string

English

/stɹɪŋ/

noun
Definitions
  • (countable) A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.
  • (uncountable) Such a structure considered as a substance.
  • (countable) Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
  • 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.
  • (countable) A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.
  • (countable) A series of items or events.
  • (countable) The members of a sports team or squad regarded as most likely to achieve success. (Perhaps metaphorical as the "strings" that hold the squad together.) Often first string, second string etc.
  • (countable) In various games and competitions, a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.
  • A drove of horses, or a group of racehorses kept by one owner or at one stable.
  • (countable) An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.
  • (music) A stringed instrument.
  • (music) The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.
  • (in the plural) The conditions and limitations in a contract collectively.
  • (countable) The main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics.
  • (slang) Cannabis or marijuana.
  • (billiards) Part of the 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.
  • (historical) The buttons strung on a wire by which the score is kept.
  • (billiards) The points made in a game of billiards.
  • (billiards) The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.
  • A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
  • (archaic) A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.
  • (archaic) A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
  • (shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
  • (botany) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.
  • (mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
  • (architecture) A stringcourse.
  • (dated) A hoax; a fake story.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English string inherited from Old English streng (cord, lineage, ligament, rigging, tackle, sinew, ligature, string, rope, line) inherited from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (string) derived from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (rope, cord, strand, be tight, draw, tie, pulled tight, straight, constricted, tighten).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*strengʰ-

Gloss

rope, cord, strand, be tight, draw, tie, pulled tight, straight, constricted, tighten

Concept
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Kanji

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Timeline

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Cognates and derived terms