Category:String

String, n. Etym: [oe. string, streng, as. streng; akin to d. streng, G. strang, icel. strengr, sw. sträng, dan. stræng; probably from the adj., E. strong (see strong); or perhaps originally meaning, twisted, and akin to e. strangle.]

1. A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of leather, or other substance, used for binding together, fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread and smaller than a rope; as, a Shoe string; a bonnet string; a silken string. Shak. Round ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string. Prior.

2. A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a string of houses; a string of arguments. "A string of islands." Gibbon.

3. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held Together. Milton.

4. The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as, the strings took up the theme. "An instrument of ten strings." Psalms 33:2. Me softer airs befit, and softer strings of lute, or viol still. Milton.

5. The line or cord of a bow. Psalms 11:2. He twangs the grieving string. Pope.

6. A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root. Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the Bottom. Bacon.

7. A nerve or tendon of an animal body. The string of his tongue was loosed. Mark 7:35.

8. (shipbuilding)

Defn: an inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.

9. (bot.)

Defn: the tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily pulled off; as, the strings of beans.

10. (mining)

Defn: a small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein. Ure.

11. (arch.)

Defn: same as stringcourse.

12. (billiards)

Defn: the points made in a game. String band (mus.), a band of musicians using only, or chiefly, stringed instruments. -- string beans. (a) a dish prepared from the unripe pods of several Kinds of beans; -- so called because the strings are stripped off. (b) any kind of beans in which the pods are used for cooking before The seeds are ripe; usually, the low bush bean. -- to have two strings to one's bow, to have a means or expedient in Reserve in case the one employed fails.

String String, v. t. [imp. Strung; p. p. Strung (r. Stringed); p. pr. & vb. N. Stringing.]

1. To furnish with strings; as, to string a violin. Has not wise nature strung the legs and feet with firmest nerves, Designed to walk the street gay.

2. To put in tune the strings of, as a stringed instrument, in order To play upon it. For here the muse so oft her harp has strung, that not a mountain Rears its head unsung. Addison.

3. To put on a string; to file; as, to string beads.

4. To make tense; to strengthen. Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood. Dryden.

5. To deprive of strings; to strip the strings from; as, to string beans. See string, n., 9.