string

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to: navigation, search
See also: strings

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English string, streng, strynge, from Old English streng (“string, cord, rope; tackle, rigging; ligament, ligature, sinew; line, lineage”), from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (“string”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“rope, cord, strand; to tighten”). Cognate with Scots string (“string”), Dutch streng (“cord, strand”), Low German strenge (“strand, cord, rope”), German Strang (“strand, cord, rope”), Danish streng (“string”), Swedish sträng (“string, cord, wire”), Icelandic strengur (“string”), Latvian stringt (“to be tight, wither”), Latin strangulō ("strangle, choke"; < Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangaloomai, “to strangle”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”)), Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “tied together, entangled, twisted”), Irish sreang (“string, wire”).

Noun[edit]

string (countable and uncountable, plural strings)

  1. (countable) A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.
    • Prior
      Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string.
  2. (uncountable) Such a structure considered as a substance.
  3. (countable) Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
    a violin string
    a bowstring
  4. 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 string of shells or beads; a string of sausages
    • Gibbon
      a string of islands
  5. (countable) A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.
    The string of spittle dangling from his chin was most unattractive
  6. (countable) A series of items or events.
    a string of successes
  7. (countable, computing) An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.
  8. (music, countable) A stringed instrument.
  9. (music, usually in plural) The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.
  10. (in the plural) The conditions and limitations in a contract collecively. (cf. no strings attached)
    no strings attached
  11. (countable, physics) the main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics
  12. (slang) cannabis or marijuana
  13. A miniature game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.
  14. The points made in a game of billiards.
  15. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
  16. A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.
    • Francis Bacon
      Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the water, from the bottom.
  17. A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
    • Bible, Mark vii. 35
      The string of his tongue was loosed.
  18. (shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
  19. (botany) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.
    the strings of beans
  20. (mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ure to this entry?)
  21. (architecture) A stringcourse.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Synonyms[edit]

  • (long, thin structure): cord, rope, line
  • (this structure as a substance): cord, rope, twine
  • (anything long and thin):
  • (cohesive substance in the form of a string):
  • (series of items or events): sequence, series
  • (sequence of characters in computing):
  • (stringed instruments): string section the strings, or the string section
  • (conditions): conditions, provisos

Translations[edit]

stringed instrument — see stringed instrument

Verb[edit]

string (third-person singular simple present strings, present participle stringing, simple past and past participle strung)

  1. (transitive) To put (items) on a string.
    You can string these beads on to this cord to make a colorful necklace.
  2. (transitive) To put strings on (something).
    It is difficult to string a tennis racket properly.

Synonyms[edit]

  • (put on a string): thread
  • (put strings on): lace

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Derived terms[edit]

External links[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English string.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

string m (plural strings, diminutive stringetje n)

  1. (clothing) G-string, thong
  2. (computing) character string

Synonyms[edit]

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English string.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

string m (plural strings)

  1. G-string, thong, tanga

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English string.

Noun[edit]

string c

  1. G-string, thong

Derived terms[edit]

Retrieved from "http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=string&oldid=26125758"