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Strait

Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary
web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html


STRAIT, adj., v. and sb. Sc. Dur. Yks. Lan. Chs. Der.
Not. Lei. Nhp. War. Shr. Also in form stret Sc. Bnff.1
w.Yks.2 Chs.1 Chs.3 Not.1 Lei.1 Nhp.2 War.3 Shr.1 Shr.2 [strēt;
stret.] 1. adj. Narrow, confining, constraining; tight,
too small; tense. Also used advb. and fig.
Bnff.1 Ma jacket's our stret. e.Dur.1 Common. Yon's a strait
place. n.Yks.1 w.Yks.2 Her dress were that stret at shoo
couldn't stride o'er t'brook. ne.Lan.1 Chs.1 ‘Tee it stret,’ tie it
tightly; Chs.3, Der. (R.J.B.) Not. That ‘hardly ever's’ a bit
stret for what's in't, Prior Forest Flk. (1901) 36; (J.H.B.); Not.1
s.Not. Y'uv pulled the string too stret. This shutt's a sight too
stret for me (J.P.K.). Lei.1 Ah stooffed 'im [a bull-finch] so stret
as it med all 'is feathers stan' oop. War.3 Shr.1 Yo' mun pŭt
that cheese-fillet on as stret as yo' can get it, else the cheese 'll
bulge; Shr.2
2. Comb. (1) Strait bields, shelter; a shelter formed by
a steep hill; (2) Strait-corking, bottom fishing with a straight
taut line and a heavily-weighted float; (3) Strait-fingered,
honest; (4) Strait-staff, a stretcher between the chains of a
plough-staff, to keep the chains tense; (5) Strait-work, narrow
roads driven in the coal to facilitate the ‘winning’ in a mine.
(1) Peb. The natural shelters are the leeward sides of hills of
steep declivity, or strait bields, Agric. Surv. (Jam.) (2) Not.1
(3) Nhp.2 (4) Chs.1, Shr.1 (5) w.Yks. (S.J.C.)
3. Tight, hard, close. Also used advb. and fig.
ne.Sc. The seller on receiving payment returned a luck penny
to the buyer, a sixpence, a shilling, or a larger sum if it was
thought a stret bargain, Gregor Flk-Lore (1881) 189. Lnk. They
grip their gear sae stret They live an' die in their ain debt,
Watson Poems (1853) 16.
4. Straitened, deficient in, in want of, ‘hard up.’
Bnff.1 He's gey stret o' siller. Not.1 Lei.1 As we're so stret
for speakers to-dee. Nhp.2 We are so strett for water. War.3
5. Of a sore: stiff.
s.Not. When a worked again after a rest that sore place on my
foot sempt stret (J.P.K.).
6. Steep. Bnff.1 That's a stret brae.
7. v. To straiten; to puzzle. e.An. (Hall.) 8. To
tighten, esp. in phr. to strait the pin, see below.
Sc. Strait the pin, to tighten the temper-pin of a spinning wheel,
keep it at the right pitch, which implies close attention to the
spinning, hence strait the pin, attend to your spinning, mind
your work (Jam. Suppl.). n.Sc. He quickly lap upo' the horse
And strait the stirrups siccarlie, Buchan Ballads (1828) I. 114, ed.
1875. Abd. Lasses, occupy your wheel, And strait the pin,
Keith Farmer's Ha' (1774) st. 15; (Jam.)
9. Fig. To take a good, hearty meal. Bnff.1 Hence
Stretan, sb. a hearty meal. JAM. 10. sb. A difficult
position; a difficulty.
Frf. It was a terrible strait wi' the sea and surf upon the
schooner, Sands Poems (1833) 143. w.Yks. (J.W.) s.Not. As
Paul said, ‘I'm in a stret between two’ (J.P.K.).

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STRAIT, see Straight.

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