| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| string |
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| PRONUNCIATION: |  str ng |
| NOUN: | 1. A cord usually made of fiber, used for fastening, tying, or lacing. 2. Something configured as a long, thin line: limp strings of hair. 3. A plant fiber. 4. A set of objects threaded together: a string of beads. 5. A series of similar or related acts, events, or items arranged or falling in or as if in a line. See synonyms at series. 6. Computer Science A set of consecutive characters. 7. Informal a. A set of animals, especially racehorses, belonging to a single owner; a stable. b. A scattered group of businesses under a single ownership or management: a string of boutiques. 8. Sports A group of players ranked according to ability within a team: He made the second string. 9. Music a. A cord stretched on an instrument and struck, plucked, or bowed to produce tones. b. strings The section of a band or orchestra composed of stringed instruments. c. strings Stringed instruments or their players considered as a group. 10. Architecture a. A stringboard. b. A stringcourse. 11. Games The balk line in billiards. 12. Sports A complete game consisting of ten frames in bowling. 13. Informal A limiting or hidden condition. Often used in the plural: a gift with no strings attached. | | VERB: | Inflected forms: strung ( str ng), string·ing, strings
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To fit or furnish with strings or a string: string a guitar. 2. To thread on a string. 3. To arrange in a string or series. Often used with out. 4. To fasten, tie, or hang with a string or strings. 5. To stretch out or extend: string a wire across a room. 6. To strip (vegetables) of fibers. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To form strings or become stringlike. 2. To extend or progress in a string, line, or succession. | | PHRASAL VERBS: | string along Informal 1. To go along with something; agree. 2. To keep (someone) waiting or in a state of uncertainty. 3. To fool, cheat, or deceive. string out To draw out; prolong. string up Informal To kill (someone) by hanging. | | IDIOM: | on a (or the) string Under one's complete control or influence. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English, from Old English streng.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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