of warm biscuit shade that some paint-makers bluntly term ‘string’.
p. (See quot. 1964). Usu. attrib. (see string underwear, vest, sense 33 below) or as adj.
1964Which? Apr. 123/1 There are four main types of knit for men's underwear—plain; interlock; cellular, mesh or eyelet; and string... String fabrics are mesh fabrics, but of a very open structure—the holes may be nearly one inch across, and the fabric is usually in the form of thick strands joined together. This type originated in Norway, where the fishermen used to cut up their old fishing nets and wrap them round their bodies to keep warm when fishing in icy weather. 1966‘A. York’ Eliminator viii. 156 His underwear was Norwegian string. His coat was a Burberry.
2. transf. A natural string or cord.
a. In an animal body: A ligament, tendon, nerve, etc.; an elongated muscle or muscular fibre; the frænum of the tongue. Cf. eyestring, heartstrings.
Exc. in string of the tongue, the sense is now rare. The word is occas. applied to a tough piece of fibre in meat or the like. (Cf. stringy a. 1.)
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 102 Ceorf þane streng under þara tunga. c1340Nominale (Skeat) 32 Dentz foreynz lange et filet Forteth tunge and strynge. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxiii. (Bodl. MS.), Þe instrumentes of þe voice..beþ longen, strenges [L. arteriæ; cf. artery 1], þe þrote [etc.]. 1525tr. Brunswyke's Handywork Surg. lxxiv. P iv, Seldom is broken the bone of the calfe, for it is an harde bone, and is defendyd with the strynges & synewes. 1526Tindale Mark vii. 35 The stringe off hys tounge was loosed [so later versions]. 1541R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. D j, Of what nature are the cordes? Answere. The strynges ben almoste as all of one nature..but yet the cordes more than the strynges. For lyke as the strynges be meane amonge the cordes and the bones, so be the cordes meane amonge y⊇ strynges & the synewes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. 159 b, You must in no wise shake them [sc. eggs]..leste you breake the stringes of lyfe [L. vitales fibras] that are but newely begun. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 21/2 Ligamentum,..the ligatures or strings of y⊇ bones. 1614W. B. Philos. Banquet (ed. 2) 3 The braine, and Strings thervnto offitiall. 1621Lodge Summary Du Bartas i. 280 The Tendons, proceeding from the Muskles,..which the Physicions..haue called Synderique Nerues or Strings. 1686R. Blome Gentl. Recreat. ii. 61 Instead of cutting off the Stern [of a young Spaniel], it is better to twist it off... And if thus pulled off, there is a string that comes out with it which doth hinder their madness. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 315 Whilst he draws the stones with his teeth, he has his two hands at liberty to hold back the strings of the stones that they are not drawn away; for the strings run up into the loins and backbone. 1757W. Thompson R.N. Adv. 20 The Flesh..will be nothing better than the Strings or Husk of Flesh. 1842T. Webster Encycl. Dom. Econ. §4839. 860 In young mutton, that fat readily separates; in old, it is held together by strings of skin. 1890Coues Ornith. 329 These threads..are called chalazæ; they are the ‘strings’, rather unpleasantly evident in a soft-boiled egg.
† fig.c1440Gesta Rom. (1878) 235 She was hiliche greuid in alle the strenges of hir herte. 1592Lyly Gallathea iii. i. 57 My wanton eyes which conceiued the picture of his face, and hangd it on the verie strings of my hart. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. xi. 57 Egypt, thou knew'st too well, My heart was to thy Rudder tyed by' th' strings.
b. In certain fishes. ? Obs.
1611Cotgr., Cordé, Corded,..also, out of season; (a Metaphor from Lampreyes, which being out of season, haue a hard string in their backes). 1668Wilkins Real Char. 140 Lamprey..considerable for having..Two pair of finns; either that which is the biggest of this tribe, having two very long strings from the upper jaw, and four shorter from the lower jaw [etc.]. 1675V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. §2. 155 A vein of his old thredbare Fallacy discovers it self, which I now perceive (like the poysonous string in the Lamprey,) he resolves shall run through his whole Discourse. 1725Sloane Jamaica II. 289 The Old-Wife... There is no Prickles in this Fish's Fins only long Strings.
c. In plants: A cord, thread, or fibre; a ‘vein’ of a leaf; the tough piece connecting the two halves of a pod (in beans, etc.); a root-filament.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. i. (Bodl. MS.) In euerich rote manye maner knottes and stringes. 1573Baret Alv. S. 866 To pull of the small stringes of rootes, fibras radicum euellere, Cic. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 113/1 Neruus,..the nerue, sinew or string of a leafe, as in plantaine. 1657Coles Adam in Eden cxxxiii, The Roots [of Avens] consist of many brownish strings, or Fibres, smelling some⁓what like unto Cloves. 1707Mortimer Husb. 239 If you will pull it [sc. Broom] up you are apt to leave strings behind, the least of which will grow. 1733Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxiii. 379 It may be objected, that the fore-part of these hinder Sheats might not be oblique enough to raise up the Strings of Roots or Stubble, which might come across them in their Way. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 671 They [sc. cardoons] are then to be carefully deprived of the slime and strings which will be found to cover them. 1880Bessey Bot. 16 There may almost always be seen in plant-cells bands or strings of protoplasm which lie in or between the vacuoles. 1884Implement & Mach. Rev. 1 Dec. 6710/2 A rate of production equal to 47,000 strings of rhea per day. 1904Nature 18 Aug. 392/2 The vascular strings of the sugar-cane.
fig.1605Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. xx. §6 The Enquirye concerning the Rootes of Good and euill, and the strings of those Rootes. 1685Bunyan Seventh-day Sabbath v. 118 Luther..had yet work hard enough to get his Conscience clear from all those roots and strings of inbred errour.
d. A tendril (of hops, vine, pea); a runner (of the strawberry, the potato). ? Now dial.
1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 146/1 Capreolus,..the strings that wind about and fasten the vine to the perches or polles: they be called tendrilles. 1675Evelyn Fr. Gard. 255 When your Strawberries shoot their strings, you must castrate them. 1707Mortimer Husb. 131 If the Haum and Strings of the Hops be burnt every year. a1722Lisle Husb. (1757) 105 Peas..never thrive well till they can take hands with one another, that is, by their strings. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 622 After the potatoe plants have begun to throw out their wires or strings.
3. a. A cord or line (composed of vegetable fibre, gut, or fine wire) adapted to produce a musical sound when stretched and caused to vibrate.
a1000Ags. Ps. (Th.) cxliii. 10 Mid tyn strengum ᵹetoᵹen hearpe. c1000Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 311/16 Fidis, streng. a1300E.E. Psalter xxxii. 2 In harpe and sautre Of ten stringes to him sing yhe. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. ii. (1495) A iiij b, Strenges made of wulfes guttes..corrumpyth strenges made of shepes guttes yf..they be sette amonge theym as in lute or in harpe. 1471Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 256 The strenges of the harpe. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 351/2 Hypate,..a basse or base string: that string that maketh the base sound. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 598 All sounds on Fret by String or Golden Wire Temper'd soft Tunings. 1748Hume Enq. Hum. Und. vii. ii, We say..that the vibration of this string is the cause of this particular sound. 1811Busby Dict. Mus., String, any wire, or preparation of sheep or catgut, used in musical instruments. 1825T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Passion & Princ. viii. III. 110 The sweet tones of a harp, whose strings were swept with a master's hand, sounded through the adjoining saloon. 1879Stainer Music of Bible 74 The most primitive material used for strings was, probably, twisted grass; next in time, the guts of animals; lastly, wire or silk. 1898‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner vii. 73 Cornish remembered that he had been specially told to get a new bass string for the banjo.
b. fig. and in fig. context. Cf. chord n.1 2 b.
to harp on one (the same, etc.) string: see harp v. † to stretch a string: see stretch v. 19.
1583H. Howard Defensative E j, We read..of a certaine..custome among the false prophets..to meete together:..at which times, I doubt not, but they tuned euery string with such a cunning wrest, as none could trippe them in theyr tale. 1636Massinger Gt. Duke Flor. ii. iii, Ever touching Upon that string? 1638R. Baker tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. II.) 14 You touch the right string of my inclination, when you pray me to praise..that Prince. 1655Ld. Norwich in Nicholas Papers (Camden) III. 217 But why touch I this string agayne? 1705Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. iii. Pain 19 This is scruing up the Strings too high in all Conscience. 1718Pope Let. to Jervas 12 Dec., But I must own, when you talk of Building and Planting, you touch my String. 1741Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 278 The dear man makes me spring to his arms, whenever he touches this string. 1748Thomson Cast. Indol. i. xxxi, But how shall I attempt such arduous string? 1789F. Burney Diary 6 Jan., No sooner did the King touch upon that dangerous string, the History of Music, than all else was forgotten! 1852Dickens Bleak Ho. xxxvii, I asked Mr. Vholes if he would like to live altogether in the country? ‘There, miss,’ said he, ‘you touch me on a tender string.’ 1854Poultry Chron. II. 320 What, another song to the old tune,—another play on the old string.
c. pl. Stringed instruments; now only, such as are played with a bow. Also, in mod. use, the players on stringed instruments (in an orchestra or band). Cf. the attrib. use in 32 a.
a1340Hampole Psalter cl. 4 Louys him in strenges & orgyns [1535 Coverdale vpon the strynges; Vulg. in chordis]. 1820Q. Mus. Mag. II. 414 The peculiar appropriateness of wind instruments to that element [water], and their decided preference over strings. 1880Academy 24 Dec. 467/1 Herr Joachim introduced last season his sextet for strings. 1884Girl's Own Paper Nov. 20/1 By the ‘strings’ of an orchestra, we are always to understand merely such instruments as are played with a bow. 1887Daily Tel. 14 Mar. (Cassell), With the orchestra little fault could be found beyond the weakness of the strings.
4. a. A bowstring; † a cord similarly used in a catapult, etc.
