race; stock; generation; descent; family.-hereditary character, quality, or disposition.-rank; a sort.-to draw with force; to extend with great effort; to stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument.-to act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.-to exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.-to stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in order to convict an accused person.-to injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.-to injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as, to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to strain a muscle.-to squeeze; to press closely.-to make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.-to urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a petition or invitation.-to press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.-to make violent efforts.-to percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through a sandy soil.-the act of straining, or the state of being strained.-a violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.-a change of form or dimensions of a solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress.-a portion of music divided off by a double bar; a complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any rounded subdivision of a movement.-any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme; motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears in his career.-turn; tendency; inborn disposition.  cf. 1st strain.