different between nature vs strain

English

Alternative forms

• natuer (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English nature, natur, from Old French nature, from Latin n?t?ra (“birth, origin, natural constitution or quality”), future participle from perfect passive participle (g)natus (“born”), from deponent verb (g)nasci (“to be born, originate”) + future participle suffix -urus. Displaced native Middle English cunde, icunde (“nature, property, type, genus, character”) (from Old English ?ecynd), Middle English lund (“nature, disposition”) (from Old Norse lund), Middle English burthe (“nature, birth, nation”) (from Old English ?ebyrd and Old Norse *byrðr). More at kind.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?ne?t??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?ne?t??/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /?n??t??/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?næ??t??/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /?næet??/, [?næet??~?n?et??]
• Rhymes: -e?t??(?)
• Hyphenation: na?ture

Noun

nature (countable and uncountable, plural natures)

1. (uncountable) The natural world; that which consists of all things unaffected by or predating human technology, production, and design. (Compare ecosystem.)
   • 1891, Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying

     Nature has good intentions, of course, but, as Aristotle once said, she cannot carry them out. When I look at a landscape I cannot help seeing all its defects.

2. The innate characteristics of a thing. What something will tend by its own constitution, to be or do. Distinct from what might be expected or intended.
   • 1920, Herman Cyril McNeile, Bulldog Drummond, Ch.1:

     Being by nature of a cheerful disposition, the symptom did not surprise his servant, late private of the same famous regiment, who was laying breakfast in an adjoining room.

   • 1869, Horatio Alger, Jr., Mark the Match Boy, chapter 16:

     Mark hardly knew whether to believe this or not. He already began to suspect that Roswell was something of a humbug, and though it was not in his nature to form a causeless dislike, he certainly did not feel disposed to like Roswell.

3. The summary of everything that has to do with biological, chemical and physical states and events in the physical universe.
4. Conformity to that which is natural, as distinguished from that which is artificial, or forced, or remote from actual experience.
5. Kind, sort; character; quality.

   • A dispute of this nature caused mischief.

   • Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations.

6. (obsolete) Physical constitution or existence; the vital powers; the natural life.
7. (obsolete) Natural affection or reverence.

Synonyms

• (innate characteristics of a thing): quintessence, whatness; See also Thesaurus:essence

Derived terms

Pages starting with “nature”.

Related terms

Translations

Verb

nature (third-person singular simple present natures, present participle naturing, simple past and past participle natured)

1. (obsolete) To endow with natural qualities.

References

• nature at OneLook Dictionary Search
• nature in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "nature" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 219.
• nature in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• nature in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• aunter, natuer, tea urn, tea-urn, unrate

Esperanto

Adverb

nature

1. naturally

French

Etymology

From Old French nature, borrowed from Latin n?t?ra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na.ty?/

Noun

nature f (plural natures)

1. nature
2. (grammar) lexical category

Derived terms

Adjective

nature (plural natures)

1. plain, unseasoned

   Une brioche nature ou sucrée ?

   File-moi un yaourt nature s’il te plait.

2. bareback, raw dog

   Une fellation nature.

Further reading

• “nature” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Noun

nature f

1. plural of natura

Adjective

nature (invariable)

1. natural

Anagrams

• neutra

Latin

Participle

n?t?re

1. vocative masculine singular of n?t?rus

Middle Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French nature, from Latin n?t?ra.

Noun

nature f

1. nature, force of nature
2. laws of nature, natural order
3. nature, innate characteristics
4. kind, sort
5. origin
6. sexual fertility, sex drive

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: natuur
• Limburgish: netuur, netuuer

Further reading

• “nature”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929) , “nature”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, ?ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

• natur, natour, nateure, nater

Etymology

From Old French nature, from Latin n?t?ra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na??tiu?r/

Noun

nature (plural natures)

1. The Universe, existence, creation
2. nature, the natural world
3. natural abilities
4. natural inevitability, nature (as opposed to nurture)
5. natural morals, natural law
6. natural needs or requirements
7. nature, state, condition
8. species, kind, type
9. Nature (allegory)

Related terms

• natural

Descendants

• English: nature
• Scots: natur, naitur, naeter, nature
• Yola: naatur

References

• “n?t?r(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-02.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French nature, borrowed from Latin n?t?ra.