Beowulf 3117 Þonne stræla storm strengum ᵹebæded scoc ofer scild-weall. c1205Lay. 1454 He leadde an his honde enne bowe stronge & he þene streng up braid. c1386Chaucer Sompn. T. 359 He took his bowe in honde And vp the streng he pulled to his ere. 1420in York Memor. Bk. ii. (Surtees) 123 Et quod lez strynges pro arcubus, qui inventi erunt defectivi, sint forisfacti. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §142 Bowe, arrowes, sworde, bukler, horne, leisshe, gloues, stringe, and thy bracer. 1535Coverdale Ps. xx[i]. 12 With thy stringes thou shalt make ready thine arowes agaynst the faces off them. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xv. x. 50 As if they were bolts and darts discharged violently from the writhed and wrested strings of a brake or such like engine. 1611Bible Ps. xi. 2 They make ready their arrow vpon the string. 1795Coleridge Lines in Manner of Spenser 30 When twang'd an arrow from Love's mystic string. 1849Lytton K. Arthur ii. xcix, He did but pause, with more effect to wing The stone that chance thus fitted to his string. 1870Bryant Iliad iv. 149 On the string He laid that fatal arrow.
b. In fig. phrase, to have two (many, etc.) strings to one's bow: to have two (etc.) alternative resources.
1524Wolsey in St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 103 Ne totally to grounde you upon the said Quenes doinges, but to have 2 stringes to your bowe, specially whan the oone is wrought with a womans fingers. 1546J. Heywood Prov. i. xi. (1867) 30 Ye haue many stryngis to the bowe. 1579,1812[see bow n.1 4 c]. [ 1644R. Baillie Lett. & Jrnls. (Bannatyne Club) II. 262 Allaster McDonnell wes the smallest string in his bow.] 1877Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 113 She had three strings to her bow.
c. Hence second string, a second resource available if the first should fail. Freq. (with hyphen) attrib.
1643Plain English 28 It would be a good second string in case the Parliament should..miscarry.
1911Marett Anthropol. iv. 113 They found them a people of hunters and fishers, it is true, but with agriculture as a second string. 1943J. B. Priestley Daylight on Saturday xxxi. 245 He was one of that select..group of second-string personages for whom the party..had always to provide. 1958People 4 May 19/1 The man who may take over as second string to Tony Lock is Mike Allen, of Northampton. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1058/3 Moore was a kind of second-string Clarence Darrow. 1977C. McCullough Thorn Birds iv. 80 The big Queensland blue brute that led the dog pack took a slavish fancy to the priest and followed him without question, meaning Frank was very definitely the second-string man.
d. Sporting. Said of a racehorse. Also of an athlete (see quot. 1897) and a team. Hence occas. without prefixed ordinal.
1863Baily's Mag. Mar. 102 Still Jennings has a very dangerous ‘second string’ in Valentine. 1884Sat. Rev. 12 Apr. 469/1 La Touche..had won the [mile] race at Cambridge in about 4 min. 27 sec...while the Oxford first string, Pratt, had occupied nearly 13 sec. more in covering the ground. 1893Daily News 22 Apr. 5/3 He ran a dead heat with the other Oxford string for first place in the One Hundred Yards Race. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 62/2 (Athletics) Strings..(2) ‘First,’ ‘second,’ and ‘third’ strings are the first, second, and third men chosen to represent a club in any event. 1934Times 14 Feb. 6/3 In the first string match P. Q. Reiss (R.A.F. Club) just beat S. N. Capel-Cure by three games to two. Ibid. 3 Mar. 6/4 The match was decided on the last fight, that between the first-string welter-weights. 1951Sport 27 Jan.–2 Feb. 3/1 On Saturday, ‘Archie’ kept goal for the Rochdale second string. 1972J. Mosedale Football iii. 32 Walter Camp named him a second-string All-American. 1976Norwich Mercury 19 Nov. 10 Terry Medwin's finest moment so far as Norwich City Reserves' coach was in defeat. The second string went down 3–2 in September at Tottenham.
†5. transf. in Geom. = chord n.1 4. Obs. rare.
1594Blundevil Exerc., Arith. (1597) 48 b, Sinus Rectus is the one halfe of a Chord or string of any Arke which is double to the Arke that is giuen or supposed. 1695W. Alingham Geom. Epit. 51 Many other useful Practises mecanicks perform by this Theo. as the finding the length of strings.
6. a. A piece of cord, tape, ribbon, etc. (often used in pairs) for tying up or fastening some portion of dress, for securing a hat or bonnet by being tied under the chin, for binding the hair, for closing a bag or purse.
13..K. Alis. 208 (Laud MS.) Her ȝelewe her was faire atired Mid riche strenges of golde wyred. 1564Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 308, lxxxxvi stringis to hattis of diverse cullouris. 1588–9Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 50 For mottlaye to be a cloke bagge and for stringes to the same, vijs. 1604Shakes. Oth. i. i. 3 Thou..who hast had my purse, As if y⊇ strings were thine. 1674in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1914) 30 Beare slypt out the runing string of his drawers and tyed it about his necke. 1737in Sixth Rep. Dep. Kpr. Rec. App. ii. 120 A new invented Hoop Petticoat, with..strings for contracting the compass of a Petticoat from four yards in circumference to two yards. 1829Scott Anne of G. xxvii, Our purses, my Lord Duke, are our own—we will not put the strings of them into your Highness's hands, unless [etc.]. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xvii, Kate's..duties being limited to holding articles of costume until Miss Knag was ready to try them on, and now and then tying a string, or fastening a hook-and-eye. 1848― Dombey xi, The Doctor was a portly gentleman in a suit of black, with strings at his knees, and stockings below them. 1878Hardy Ret. Native v. iii, Her little hands quivered so violently as she held them to her chin to fasten her bonnet that she could not tie the strings. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay v, She wore just such a velvet string as this through the lace of her dress.
†b. In pl., the short cords, ribbons, or leather straps, formerly often attached (in pairs) to the edges of book-covers, to be tied in order to keep the book closed. Obs. (now usually called ties).
1583in Dee's Diary (Camden) 71 [A book] In paste-bords, with strings. 1585Daniel tr. P. Jovius' Disc. Imprese C v b, A Booke of accomptes, with leather stringes and buckles. 1641Milton Reform. i. 39 Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies have scarce saluted them from the strings, and the titlepage. 1646Crashaw Steps to Temple, On Mr. G. Herbert's Bk. 5 When your hands untie these strings, Think yo' have an Angell by the wings. 1663Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 470 Both which [books] for strings and covers cost me 1s. 7d.
c. A very scanty bikini (see quot. 19741).
1974W 14 June 17/2 The latest—The String—looks like a winner on the beaches of other countries too... Held by thin strings, it's just two tiny triangles—front and back—worn with a mini-bra. 1974Times 13 Aug. 5/6 The String, a sort of cache-sexe sized bathing suit from Brazil which is now sweeping America. 1977Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 5 Nov. 1/4 They were what we call ‘strings’—just a string holding them up.
7. A cord or ribbon worn as a decoration; the ribbon of a knightly order. ? Obs.
1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 60 These Bramins..wear next to their flesh certain strings, the badge of their order. 1700Prior Carmen Sec. 386 Round Ormond's Knee Thou ty'st the Mystic String, That makes the Knight Companion to the King. 1733Swift On Poetry 468 When on thy Breast and Sides Herculean, He fixt the Star and String Cerulean. 1753Foote Englishm. Paris i. Wks. 1799 I. 34 Belike they had been sent to Bridewell, hadn't a great gentleman in a blue string come by and releas'd them. 1814Byron Ode to Napoleon xviii, The gewgaws thou wert fond to wear, The star, the string, the crest.
†8. Anglo-Irish. ? A stretched cord for laying out the boundaries of land: in phrase by lot and string. Hence, a document recording allotments of land. Obs.
1658in T. A. Larcom Down Surv. (1851) 246, 9thly. Your petitioners desire that the County of Kildare may be set out unto them by lott and string. 1666in Prendergast Cromw. Settlem. (1870) 199 note, The claymants produce a string whereby the lands were sett out..Mr. Petty swears that the paper signed was the original..that these strings had as much force as injunctions—that they took possession under them.
†9.
a. The cord or chain wound on the barrel of a watch.
b. A chain or a cord for carrying a watch. Obs.
1646Suckling Aglaura ii. i, Like the string of a Watch Wound up too high. 1675J. S[mith] Horolog. Dial. ii. i. 38 You must first wind it [a watch] up rightly;..not too hastily, least you force the stop, and break the string. a1676Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. iv. (1677) 324 If I should see a curious Watch,..and should observe the exact disposition of the Spring, the String, the Wheels, the Ballance, the Index, [etc.]. 1680Lond. Gaz. No. 1499/4 A silver Watch with a String. 1701Ibid. No. 3692/4 Lost.., a Watch with a double Case.., a Green and Silver String with 2 Seals.
†10. = sling n.2 3 c. Obs.
1718F. Hutchinson Ess. Witchcraft vii. 104 After him Blew brought his Arm in a String.
†11. = scroll n. 3 b. Obs.
1797Mrs. Berkeley Poems of G. M. Berkeley Pref. p. cccclxviii, Mr. Berkeley's [motto]..‘Vivat post funera virtus’; which he engraved in the strings of his crest.
II. A number of objects strung on a thread; hence, a series, succession.
12. a. A thread or file with a number of objects strung upon it; a number (of beads, pearls, etc.) strung on a thread; a ‘rope’ of onions (rope n.1 6); a number of herrings or other fish strung on a thread passed through the gills. Also, a number of things (e.g. sausages) linked together in a line.
1488–92Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. I. 84 Ane string of grete perle contenand fyfti and a perle, and stringis of small perle. 1578Invent. R. Sc. Wardr. (1815) 263 A string of cornellingis sett in gold. 1620Shelton 2nd Pt. Quix. l. 335, I haue sent you..a string of Corall Beads. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 124 These Pouseragues are Wheels, with a Rope hanging round them like a string of Beads without an end. 1732Earl of Oxford in Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 153 We had herrings for dinner caught that very morning, and was the first string they had this year. 1737Ochtertyre House Bk. (S.H.S.) 27 For two strings of flounders and a letter, 0 0 7. 1819Keats Otho iv. i, Fetch me a missal, and a string of beads. 1830James Darnley iv. I. 60 Endless strings of sausages. 1834Marryat P. Simple xxviii, The steward came down..loaded with cabbages, baskets of eggs, strings of onions, [etc.]. 1874H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. 173 Bracelet. Six strings of pink glass beads. 1891Field 7 Mar. 344/1 A movement is making amongst the fish, several nice strings of codling having fallen to different boats. 1903Mrs. H. Taylor Pastor Hsi vi. 43 He had no money to draw upon, and no means left of raising even a few strings of cash.
b. Lumber-trade. A number of logs fastened together to be carried down by a river.
1878Lumberman's Gaz. 5 Jan., One string of lumber went over the falls on Friday afternoon of last week. 1880Ibid. 14 Jan., With this decrease in the size of the logs, comes the constant increase in the number of strings into which the company are required to tie the logs.
c. Billiards. (See quots. 1879, 1891.) U.S.
