strain

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A group of bacteria or viruses that are genetically distinct from other groups of the same species.
• noun A group of cultivated plants or domestic animals of the same species that have distinctive characteristics but are not considered a separate breed or variety.
• noun The collective descendants of a common ancestor; a race, stock, line, or breed.
• noun Any of the various lines of ancestry united in an individual or a family; ancestry or lineage.
• noun A kind or sort.
• noun An inborn or inherited tendency or character.
• noun An inherent quality; a streak.
• noun The tone, tenor, or substance of a verbal utterance or of a particular action or behavior.
• noun Music A passage of expression; a tune or an air.
• noun A passage of poetic and especially lyrical expression.
• noun An outburst or a flow of eloquent or impassioned language.
• intransitive verb To pull, draw, or stretch tight.
• intransitive verb Physics To cause distortion of (a body's parts or shape) by applying an external force; deform.
• intransitive verb To exert, use, or tax to the utmost.
• intransitive verb To injure or impair by overuse or overexertion; wrench.
• intransitive verb To damage or weaken by pressure or tension.
• intransitive verb To force beyond the proper or reasonable limit.
• intransitive verb To pass (a liquid) through a filtering agent such as a strainer.
• intransitive verb To draw off or remove by filtration.
• intransitive verb Archaic To embrace or clasp tightly; hug.
• intransitive verb To make strong or steady efforts; strive hard.
• intransitive verb To contract or exert one's muscles to the utmost.
• intransitive verb To pull or push forcibly or violently.
• intransitive verb To be or become wrenched or twisted.
• intransitive verb To be subjected to great stress.
• intransitive verb To pass through a filtering agent.
• noun The act of straining.
• noun The state of being strained.
• noun Extreme or laborious effort, exertion, or work.
• noun A great or excessive demand or stress on one's body, mind, or resources.
• noun The state of being subjected to such demands or stresses.
• noun A wrench, twist, or other physical injury resulting from excessive tension, effort, or use.
• noun Physics Any of several kinds of deformation of the dimensions of a body when subjected to stress, as axial strain or elastic strain.
• noun An exceptional degree or pitch.
• idiom (strain at stool) To have difficulty defecating.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To distrain.
• In photography, said of a lens when an object is brought so near that the image appears distorted.
• noun Race; stock; generation; descent; hence, family blood; quality or line as regards breeding; breed; a race or breed; a variety, especially an artificial variety, of a domestic animal.
• noun Hereditary or natural disposition; turn; tendency; character.
• noun Sort; kind; style.
• noun Trace; streak.