Strait
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( superl.) Narrow; not broad.
(2): ( a.) A variant of Straight.
(3): ( superl.) Tight; close; closely fitting.
(4): ( superl.) Close; intimate; near; familiar.
(5): ( superl.) Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.
(6): ( superl.) Difficult; distressful; straited.
(7): ( superl.) Parsimonious; niggargly; mean.
(8): ( adv.) Strictly; rigorously.
(9): ( a.) Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; - sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits.
(10): ( a.) A narrow pass or passage.
(11): ( a.) A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; - often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.
(12): ( a.) A neck of land; an isthmus.
(13): ( v. t.) To put to difficulties.
King James Dictionary [2]
STRAIT, a. See Straight.
1. Narrow close not broad.
Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it. Matthew 7 .
2. Close intimate as a strait degree of favor. 3. Strict rigorous.
He now, forsooth, takes on him to reform some certain edicts, and some strait decrees.
4. Difficult distressful. 5. Straight not crooked.
STRAIT, n. See Straight.
1. A narrow pass or passage, either in a mountain or in the ocean, between continents or other portions of land as the straits of Gibraltar the straits of Magellan the straits of Dover. In this sense, the plural is more generally used than the singular, and often without any apparent reason or propriety. 2. Distress difficulty distressing necessity formerly written streight. Used either in the singular or plural.
Let no man who owns a providence, become desperate under any calamity or strait whatsoever.
Ulysses made use of the pretense of natural infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that time in his thoughts.
STRAIT, To put to difficulties. Not in use.
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [3]
Narrow, and difficult to pass, Matthew 7:13,14 . This word should not be confounded with straight. To be "in a strait," is to have one's way beset with doubts or difficulties, to be at a loss, 1 Samuel 13:6 2 Samuel 24:14 Philippians 1:23 .
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [4]
STRAIT . This Eng. word is used in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] in the literal sense of ‘narrow,’ and in the figurative sense of ‘strict’ (of which it is simply another form). Once the verb ‘strait’ occurs, Sus 22 ‘I am straited on every side.’