1848B. A. Baker Glance at New York 11, I have beat Miss Wilson one string. 1855J. Holbrook Ten Years among Mail Bags 60 Just allow me twenty on a ‘string’. 1871G. W. Peck Adventures of Terence McGrant iii. 22 I'd do it to him half a string. 1879Webster Suppl., String, the number of points made, in a game of billiards. 1891Century Dict., String 9 (a) A number of wooden buttons strung on a wire to keep the score or tally of the game. There is a string for each player or side. (b) The score, tally, or number of points scored by either player or side at any stage of a game: as, he made a poor string at first, but won. 1924Billiards Mag. June 46/1 Kreshel beat the coast's amateur three-cushion titlist, 80–44. The score of the first block was 40–14, with the string completed in 110 innings.
13. a. A number of animals driven in single file tied one to the other; a train of animals, vehicles, or persons one behind the other.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 352 They generally plough with their Oxen in pairs, but with their Horses in a string, to prevent poching the land. 1717Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Miss Thistlethwayte 1 Apr., The drivers take care to tie them [sc . camels] one to another with strong ropes, fifty in a string, led by an ass, on which the driver rides. 1820Sporting Mag. VI. 79 The long string of carriages..increased the animation..of the scene. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf 167 Dealers fasten the halter of one horse to the halter and tail of another, and so on to the amount of sixteen, twenty, or more, and either is a string. ‘Several strings of good horses entered Smithfield to-day.’ 1830Coleridge Table-T. 5 Oct., I call these strings of school boys or girls which we meet near London—walking advertisements. 1842Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 320 Smugglers and their strings of pack-horses. 1849F. B. Head Stokers & Pokers iii. (1851) 41 A string of empty carriages..[to be] formed into the next departure train. 1885Rudler & Chisholm Europe 175 A steam-tug with a long string of rafts or a heavily-laden barge in tow. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail iii, The train consisted of a string of freight cars. 1910G. F. Wright in The Fundamentals II. i. 10 Strings of captives with evidently Jewish features.
b. A flock (of birds) flying in single file.
In quot. 1889 perh. confused with spring n.2 15.
1801J. Thomson Poems Sc. Dial. 12 Just like to wild geese in a string, When aff they flee. 1813Hawker Diary (1893) I. 89 Not one string of birds came low enough to be fired at. 1889F. A. Knight By Leafy Ways 70 We talk of a covey of partridges, a pack of grouse, a string of teal.
14. a. A set or stud of horses, beasts of draught or burden, † slaves.
a1734R. North Life Sir D. North (1744) 59 He procured him a String of Slaves out of his Chiurm, with a Capo, to work in his Building. 1764Museum Rust. II. 163 This circumstance of seeing his highness's string of mules, it was first induced me to think of breeding them. a1809Holcroft Mem. i. xi. (1852) 36 Johnstone..had a string of no less than thirteen famous [race-]horses..under his care. 1814Heyne Tracts on India 274, I learnt that a gentleman of my acquaintance was encamped near the town with a string of elephants. 1883J. Gilmour Among Mongols xviii. 230 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, droves of horses, and strings of camels. 1889Baden-Powell Pigsticking 120 A man to whom money is no object will naturally complete his ‘string’ with Arabs or small thoroughbred Walers.
†b. A set (of persons); a band, a faction. Obs.
1579–80North Plutarch, Publicola (1595) 108 Brutus..had maried their own sister, and had many children by her. Of the which the Vitellians had drawen to their string, two of the eldest of them. 16..Rob. Hood & Maid Marian xii. in Child Ballads III. 219/1 ‘O hold thy hand,’..said Robin Hood, ‘And thou shalt be one of my string.’ 1699Bentley Phalaris 484 All of that String, Bacchylides, Simonides, Pindar, got their livelyhood by the Muses.
†c. Sc. = file n.2 7. Obs.
1627Sir T. Kellie Pallas Armata 125 Stand right in your Ranks and your Stringes.
d. transf. = stable n.1 2 b. U.S. slang.
1913G. J. Kneeland Commercialized Prostitution in N.Y. City iv. 77 A single girl, at times a ‘string’ of girls, ‘working’ for them [sc. pimps] on the street or in houses. 1946Amer. Mercury Sept. 272/2 Promoters of commercialized prostitution look to two main sources for replenishing their ‘stables’ or ‘strings’ of girls.
1982L. Block Eight Million Ways to Die (1983) x. 87 She wants out of my string of girls.
15. a. A number of things in a line; a row, chain, range.
1683[R. North] Discourse Fish & Fish-ponds vi. (1713) 17 The third Pond may be a Work of another Year; and if the Ground lies fair for it,..I would not be without it; for it will..fill up a Range or String of Waters, which two doth not. 1788Gibbon Decl. & F. lv. V. 544 A long sea-coast, [Croatia] indented with capacious harbours, covered with a string of islands. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 166 Eastward of this lake, lie several small ones, which extend in a string to the great carrying place. 1843Lefevre Life Trav. Phys. III. iii. viii. 184 A string of houses built after the model of the peasants' habitations. 1862G. P. Scrope Volcanos 365 Thence radiate several elevated embranchments or strings of conoidal hills.
b. Orig. (more fully string of tools), the drilling bit and weights that occupy the hole in drilling for oil, etc.; in mod. use, the entire drilling assembly in the hole (so drilling string); also, the coupled lengths of drill pipe or of casing in the hole.
1895W. T. Brannt Petroleum vii. 182 The string of tools—the bit, the auger-stem and jars, with the sinkerbar—are [sic] more than sixty feet long. 1929Babbitt & Doland Water Supply Engin. vii. 160 The only tools on the string in spudding are usually the auger stem and the spudding drill. 1939D. Hager Fund. Petroleum Industry viii. 181 A string of cable tools consists of the bit, stem, jars, sinker bar or sub, and rope socket. The parts of the string are all joined by tool joints and fastened to the drilling cable or line by means of the rope socket. 1947Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 12 Mar. 11/2 Pacific Western's well contains the longest ‘string’ of casing ever run into a well—16,406 feet. 1963G. Sell Petroleum Industry iii. 53 The swivel is so designed as to allow the drilling string to rotate freely on roller bearings. 1976M. Machlin Pipeline xxvii. 318 Can you imagine old Wilbur all touted out in greasy coveralls, working the string on some well up in the slope? 1979R. Piper Story of Oil vi. 23 When boring for oil, a separate engine, apart from the one that raises and lowers the drill string, is needed to turn the drill stem.
c. Math., etc. A sequence of symbols or linguistic elements in a definite order.
1932Lewis & Langford Symbolic Logic iii. 49 Propositions are not strings of marks, or series of sounds, except incidentally. 1940W. V. Quine Math. Logic vii. 284 Now x is a string of accents, symbolically Ac x, if every initial segment of x ends in an accent. 1954Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery I. 120/2 A finite, possibly null, sequence of members of the alphabet is called a string. 1955N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Linguistic Theory (microfilm, Mass. Inst. Technol.) viii. 356 There are cases where similar strings have intuitively quite different interpretations, but where we can discover no grounds..for assigning different markers to them. 1958[see identifier 2 c]. 1970J. Lyons Chomsky 58 The ambiguity of such strings as old men and women. 1977Word 1972 XXVIII. 91 The surface string of such sentences indeed looks perfectly straightforward—an adjective with comparative inflection and a comparative marker. 1979Sci. Amer. Oct. 138/3 It was hoped that by transforming the statements of mathematics into strings of meaningless symbols to be combined according to the rules of logic, whatever unavowed principles of reasoning had given rise to the paradoxes would be revealed.
d. Computers. A linear sequence of records or data.
1956Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery III. 147 Areas are set aside for shuttling strings of control fields back and forth until a completely sorted sequence is obtained. 1964C. Dent Quantity Surveying by Computer iii. 34 After the second pass tapes A and B contain the data in strings of four items. 1979Page & Wilson Introd. Computational Combinatorics iii. 49 Two strings of r, s items respectively are each in ascending order in the main store of a computer.
16. a. A continuous series or succession (e.g. of stories, questions, incidents, historical personages).
1710Felton Diss. Classics (1718) 19 If this [sc. the ballad theory of the Homeric poems] be true, they are the completest String of Ballads I ever met with. 1713Guardian No. 42 ⁋6 Sir Harry hath what they call a String of Stories, which he tells over every Christmas. 1772Ann. Reg. 52/2 He then read to the House a string of resolutions under thirteen heads. 1797Burney Let. to Mme. D'Arblay 28 Sept., I had a string of questions ready to ask. 1839Hawker Diary (1893) II. 165 Made a string of indispensable visits, that I could not catch a moment to do before. 1843S. R. Maitland Dark Ages xv. (1890) 286 The brief records of whole strings of abbots, priors, &c. 1859Helps Friends in C. Ser. ii. II. i. 10 The man..who masters long strings of facts. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 712 We now come to the long string of English writers who accuse Eadric. 1884Law Times Rep. L. 278/1 Lyell administered to Kennedy a long string of interrogatories. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail vi, The reptilian gentleman let out a string of oaths.
†b. Oxford slang. (See quots.) Obs.
1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 20. 104 These commodious sets of syllogisms are call'd strings and descend from undergraduate to undergraduate,..so that, when any candidate for a degree is to exercise his talent in argumentation, he has nothing else to do but to enquire amongst his friends for a string upon such or such a question, and to get it by heart, or read it over in his cap... I have in my custody a book of strings upon most or all of the questions discussed in a certain college. 1780Gentl. Mag. L. 277 Every undergraduate [at Oxford]..has in his possession certain papers, which have been handed down from generation to generation, and are denominated strings. [Footnote, In our Sister University called arguments.]..These strings consist of two or three arguments, each on those subjects which are discussed in the schools.
c. A continuous utterance, a ‘screed’. contemptuous.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xiv, Did he not talk a long string of learning about Greek? 1858Hawthorne Fr. & Ital. Note-bks. (1871) I. 5 It sounds like a string of mere gabble. 1870E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. III. 236 The fox sang a string of doggerel.
d. The ‘thread’, sequence (of a narrative). rare.
1833J. S. Sands Poems 105 (E.D.D.) Whiles the soul Is apt to tak a rigmarole; And o' her tale to lose the string. 1860–70Stubbs Lect. Europ. Hist. i. ix. (1904) 116 Events..not of great interest as touching the string of Charles's history. 1876― Early Plantag. v. 86 We must now return to the direct string of the story.
e. A continuous series of successes or of failures. orig. and chiefly U.S.
1890Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 313/2 A common expression in America is ‘to get in a string’, applied to any kind of fortunate series. 1898H. M. Blossom Checkers 170 Well, I've had my hard luck, and ‘played out the string’. 1967Boston Herald 8 May 16/5 Womack preserved the victory that ended a four-game losing string for New York. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 19/1 The victory stretched the Canadiens' unbeaten string to nine games. 1973Times 17 Apr. 14/6, I try to take it in my stride and relax, and not get too nervous about continuing a string. 1976Billings (Montana) Gaz. 27 June 1-f/2 The Mustangs stretched their scoreless string to 12 innings before finally connecting in the fourth inning.
f. Sport. (See quot. 1961.) Also spec. in Bowls, a succession of strikes. N. Amer.
1961Webster, String, a fixed or standard number of turns at play in a game or competition. 1970Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 21/4 Fred Harrison failed to win any..prize money in the Ace Bowling Centre's men's open five pin tournament but he..included a perfect 450 game in his 10-game string. 1979Ritger & Allen Compl. Guide Bowling Spares 228/1 String, a number of continuous strikes. Also, in some areas, one game of bowling.
17. a. Printing. (U.S.) See quot. 1891.
1875Chicago Tribune 23 Nov. 7/3 [She] always had a full string at measuring-time. 1889Current Lit. Apr. 314/1 Presently his week's ‘string’ averaged twelve thousand a day. 1891Century Dict., String... A piece-compositor's aggregate of the proofs of types set by him, pasted on a long strip of paper. The amount of work done is determined by the measurement of this string. 1898Milwaukee Sentinel 11 Jan. 3/1 Printers..who found it no unusual thing to ‘paste up’ ‘strings’ that averaged more than 1,500 an hour.
b. (See quots.)
1892Dialect Notes I. 207 When he [sc. a correspondent] comes to make up his bill, he takes all the articles he has written for a given period and pastes them together, end to end. This he calls his string. 1913W. G. Bleyer Newspaper Writing & Editing iii. 55 On some papers the correspondents clip out all of their news stories and paste them together in a ‘string’ which they send in once a month, so that the telegraph editor may pay them according to the length of the ‘string’.
III. In various transferred uses.
†18. A ray, line of light. Obs.
c1205Lay. 17983 Þe leome gon striden a ueire seoue strengen.
†19. A length of wire. Obs.
1435Coventry Leet Bk. I. 181 And then that wire that the mayster supposithe wille be cherisshed atte gurdell, he shall com to his girdulmon and sey to hym ‘Lo, here is a stryng or ij, that hathe ben mysgouerned atte herthe.’
†20. (See quot.) Obs.
1545Elyot Dict., Canterii be the pieces, whiche do lye vnder a piece of tymber whan it is sawen, which som do call strynges.
21. Mining. A thin vein of ore or coal; a ramification of a lode.
1603G. Owen Pembrokesh. (1892) 91 The stringe is a smale narowe vayne sometymes ij iij or iiij foote in biggnes. 1619S. Atkinson Discov. Gold Mynes Scot. (Bannatyne Club) 37 From Short-clough water he removed unto Long-cloughbrayes,..to seeke gold in solidd places: where he discovered a small stringe thereof. 1653E. Manlove Lead Mines Derbysh. 270 (E.D.S.) Stickings and stringes of oar. 1747Hooson Miner's Dict. s.v. Break-Off, But if it happen that it break into several Leadings or Strings. 1855Leifchild Cornwall 98 Some of the copper veins in Herland mine..eventually passed away east and west in mere strings, scarcely thicker than paper. 1867Murchison Siluria ii. (ed. 4) 27 The frequent recurrence of thin strings of copper-ore.
†22. A rail, bar of iron or wood on which something slides or runs. Obs.
1778W. Hutchinson Northumb. II. 417 Wheels of iron, the fellies or rims of which are hollow, so as to run upon strings of wood adapted thereto, with which the roads are laid. 1790W. Marshall Midl. Co. I. 143 On this bar or string of iron, a ring, with a chain passing to the wheels, plays freely from end to end.
23.
†a. = stringhalt. Obs.
1650Bulwer Anthropomet. 205 A Gelding (that was proud of a string). 1823J. Pursglove Pract. Farriery 204 The string, or spring halt..is termed by some authors the blind spavin.
†b. A form of constipation in cattle. Obs.
1776Compl. Grazier (ed. 4) 40 The Hind Spring or String is when they [sc. kine] become bound in their body, and cannot dung.
c. Sc. In pl.: see quot. 1798.
1798R. Douglas Agric. Roxb. & Selkirk 149 Calves..are sometimes seized with an inflammation in the intestines, provincially called liver-crook, or strings. 1802G. V. Sampson Statist. Surv. Londonderry 214 Calves are liable to a disorder, called the strings.
†24. A narrow ridge on the surface of a flint.
a1728Woodward Nat. Hist. Fossils i. (1729) I. 53 The Flint constituting the Body of the Stone, of the Cylinder, and the String about it, is all of the same Colour and Substance.
25. U.S. A line of fencing.
1794Washington Lett. Writ. 1892 XIII. 20, I was led to form the plan of having but one public road through my Mount Vernon tract,..along the string of fence that divides the upper from the lower fields. 1854Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. VI. 177 The strings of fence will average eight and three-quarter rails high. 1903A. Adams Log of Cowboy 17 On the Mexican side there was a single string of high brush fence.
26. Carpentry.
a. = string-board (see 33); often with qualifying word or words;
b. = rough string (rough a. 21).
1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 65 A pair of winding Stairs, having a Nuel in the Center, and a Side or String for the Circumference. 1737W. Salmon Country Builder's Estimator (ed. 2) 25 Of Stair-Cases...1. Steps of common Stairs, Strings and String-boards, and Bearers included, of Oak, 8d. per Foot. 1812P. Nicholson Mech. Exerc. 184 Sometimes the risers [are] mitred to brackets, and sometimes mitred with quaker strings. 1849[P. Nicholson] Carpentry II. 3 Those pieces which support the ends of the steps are called strings.—That against the wall is called the wall string; the other, the outer string. 1886Morse Jap. Homes iv. 197 [The staircase] has two side-pieces, or strings, in which the steps, consisting of thick plank, are mortised.
27. Shipbuilding. (See quots.)
1711W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 164 Strings; parts used to strengthen; and what are called Clamps in the lower parts, are termed Strings upward. 1750T. R. Blanckley Naval Expos. 165 String is that strake of Plank within Side of the Ship that is wrought over the upper Deck Ports in the Wast. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 154 String, one or two planks withinside, next under the gunwale, answering to the sheer⁓strakes withoutside.
28. Arch. = string-course or -moulding (see 33).
1809T. D. W. Dearn Bricklayer's Guide 101 This projection frequently occurs, and in many instances serves as an agreeable relief to the eye, if of no other use; it is sometimes called a string. 1817Rickman Archit. 50 A plain string is also sometimes used as a cornice. 1842Ecclesiologist I. 199 Ancient lancets have not, indeed, invariably strings underneath them. 1850T. Inkersley Inq. Styles Romanesque & Pointed Archit. France 323 A moulded inclined plane above a flowered string.
29. the String of Lorn: see quot. 1678.
a1678in Highland Papers (S.H.S.) II. 85 The mountain betwixt Lochow and Lorn called the String. 1889in Ld. A. Campbell Waifs & Strays Celtic Tradit. I. 28 She fled with the precious deeds across the String of Lorn.
30. Shetland. A strong tidal current in a narrow channel. [ON. strengr.]
1884C. Rampini Shetld. & Shetlanders ii. 80 Even in crossing a string of tide the fishermen always betook themselves to their oars. 1888Jessie Saxby Lads of Lunda 131, I am sure we could not cross that string of tide in safety.
31. Billiards. A string-line, a baulk-line. U.S.
1857Spirit of Times 30 May 200/1 The player in hand can play at any ball, the largest half of which lies outside the string. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Roughing It 336 Cheese it, pard; you've banked your ball clean outside the string. 1964Sullivan & Crane Young Sportsman's Guide to Pocket Billiards viii. 77 Through the head spot is drawn the ‘head string’. This is a line that passes through the head spot and the two center diamonds on the opposing side rails (near the head end of the table). There are comparable designations—‘foot spot’ and ‘foot string’—at the opposite end of the table. 1974Rules of Game 80/1 Each player takes a cue ball, and plays it against the foot cushion from behind the head string.
IV. attrib. and Comb.
32. Obvious comb.
a. In sense ‘made or consisting of string’, as string bag, string ball , string netting, string rug; ‘containing string’, as string box, string case; Mus. (see 3 c), as string band, string instrument, string man (obs. exc. Hist.), † string minstrel, string music, string musical instrument, string player, string quartet, string trio;
b. similative, as string colour; string-coloured, string-like, string-tailed adjs.c. instrumental, as string-soled, string-tied adjs.
1901B. Pain Another Englishwoman's Love-Lett. xxvi. 116 A *string-bag full of parcels.
1891Kipling Light that Failed (1900) 232 Dick..played aimlessly with the tins and *string-ball on the counter.
1860Sala Baddington Peerage I. xvi. 290 There was a *string-band and a wind-band at the Apollo Belvidere.
1839Dickens Nich. Nick. xxxvii. 354 Paper, pens, ink, ruler, sealing-wax, wafers, pounce-box, *string-box, fire-box..all had their accustomed inches of space. 1852― Bleak Ho. x, Mr. Snagsby has dealt..in string boxes, rulers, inkstands,..ever since he was out of his time. 1926–7Army & Navy Stores Catal. 120/2 Household string box..containing a ball of fine, medium, and coarse brown string. 1980R. Adams Girl in Swing xix. 255 She came back with the other two saucepans, the lemon-squeezer, the string-box and two brown-paper parcels.
1899Pall Mall Gaz. 26 Dec. 3/2 *String-cases in red morocco.
1899Daily News 20 Mar. 8/7 The creamy lace..will be deep enough in tint to be beige, or even *string-colour.
1898Ibid. 19 Feb. 3/3 With collars and sleeves of *string-coloured guipure.
1705Addison Italy, Rome 321 There is not One *String-Instrument that seems comparable to our Violins. 1859Habits of Gd. Society vi. 232 The zither, one of the sweetest and most touching of string instruments.
1882Vines tr. Sachs' Bot. 120 Mosses, which have *string-like cell-groups in the stem.
c1470in J. P. Collier Engl. Dram. Poetry (1879) I. 39 Mynstrells..wherof some use trumpetts, some shalmes, some small pipes: some are *stringemen. 1971Country Life 23 Dec. 1776/3 The peacock for the most distinguished person at the high table was carried into the dining-hall with pompous ceremony on a gold or silver-gilt charger by the most elegant lady of the assembled company, attended by trumpeters, pipers and string-men.
1498in R. Henry Hist. Gt. Brit. (1793) VI. 724 Item, for three *stryngmynstrels wages, 5 li.
1712Addison Spect. No. 361 ⁋3 He added, that the Cat had contributed more to Harmony than any other Animal; as we are not only beholden to her for this Wind-Instrument, but for our *String Musick in general.
1686Plot Staffordsh. 300 He..makes..all sorts of *string-musical instruments.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464 *String Netting..is made to cover glass bottles.., the network formed by the string protecting the more fragile object that it covers.
1923Daily Mail 6 Feb. 7 All the *string-players pulled their weight. 1979Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVII. 385/2 The Council has approved this year's awards of scholarships to enable young string players and singers to undertake advanced studies.
1875J. Bishop tr. Otto's Violin iv. (ed. 4) 52 A *string quartett, made by A. Engleder, of Munich,..possessed the following peculiarity of form. The upper half of each instrument was [etc.]. 1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, String quartet, (1) A composition in four parts, for two violins, viola and violoncello. (2) The group of stringed instruments in a band.
1882Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464/2 *String rugs..are made from odds and ends of coarse Berlin or fleecy wool, which are either knitted up with string or worked into coarse canvas in loops.
1924Blackw. Mag. Oct. 556/2 We steal softly on our *string-soled shoes down the stairs.
1893E. H. Barker Wand. Southern Waters 64 *String⁓tailed, goggle-eyed, meagre cats that seize your dinner.
1925J. Gregory Bab of Backwoods xxiii. 285 There was a *string-tied canvas bag, as long as her open palm. 1960Farmer & Stockbreeder 2 Feb. 5/3 Hay from {pstlg}9 10s to {pstlg}10, loose in stack; in bales, string-tied, {pstlg}10 to {pstlg}10 10s.
1874Ouseley Musical Form 52 Thus are constructed symphonies and sonatas; *string-trios, quartetts.
33. Special comb.: string analysis Linguistics, a method of analysing sentences as linear strings; string art U.S., the art of making decorative pictures by winding yarn round nails driven into a flat surface; string-bark (tree) Austral. = stringy-bark; string bass Jazz, a double-bass; also transf., the player of a double-bass; string-bean, (a) U.S., the French or kidney bean; (b) U.S. colloq., a tall thin person; also transf.; string bed, the Indian charpoy; string bikini = sense 6 c above; string-binder, a reaping-machine which ties the corn in sheaves; similarly string-binding ppl. a.; string-block, in a wooden-frame pianoforte, a block of wood holding the studs to which the fixed ends of the strings are looped; string-board, a board which supports the ends of the steps in a wooden staircase; also collect. sing.; string bog Physical Geogr., a boggy area containing long, high banks of silty material; string correspondent = stringer 11; string cot = string bed (cf. cot n.4 1); string-course (see quot. 1910); string drum, a musical instrument, consisting of a rectangular box over which strings are stretched, and played by striking the strings with a stick; string figure, a figure made by passing a length of string round the fingers of both hands (cf. cat's-cradle); so string game; string-galvanometer, a galvanometer consisting of a fine conducting fibre, for measuring rapidly-fluctuating currents; string-gauge (see quot.); string glove, a glove knitted or crocheted of coarse mercerized cotton yarn; † string-hough v. trans., to hamstring; † string hound, ? a leash-hound; string-jack, a jumping-jack; string-line, † (a) = chord n.1 4; (b) Billiards (U.S.), the baulkline; string-maker, one who makes string or strings; † also with reference to sense 16 b; string man = stringer 11 (see also sense 32 a); † string-metal, ? metal for making wire strings for musical instruments; string-moulding, a moulding carried horizontally along a wall; string organ (see quot.); string-pea U.S., a pea with edible pods; string-piece, (a) a long piece of timber serving to connect and support a framework (e.g. a floor, bridge); a longitudinal railway-sleeper (U.S.); a heavy squared timber carried along the edge of a wharf-front; † (b) (see quot. 1842); string-pin = hitch-pin; string-plate, the metal plate into which the hitch-pins are inserted; string point, proof: in sugar manufacture, a degree of concentration at which the boiled sugar may be drawn out in the form of a thread; string-pulling vbl. n., the act of exerting influence, esp. behind the scenes; cf. wire-pulling vbl. n.; hence string-puller; string puppet, a puppet actuated by means of strings, a marionette; also fig.; string slum U.S., a row of unsightly buildings along the side of a road (see quot. 19392); string tie orig. U.S., a very narrow necktie worn as a bow; string-tone Mus., the sound of bowed stringed instruments; hence string-toned a.; † string-torments, a rendering of L. fidiculæ (pl.), an instrument of torture consisting of a number of thin cords; string vest, a man's vest or singlet made from an open-knit fabric (cf. sense 1 p above); also string underwear; † string-watch, ? a watch having a string fitted to the fusee and barrel instead of a chain (cf. 9 a above); stringwood, a small tree of St. Helena, Acalypha rubra, now extinct, named from its pendent spikes of reddish sterile flowers (Treas. Bot. 1866).
[1960Language XXXVI. 63 Positively, it leads to the development of a string constituent analysis in which grammatical strings are discovered and described.] 1962Z. S. Harris (title) *String analysis of sentence structure. 1972Hartmann & Stork Dict. Lang. & Linguistics 221/2 A string analysis of the sentence Today we heard three shots in the park would be as follows: We heard shots is the elementary sentence; today is an adjunct to the left of the elementary sentence; in the park is an adjunct to the right of the elementary sentence; three is an adjunct to the left of the word shots.
1972Creative Crafts Aug. 21/1 Our ship bounding over gleaming silver waves is an excellent example of fascinating *string art, the fool-the-eye craft which makes curves from straight lines. 1975String Art Encycl. 41 (caption) A traditional fruit display looks different..when you stitch it using the string-art technique.
1845J. O. Balfour Sk. N.S. Wales 37 The *string bark tree is also useful. 1862W. Archer Products of Tasmania 39 (Morris) Gum-topped String-bark, sometimes called white gum (Eucalyptus gigantea, var.).
1927Melody Maker Aug. 771/2 Their instrumentation..which, when playing on Sundays, is a combination of piano, flute, 'cello, violin, *string bass and tymps. 1930Ibid. Jan. 27/1 The pianist and string bass must be particularly complimented on the steadiness of their playing. 1956M. Stearns Story of Jazz (1957) xvii. 205 The string-bass began to ‘walk’, or play melodic figures instead of pounding away at one or two notes. 1977J. Wainwright Do Nothin' iii. 39 ‘Occupation?’ ‘Musician... String bass.’ Ibid. xi. 197, I turn to the string-bass man.
1759E. Holyoke Diary 11 July in G. F. Dow Holyoke Diaries (1911) 20 First *Str[ing] Beans ys. year. 1801Spirit of Farmers' Museum 244 Her neck-beef sausage, and her tough string beans. 1842Hawthorne Amer. Note-bks. (1868) II. 99 It was a very pleasant moment when I gathered the first string-beans. 1936Wodehouse Laughing Gas xi. 114 ‘Gee!’ he said. ‘Are you one of those English Oils?’ ‘I am. Or, rather, I was.’ ‘I always thought they were string-bean sort of guys without any chins.’ 1975R. H. Rimmer Premar Experiments (1976) i. 70 Ellen, I know you can't help it, but you remind me of a starving, stringbean kitten that wandered into our house when I was a kid. 1977New Yorker 3 Oct. 80/2 ‘Did Germany need living space?’ Hellmann asked, translating the stringbean's German word.
1895B. M. Croker Village Tales 16 We were presently conducted to an empty hut, provided with broad *string beds. 1911H. Begbie Other Sheep i. 9 The priest..insisted upon my having a charpoy, or string-bed, for the night.
1974McCall's Nov. 10/1 Winter vacation time is coming and the *string bikini is still with us—better, if not bigger, than ever. 1976‘E. McBain’ Guns (1977) vii. 194 The tall sleek blonde in the white string bikini.
1891Daily News 10 Oct. 3/1 It is not so long since the master was entirely at the mercy of his labourers in harvest time... The *string-binder has altered all that. 1910P. M'Connell Farm Equipm. 75 The modern string-binder was simply this machine plus a mechanical tier.
1882Essex Herald No. 4269/3 This is the second harvest in Australia in which *string-binding reapers of American manufacture have been used.
1851W. Pole in Rimbault Pianoforte (1860) 163 The strings were looped at one end upon studs driven into a solid block of wood, which we may call the *string-block.
1703R. Neve City & C. Purchaser 252 Stairs, with Rails, Ballasters, *String-boards, Posts. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 604 The price of string-board is regulated by the foot superficial.
[1956Contrib. Gray Herbarium Harvard Univ. CLXXVIII. 62 These bog ridges are the strings of the Strangmoor of European authors.] 1959Geogr. Jrnl. CXXV. 145 A particularly well defined form [of patterned ground feature] are the *string bogs, or strängmoore, which occur particularly in eastern Canada. 1973A. L. Washburn Periglacial Processes & Environment iv. 151 Although string bogs or closely similar features have also been observed far north of tree line and well within the zone of continuous permafrost.., most investigators agree they are not necessarily indicative of permafrost.
1960Spectator 24 June 920 Later he became a ‘*string correspondent’ sending items to all the local papers, and he also sold jokes at a dollar apiece. 1969B. Moore Workers in World News i. 6 To return to our Paris correspondent, as well as the news coming to him through the newspaper in whose office he worked, he would probably have his own ‘stringers’—or string correspondents—in the different provincial centres.
1895Kipling Day's Work (1898) 178 Scott..laid himself down to rest on a *string cot in a bare room. 1960R. P. Jhabvala Householder ii. 83 A string-cot had been put up for her in the living-room.
1825Fosbroke Encycl. Antiq. vi. 123* *String-courses are those from which buildings begin to narrow upwards. 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §451 A string course, or horizontal band. a1878Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 228 The sill always well sloped, to throw off the water, and having usually a string-course below, to prevent it from running down and discolouring the walls. 1910C. H. Gregory Gloss. Build. Constr. 42 String course. A distinctive horizontal course, projecting or flush, carried round a building, usually at floor level, to roughly mark the division of a building into floors.
1940Amer. Speech XV. 125 ‘Ionisation’, written for percussion instruments and piano, requires the use of bongos, sirens.., guïro, claves, maracas, tarole, and *string-drum. 1976D. Munrow Instruments Middle Ages & Renaissance v. 33/4 Various names have been used for the string drum... The thick gut strings are stretched over an oblong sound box and tuned to the key-note and fifth of the pipe so as to provide a drone accompaniment. All the strings are struck at the same time with a small stick held in the right hand.
1902Man II. 146 Many travellers have stated that various peoples, more or less primitive, amuse themselves by making *string figures to which the general term of ‘cat's cradle’ is usually applied. 1963K. Vonnegut Cat's Cradle v. 20 His fingers made the string figure called a ‘cat's cradle’.
1909Westm. Gaz. 13 May 5/2 The Einthoven *string galvanometer,..by means of which the beating of the heart can be measured with the greatest accuracy.
1879Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. IX. 26 Now as to the origin of the *string games among these Malays (Dayaks) and Polynesians, it is evident that they did not learn them from Europeans. 1910Encycl. Brit. X. 601/2 In particular it is found that the string game called ‘cat's cradle’ in various forms is of very wide diffusion, being found even in Australia.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, *String-gauge, a small instrument for measuring the thickness of strings for violins, guitars, etc.
1949‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xxiv. 217 Did I put my *string gloves in the locker? 1978A. Morice Murder by Proxy iii. 32 His coat, cap and string gloves..were neatly arranged on a chair.
1605Willet Hexapla Gen. 447 Some read they *string-haughed a bull.
1631in Househ. Ord. (1790) 350 The Master of the Bows and *String Hounds.
1863‘Holme Lee’ A. Warleigh II. 205 Sinclair..stood like a *string-jack, his arms outstretched.
1551*Stryngline [see chord n.1 4]. 1897in R. F. Foster Compl. Hoyle 585 A ball whose centre is on the string line must be regarded as within the line.
14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 686/32 Hic cordex, a *stryngmaker. 1721Amherst Terræ Fil. No. 20. 104 From whence it appears, that this Richard P―e was a great string-maker. 1833T. Fardely tr. Otto's Treat. Violin 60 The Neukirch string-makers.
1943C. Hollingworth German just behind Me ix. 150 By means of bribing his assistant I got a telephone call to my own ‘*string man’ in Belgrade in order that my paper should know I was alive. 1968M. Allingham Cargo of Eagles viii. 98 I'm the string man in these parts... I..write for the Gazette at Nine Ash and keep a watching brief for the Globe in town. It's called stringing.
a1626Bacon Physiol. Rem. Baconiana (1679) 96 Statua Metal, and Bell Metal, and Trumpet Metal, and *String Metal.
1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. Gloss., *String mouldings. 1837Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 57/2 An elegant three-light Gothic window, having a neat label and string mouldings.
1876Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms, *String organ, a new musical instrument, the sounds of which are produced by the association of a free reed and wire string.
1891Century Dict. s.v. Pea, The pods of the sugar-pea, skinless pea, or *string-pea are eaten, as in the case of ‘string-beans’.
1789W. Jessop Rep. Thames & Isis 22 Flat Stones set edgeways [inside a Lock], with a *String piece of Elm at the Foot. 1802G. V. Sampson Stat. Surv. Londonderry 323 The piers [of the bridge]..are bound together by 13 string-pieces, equally divided, and transversely bolted; on the string-pieces is laid the flooring. 1840H. S. Tanner Canals & Rail Roads U.S. 261 String pieces, wooden rails upon which the iron bars of rail-roads are placed. 1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss., String or String Piece, that part of a flight of stairs which forms its ceiling or sofite. 1898Scribner's Mag. May 573 He just fell in off the stringpiece of the dock.
1889Brinsmead Hist. Pianoforte 181 The Brinsmead system of tuning requires no wood either to fasten the *string-pins or support the iron frame.
1827Broadwood Patent in Newton's Lond. Jrnl. Ser. ii. (1830) IV. 132 A metallic plate..to be called the *string plate, into which the hitch pins are set, for the ends of the strings to be fastened to.
1909Jones & Scard Manuf. Cane Sugar vii. 198 The highly concentrated juice is boiled to ‘*string’ or crystallising point... The admission and subsequent discharge of the juice are so regulated, that by the time the latter has reached the point of withdrawal, it has been concentrated to ‘string’ point. 1909H. C. P. Geerligs Cane Sugar 214 The consistency of the liquid being such that a sample can be drawn out in the form of a thread, the liquid is said to be boiled to ‘string proof’. 1915― Pract. White Sugar Manuf. 80 String-proof boiling should entirely be discarded.
1961Guardian 27 Sept. 10/4 International *string-pullers still try to make the Congo dance to their tunes. 1977D. Ramsay You can't call it Murder i. 51 Judith contrived, with the aid of a venerable string puller..to gain admittance.
1949Ann. Reg. 1948 330 The same political manœuvres, corruption, and *string-pulling by moneyed interests..were discernible. 1970E. R. Johnson God Keepers (1971) xiv. 146 The choice between public-opinion pressure and Lucchese string-pulling pressure. 1982W. Buchan John Buchan x. 192 At Londonderry House..many believed, important political strings were pulled. The importance of that string-pulling was probably exaggerated.
1937W. S. Lanchester (title) Hand puppets and *string puppets. 1970G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard iv. 126 The visit was nothing more than a test to see just how much the firm's man he was, to see how he would interpret the string-puppet role. 1980S. Brett Dead Side of Mike iv. 39 Two Italian string-puppets in silver armour.
1939Sun (Baltimore) 25 Mar. 8/2 A bill designed to halt the growth of *string slums along the public highways by conservative zoning has been pending before the Judiciary Committee of the State Senate for weeks. Ibid. 24 Oct. 12/1 The string slums walling in sections of the highways are composed of hot-dog stands, ramshackle overnight cabins, automobile graveyards, cheap dance halls, gaudy taverns and a host of other hideous business places. 1950Ibid. 28 Apr. 18/3 Once string slums come into being, they stay.
1895Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 95/2 Men's folding *string ties. 1916Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 22 July 12/6 (Advt.), Red, white and blue string ties. Made of a nice quality silk crepe de Chine. 1942J. D. Carr Seat of Scornful xi. 152 He welcomed them..wearing a shiny black alpaca suit and a string tie. 1976L. Henderson Major Enquiry xvi. 108 He was dressed in a dark blue suit..pale blue shirt and string tie.
1928J. P. Dunn Student's Guide to Orchestration xii. 54 *String tone permeates every orchestral movement of any length. 1968A. Niland Introd. Organ ii. 30 Undulating stops..are usually of string tone.
1938Oxf. Compan. Mus. 669/1 Geigen Principal.., a sort of slightly *string-toned diapason of 8- or 4-foot length and pitch.
1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxix. ii. 353 Then were the rackes stretched.., the *string-torments also and the whips put in readinesse.
1967D. Pinner Ritual vii. 70 He shoved his nylon socks and *string underwear in the first drawer he found.
1951Catal. of Exhibits, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 96/1 Khaki trousers..*String vests..Long cashmere pants. 1983Listener 3 Feb. 19/3 You can always..don your string vest and boxer shorts and bang hell out of a rowing machine.
1686Lond. Gaz. No. 2120/8 An old *String-Watch (in two Silver Cases).
Senses 32, 33 in Dict. become 34, 35. Add: [III.] 32. Particle Physics. A hypothetical elementary object, postulated in some models to represent the real nature of what are observed to be subatomic particles, consisting of a rapidly spinning massless one-dimensional entity with dynamical properties analogous to those of a flexible elastic string.
1970Progress Theoret. Physics XLIII. 1117/2 It is further suggested that this result may be interpreted by using the model of a continuous string. 1976Sci. Amer. Nov. 57/1 Another model of quark confinement, called the string model... In..[it] hadrons are regarded as flexible, extensible strings in rapid rotation. The string is massless..although it does have potential and kinetic energy. 1980Physics Lett. B. XCVI. 333/1 There are various indications that QCD is related to the string theory. The string is expected to arise at large distances as a result of condensation of electric flux between quarks. 1985New Scientist 29 Aug. 35/1 A meson was thought of as a string with a quark attached to one end and an antiquark to the other. 1986Nature 24 Apr. 678/1 Strings are..extended objects along a single space-like direction; they may vibrate and rotate; and their quantum ‘normal modes’ describe particles with different masses and spins.
33. Astron. In full cosmic string. A hypothetical thread-like concentration of energy with submicroscopic width, which forms loops or has infinite length and is a defect in the structure of space-time, created during the phase transitions of the early universe.
1976Jrnl. Physics A IX. 1387 The formation of domain walls, strings or monopoles depends on the homotopy groups of the manifold of degenerate vacua. Ibid. 1396 The existence of such a network of cosmic strings may have had profound effects on the earlier history of the universe. 1980Monthly Notices R. Astron. Soc. CXCII. 664 The most difficult question concerns the local effects of these exotic strings on the microwave background. 1984Nature 2 Aug. 391/2 Cosmic strings are configurations of the matter fields which owe their stability to the topology of the space of degenerate vacua produced in a phase transition in the early Universe. 1988New Scientist 29 Sept. 44/1 Some theorists have suggested that the cosmic strings may be superconducting. 1989P. D. B. Collins et al. Particle Physics & Cosmol. xvii. 430 Monopoles are pointlike topological defects arising from the spontaneous breakdown of a symmetry, but it is also possible for there to be one-dimensional defects, or strings.
[IV.] [35.] string theory Physics, a theory which postulates that subatomic particles are not points but one-dimensional ‘strings’ (see sense *32 above).
[1974Physics Rep. XII. 61 The theory of the string provides us with a physical interpretation of the dual models.] 1975Rev. Mod. Physics XLVII. 142/2 Closed strings play an important role even in the open *string theory. 1986Nature 16 Oct. 596/1 String theories have been around for about 15 years, and were originally conceived as theories of strongly interacting particles.
▪ II. string, v.|strɪŋ|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. strung. Forms: 6 stringe, strynge, 6– string. pa. tense 7 stringed, 9 dial. strang, 7– strung. pa. pple. 6 strong, 7 strunge, 6– strung; 5 y-strenged, 6 strynged, 7–9 stringed.
[f. string n. Except for an instance of ystrenged (c 1400 in 1), the vb. first appears in the 16th c. The ‘strong’ conjugation in imitation of sing. (cf. ring) has prevailed from 1590 onwards, though a few examples of the weak form stringed occur in the 16–19th c.]
1. trans.
a. To fit (a bow) with its string; to ‘bend’ or prepare for use by slipping the loop of the bowstring into its notch, so that the string is drawn tight.
c1400Laud Troy Bk. 6537 With bowys gode wel y-strenged. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 112 In stringynge youre bowe, you must loke for muche bende or lytle bende. 1697Dryden æneis x. 674 Then, as the winged Weapon whiz'd along; See now, said he, whose Arm is better strung. 1788J. Hurdis Village Curate (1797) 96 He tipt his arrow, strung his bow, and shot. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 43/1 (Archery) The next thing is to ‘string’ or ‘bend’ the bow.
b. To fit or furnish (a musical instrument) with a string or strings; to fix strings in. Also poet., to tighten the strings of (an instrument) to the required pitch; to tune.
1530Rastell Bk. Purgat. ii. xv. d 3 b, As the harper can not make nor shewe no melodye wyth his harpe, excepte yt be strynged and in tewne. 1591Spenser Virg. Gnat 16 Playing on yuorie harp with silver strong. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iii. ii. 78 Orpheus Lute was strung with Poets sinewes. 1676Mace Musick's Mon. 42, I would..that the Scholar be taught to String his Instrument, with Good and True Strings. 1761Sterne Tr. Shandy V. xv, Do you know whether my fiddle's in tune or no?.. 'Tis wickedly strung. 1812Byron Ch. Har. i. xiii, He seized his harp, which he at times could string. 1827J. Stewart in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Mus. (1871) 101 Improvements in pianofortes and in the mode of stringing the same.
c. To fit (the bow of a violin, etc.) with horsehairs stretched from end to end.
1663Butler Hud. i. ii. 126 His grizly Beard was long and thick, With which he strung his Fiddle-stick.
d. To fit (a racket) with strings and cross-strings of cord or catgut.
1884[see stringing vbl. n. 1].
e. To fit (a thing) with the necessary strings or ties to keep it firm or in place.
[1805Edin. Bk. Prices 61 Stringing or banding.] 1931Henley's ABC Gliding & Sailflying 232 Having sewn up all the edges neatly, the next operation is ‘stringing’ the wing to keep the fabric tight to the ribs.
2. To furnish (the body) with nerves or sinews; spec. to furnish (the tongue) with its frænum. Chiefly used as in 3.
1632Lyly's Endimion iii. iii. 125 (Song), When his tongue Once goes, a Cat is not worse strung. 1632Brome North. Lasse Ep. Ded., Though Art neuer strung her tongue; yet once it yeelded a delightfull sound. 1700Dryden Ovid's Met. xv. 343 In time he vaunts among his Youthful Peers, Strong-bon'd, and strung with Nerves, in pride of Years. 1716Gay Trivia iii. 241 Has not wise nature strung the legs and feet With firmest nerves, design'd to walk the street?
fig.1697Dryden æneis Ded. (e) 2 Their Language is not strung with Sinews like our English. 1862Merivale Rom. Emp. lxii. (1865) VII. 354 He lacked the tenacity of fibre which strung the old Roman and Sabine fabric.
3. fig.
a. (often with direct allusion to 1). To make tense, brace, give vigour or tone to (the nerves, sinews, the mind, its ideas or impressions, etc.).
1599Storer Life & D. Wolsey I 1 b, The peoples hearts of late are strung so hard, That they will breake before one note shall sound, Or so vntunable, that still they iar'de. 1699Dryden To John Driden 89 Toil strung the Nerves and purifi'd the Blood. 1725Pope Odyss. viii. 568 He fights, subdues: for Pallas strings his arms. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxxvii, The thought..strung his nerves with vigour, which defied fatigue. 1848–9Lytton K. Arth. iii. xiv, Strung by that sleep, the savage scowl'd around. 1871Freeman Hist. Ess. Ser. i. viii. 229 The besiegers' hearts were strung by every motive which could lead men to defend themselves to the last. 1880Meredith Tragic Com. I. v. 92 A turn of her fingers would string or slacken him.
b. with up.
1845J. Coulter Adv. Pacific xvi. 247 The muscles of every one were strung up for the moment. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xxii, When a man's cold and tired, and hungry,..a good caulker of grog..strings him up and puts him straight. 1898Dubl. Rev. Jan. 163 Perhaps this is an attempt to string up the human ideal too highly for everyday practice.
c. To brace to, rarely for (action) or to (do something). Also, to attune to (a frame of mind). Also (Austral. and N.Z. slang), to egg on.
1748Gray Alliance 69 Need we the influence of the northern star To string our nerves and steel our hearts to war? 1881A. Bathgate Waitaruna 142 A barmaid in one of its hotels..is popularly known as ‘Goodall's stringer’... She makes herself agreeable to those who frequent the house, and so she ‘strings them on’ and induces them to spend their money there. 1888Meredith Reading of Earth 10 Where Life is at her grindstone set, That she may give us edgeing keen, String us for battle, till [etc.]. 1888‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms III. vi. 81 Mr. Hamilton waited for about an hour so as to be sure they weren't stringing him on to go into the open to be potted at.
d. With qualifying adv. (chiefly pass.): To bring to a (specified) condition of tension or sensitiveness. Cf. overstrung 1, high-strung s.v. high adv. 10 a.
1860C. Clive Why Paul Ferroll vi. 135 Elinor, finely strung to sounds. 1863Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. I. vii. 132 But Sylvia was too highly strung for banter. 1866Ballantyne Shifting Winds ii. (1881) 11 A.. British tar..whose nerves were tightly strung and used to danger.
†4. ? To furnish or adorn (a garment) with strings or ties. Obs.
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 8 b, Garmentes of Crymosyn Satyn embroudered..with cloth of gold, cut in Pomegranettes and yokes, strynged after the facion of Spaygne. 1598Florio, Stringolare, to point, to lace, or to string.
5. a. To bind, tie, fasten, or secure with a string or strings; † spec. to fasten (a book) with ribbons or cords (obs.); to tether (an animal).
1613Chapman Rev. Bussy d'Amb. ii. i. D 3, As the foolish Poet that still writ All his most selfe-lou'd verse in paper royall, Or Partchment..Bound richly vp, and strung with Crimson strings. 1641Milton Animadv. 19 Set the grave councels up upon their shelvs again, and string them hard. 1805Wordsw. Prelude v. 240 If..We had been followed, hourly watched, and noosed, Each in his several melancholy walk Stringed like a poor man's heifer at its feed. 1860Geo. Eliot Mill on Fl. iv. iii, Bob took up the small stringed packet of books.
b. To bind (the handle of a cricket-bat) with twine wound tightly round.
1887St. James's Gaz. 16 Feb. 5/1 Makers only string the bat for the purpose of concealing defects and selling the article at a higher price.
6. a. To thread or file (beads and the like) on or as on a string. Also fig. Also with together, etc.
1612Donne Progr. Soule, 2nd Anniv. 208 As these starres were but so many beads Strung on one string. 1712Addison Spect. No. 476 ⁋2 Men of great Learning..often..chuse to throw down their Pearls in Heaps before the Reader, rather than be at the Pains of stringing them. 1783Justamond tr. Raynal's Hist. Indies III. 177 The roots are afterwards strung upon little strings to dry them. 1832L. M. Child Girl's Own Bk. (ed. 4) 68 The hard red seed-vessels of the rose, strung upon strong thread, make quite a pretty necklace. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy vi, James was very busy stringing the fish through the gills upon a piece of osier. 1844‘Jon. Slick’ High Life N. York I. 46 There wasn't a gal..could pull an even yoke with her a stringing onions. 1874H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. App. 297 Necklace.., formed of gold pear-shaped drops strung together. 1901Jrnl. Exper. Med. 1 Oct. 604 They contain much of the basophile substance in the form of fine granules, often strung along in rows.
b. To hang or suspend by a connecting string.
1890Gunter Miss Nobody xxiii. (1891) 268 These [lights] are strung down the avenue and placed here and there through the gardens. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo ii. 27 A rope by which two empty oil tins were strung across the donkey's neck.
c. fig. To compose, put together in connected speech. Sometimes with direct allusion to the literal sense (6). Also with together, up.
16051st Pt. Jeronimo i. i. 60 And well pickt out, knight Marshall; speech well strung. 1620Shelton 2nd Pt. Quix. xliii. 281 Threescore thousand Satans take thee and thy Prouerbs, this howre thou hast beene stringing them one vpon another. 1786Burns Vision iv, Stringing blethers up in rhyme For fools to sing. 1830H. Lee Mem. Manager I. iii. 81 Anecdotes and reminiscences which I am about to string together. 1856N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 223 On this thread of incident are strung the author's views of social life. 1884Manch. Exam. 1 Nov. 5/1 It is easy to indulge in general assertions and to string platitudes together.
d. to string up: to post up the name of (a person) in a list.
1854Surtees Handley Cr. xiv. (1901) I. 98 You can't do better nor follow the example o' the Leamington lads, who string up all the tradespeople with the amount of their [hunt-] subscriptions in the shops and public places.
7. a. To hang, kill by hanging. Usually with up.
1727Gay Begg. Op. iii. xiii, And if rich Men like us were to swing, 'Twou'd thin the Land, such Numbers to string Upon Tyburn Tree! 1786Burns Author's Cry xxii, Tho' by the neck she should be strung, She'll no desert. 1810Lamb Inconv. Being Hanged Wks. 1903 I. 62 We string up dogs, foxes, bats, moles, weasels. Man surely deserves a steadier death. 1893McCarthy Red Diamonds I. 71 They strung him up after a fair trial before Judge Lynch.
fig.1747W. Horsley Fool No. 76 (1748) II. 195 From this..you may readily conclude the Reason why you are stringed up here, as a signal Instance of Folly.
b. intr. To be hanged. Also with up. Sc.
a1714Lockhart Mem. Scot. (ed. 3) Pref. p. ix, My Accusations..are so well founded, that was there, (as we say in Scotland) a right sitting Sheriff, I would not doubt to see some Gentlemen string. 1715Pennecuik Descr. Tweeddale, etc. 139 You must, or you must string. 1817Scott Rob Roy xxx, You have confessed yourself a spy, and should string up to the next tree. 1896‘G. Setoun’ R. Urquhart xxvi. 280, I would ha'e strung for it willin'.
8. a. trans. To deprive (a thing) of its string or strings; to strip the ‘string’ from (a bean-pod); to remove the runners from (a strawberry-bed); to strip (currants) from the stalk.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort., Mar. (1679) 12 Mid-March dress up..and string your Strawberry beds. 1747H. Glasse Cookery (1767) 17 To dress French beans. First string them, then cut them in two. 1888Sheffield Gloss. s.v., To string currants is to unstring them, i.e. to strip the berries off their stalks.
†b. spec. To remove the string from (a lamprey): see string n. 2 b. In quots. as a ‘proper’ term for carving the fish. Obs.
1508–13Bk. Keruynge in Babees Bk. (1868) 265 Strynge that lampraye. 1694N. H. Ladies Dict. 415/1 A Salmon, chine it; a Lamprey, string it; a Pike, splat it.
c. To pull off (bark) from a tree by champing it into strings or fibres.
1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 124 The Deer greedily eat [the bark of the witch elm], and have so great a love for it, that they will string it with their Mouths to the last bit.
9. To furnish, equip, or adorn with something suspended or slung.
1845J. Coulter Adv. Pacific iii. 24 We..shot a number of rabbits, and strung our rigging with geese. 1874H. H. Cole Catal. Ind. Art S. Kens. Mus. 187 Brass and silver wires strung with green..beads. 1906Macm. Mag. Sept. 844 A surly loon strung with a telescope.
10. To draw up in a line or row; to extend in a string or series; to post so as to form a series of detached or separated units. Also with out, up.
a1670Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Club) I. 154 They stringed up their horse company on the other syde of the watter of Dee. 1875W. T. Sherman Mem. I. vi. 163 Ships were strung for miles along the lower levee [of New Orleans]. 1901Conan Doyle in Wide World Mag. VIII. 111/1 Ten thousand men, strung over a large extent of country. 1908S. E. White Riverman xxvi, The rowboats were dragged backward,..and strung out along the bank below.
(b) spec. to place (pipes) end to end along the line of a trench, in preparation for welding them together.
1949Our Industry (Anglo-Iranian Oil Co. Ltd.) (ed. 2) v. 163 The pipes are strung out along the line of the trench and placed into position alongside or over it on temporary supports, and the lengths are then connected by electric welding. 1957Oil & Gas Reporter VI. 1141 The service of ‘stringing pipe’ for oil and gas pipe lines does not, within and of itself, constitute a transportation of property. 1966Petroleum Handbk. (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) (ed. 5) 266/2 The construction phases consist of: clearing and grading the right of way, hauling and ‘stringing’ the pipe, [etc.]. 1968Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 29 Sept. 12/2 The first pipes will be ‘strung out’ this week.
11. a. To extend or stretch (something flexible of rigid) from one point to another. Also with out.
1838Thackeray Yellowpl. Corr. (1865) 4 While you were looking up to prevent hanging yourself with the ropes which were strung across and about. 1885McCook Tenants Old Farm 203 Young spiders often manage to string out structures that oddly resemble a bridge in miniature. 1908S. E. White Riverman xxvi, Old Heinzman..is stringing booms across the river—obstructing navigation. 1911Webster, String v.t. 6. To extend or stretch like a string; as, to string the cables of a suspension bridge.
b. fig. To stretch (something) out in order to make it last.
1867‘Mark Twain’ Sk. New & Old (1875) 73 What is the use of stringing out your lives to a lean and withered old age? 1894― in North Amer. Rev. Apr. 447 It [sc. the story] is not strung out as I have strung it out, but it is all there. 1977P. Hill Fanatics 125 They're just stringing it out, putting off the evil hour.
12. intr.
a. To move or progress in a string or disconnected line; spec. in Hunting, of the hounds. Also with adv., as out, away, off, in.
a1824Old Song in Mactaggart Gallov. Encycl. 257 String awa my crommies, to the milking loan. 1834M. Scott Cruise Midge xx, As we strung along the narrow path in single file. 1875G. J. Whyte-Melville Katerfelto xxiv. (1876) 264 Twenty couple of powerful stag-hounds—stringing somewhat, it may be, as they passed in and out the gnarled substantial stems. 1888W. D. Lighthall Young Seigneur 4 The pedestrians are already stringing off along the road. 1905Blackw. Mag. Jan. 86/2 Watch staghounds when they are laid on. However good the scent, they string out.
b. Of gun-shot: To travel with varying velocity, so that the pellets of one charge arrive at different times at a given point.
1892Greener Breech Loader 267 Having ascertained by actual experiment that at forty yards his shot was stringing from twenty to thirty feet.
c. To hang like a string, be stretched in a string or loose line, from.
1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 259 Her eldest daughter..lounged into the parlour..with her wrap stringing from her arm. 1898Sir G. Robertson Chitral xvi. 181 The British officers..blundered slowly through the torrent with a straggling line of Sepoys stringing from the ponies' tails.
d. To extend or continue. Const. along, out. to string along with: to accompany, to agree with, to support or go along with (usu. without undue enthusiasm). Occas. without const. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1869‘Mark Twain’ Lett. to Publishers (1967) 21 So much of the 400 or 500 pages still left are reprint, and so will string out a heap. 1877― in Atlantic Monthly Nov. 591/1 Isaac knelt down and began to pray: he strung along, and strung along..till everybody had got tired. 1896― in Harper's Mag. Aug. 351/2 Well, the time strung along and along, and that fellow never come! 1927Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Nov. 67/2 To this day the B. F. Keith chain call the small-time ‘The Family Time’ but the players still string along with the theatrical paper [sc. Variety]. 1937J. Steinbeck Of Mice & Men 59 Funny how you an' him string along together. 1946Sun (Baltimore) 31 May 15/1 The majority of the bettors decided to string along with Blind Path, a well bred youngster making his seasonal debut. 1950‘S. Ransome’ Deadly Miss Ashley ix. 103 String along, won't you? Don't let me down. 1955M. Allingham Beckoning Lady iii. 39 She had been..much younger than the crowd which had grown up with Minnie, but she had strung along with them. 1960Wodehouse Jeeves in Offing vii. 75, I string along with that school of thought. 1972L. P. Davies What did I do Tomorrow? ix. 114, I wasn't going to be taken in. I'll string along, I thought. 1978A. Gilchrist Cod Wars xi. 109 If at some particular moment, they were stringing along with those other departments and accepting..a continued tough line of policy, then my warning telegrams might seem tactless, tiresome, inept.
e. to string out: to be under the influence of a drug. Cf. strung ppl. a. 4 c. U.S. slang.
1967Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang Suppl. 706/1 String out, to use or be addicted to narcotics; to be ‘high’ on a drug. 1970Sunday Tel. 20 Dec. 6/6 How long did you string out?
13. Of a viscous or glutinous substance: To form into strings, become stringy.
1839Ure Dict. Arts 1267 Let it [material for varnish] boil until it will string very strong. 1850Holtzapffel Turning III. 1385 Let it boil until it strings freely between the fingers.
14. Billiards.
†a. trans. See quot. and king n. 9 d. Obs.
1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 23 If the Follower intend to hit his Adversaries Ball, or pass at one stroke he must string his Ball, that is, lay it even with the King. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 262/2.
b. intr. See quot. 1896.
[1788: cf. stringing-nail s.v. stringing vbl. n. 3.] 1814C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 373 Rules...1. String for the lead and choice of balls. 1839E. Kentfield Billiards 29 In commencing the game, string for the lead. 1896W. Broadfoot Billiards iii. (Badm. Libr.) 106 To string is to play from baulk to the top cushion so as to leave player's ball near the baulk-line or bottom cushion as may be selected. Before a match the players string simultaneously for choice of balls, and for the option of commencing the game.
15. a. trans. To fool, deceive, humbug. slang (now chiefly U.S.).
1812J. H. Vaux Vocab. Flash Lang. in Mem. (1964) 251 To banter or jest with a man by amusing him with false assurances or professions, is also termed stringing him, or getting him in tow. 1846Swell's Night Guide 133/1 String, to, to impose on a person's belief by some joke or lie. 1898A. M. Binstead Pink 'Un & Pelican v. 115 She strung him for fifty bob on an old tea-chest an' a jar o' pickled inyuns! 1901Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 858/2 ‘Some one has been stringin' those reporters!’ thought Dan. 1910W. Churchill Mod. Chron. i. ix. 114, I watched you last night when you were stringing the Vicomte. 1931P. MacDonald Crime Conductor i. i. 3 ‘It isn't!’ said the Assistant Editor incredulously. ‘You're stringing me!’ 1959‘R. Macdonald’ Galton Case xviii. 147 They were stringing you. They just don't want a woman in the way. 1982H. Engel Ransom Game i. 5, I guess I don't have any reason to believe they'd string me.
b. to string (someone) along: to fool or deceive (someone); spec. to encourage (someone) to remain in a state of misplaced confidence. Cf. sense 3 c. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1902G. H. Lorimer Lett. Merchant xviii. 270 Clytie had been stringing the old lady along, intending to produce Bud's spook as a sort of..climax. 1924P. Marks Plastic Age xviii. 206 I'm afraid that he's just stringing me along, trying to encourage me. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise ix. 158 He told me to string him along. And afterwards, quite suddenly, he told me to give him the push. 1943K. Tennant Ride on Stranger viii. 84 ‘If he was taking you to lunch..you might work us in somewhere.’ ‘String him along, kid,’ Douglas encouraged... ‘We're with you.’ 1959H. Hobson Mission House Murder xviii. 123 How do I know you're not stringing me along, just to get Sharon to go back? 1962A. Lurie Love & Friendship xi. 208 Why not string Dr. Flory along? 1978H. C. Rae Sullivan i. iii. 39, I don't appreciate being strung along by a contract employee.
16. intr. To work as a stringer (sense 11).
1960G. Edinger Twain shall Meet xv. 187 European journalists, stringing for papers in America or Britain. 1966E. West Night is Time for Listening ii. 49 ‘It's not an assignment,’ Darsoss said. ‘I've been stringing.’ 1972Maclean's Mag. June 82/1 Fred Cleverly is a CBC news reporter in Winnipeg. He also strings for the Toronto Star. 1977I. Shaw Beggarman, Thief iii. ii. 202 An old newspaperman in Elysium, Ohio, who occasionally strings for us when there's anything of interest happening in that part of the world. |