Noun

nature f (plural natures)

1. nature

Descendants

• French: nature

Old French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin n?t?ra.

Noun

nature f (oblique plural natures, nominative singular nature, nominative plural natures)

1. nature (natural world; nonhuman world)
2. nature (character; qualities)

Descendants

• ? Middle English: nature
  • English: nature
• Middle French: nature
  • French: nature
• ? Welsh: natur

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?e??n/
• Rhymes: -e?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English streen, strene, streon, istreon (“race, stock, generation”), from Old English str?on, ?estr?on (“gain, wealth”), from Proto-Germanic *streun? (“heap, treasure, profit, gain”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread, strew”) (cognate with Old Saxon gistriuni, Old High German gistriuni (“gain, property, wealth, business”), Latin strues (“heap”)). Confused in Middle English with the related noun strend, strynd, strund, from Old English str?nd (“race; stock”), from str?onan, str?nan (“to beget; acquire”). Related also to Dutch struinen (“to prowl, root about, rout”).

Noun

strain (plural strains)

1. (archaic) Race; lineage, pedigree.
2. (biology) A particular variety of a microbe, virus, or other organism, usually a taxonomically infraspecific one.
3. (figuratively) Hereditary character, quality, tendency, or disposition.

   Synonyms: propensity, proneness

   • a. 1694, John Tillotson, The Advantages of Religion to Societies

     Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which being propogated, spoil the strain of a nation.

4. (music, poetry) Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or burden, of a song, poem, etc.

   Synonyms: theme, motive, manner, style

5. Language that is eloquent, poetic, or otherwise heightened.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

6. (rare) A kind or sort (of person etc.).
7. (obsolete) Treasure.
8. (obsolete) The blood-vessel in the yolk of an egg.

Translations

Related terms

• strew

Etymology 2

From Middle English straynen, streinen, streynen, from Old French estreindre (whence French étreindre (“to grip”)), from Latin stringere (“to draw tight together, to tie”).

Verb

strain (third-person singular simple present strains, present participle straining, simple past and past participle strained)

1. (obsolete) To hold tightly, to clasp.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:

     So hauing said, her twixt her armes twaine / She straightly straynd, and colled tenderly [...].

   • Evander with a close embrace / Strained his departing friend.

   • 1859, Ferna Vale, Natalie; or, A Gem Among the Sea-Weeds

     "Farewell!"—the mother strained her child to her heart again, and again put her from her, to embrace her more closely.

2. To apply a force or forces to by stretching out.

   to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a ship

   Relations between the United States and Guatemala traditionally have been close, although at times strained by human rights and civil/military issues.

3. To damage by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of force.

   The gale strained the timbers of the ship.

4. To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of form or volume, as when bending a beam.
5. To exert or struggle (to do something), especially to stretch (one's senses, faculties etc.) beyond what is normal or comfortable.

   Sitting in back, I strained to hear the speaker.

   • They strain their warbling throats / To welcome in the spring.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4

     Thus my plight was evil indeed, for I had nothing now to burn to give me light, and knew that 'twas no use setting to grout till I could see to go about it. Moreover, the darkness was of that black kind that is never found beneath the open sky, no, not even on the darkest night, but lurks in close and covered places and strains the eyes in trying to see into it.

6. To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in terms of intent or meaning.

   to strain the law in order to convict an accused person

   • 1724, Jonathan Swift, Drapier's Letters, 4

     There can be no other meaning in this expression, however some may pretend to strain it.

7. (transitive) To separate solid from liquid by passing through a strainer or colander
8. (intransitive) To percolate; to be filtered.

   water straining through a sandy soil

9. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent effort; to force; to constrain.
   • 1641, John Denham, The Sophy

     [He] Still talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth / Is forc'd and strained.
10. To urge with importunity; to press.

    to strain a petition or invitation
11. (transitive) hug somebody; to hold somebody tightly.

Derived terms

• strain every nerve

Translations

Noun

strain (countable and uncountable, plural strains)

1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained.
   • 1832, Charles Stewart Drewry (A.M.I.C.E.), A memoir on suspension bridges, page 183:

     If the Menai Bridge, for instance, were loaded at that rate, the entire strain on the main chains would be about 2000 tons ; while the chains containing 260 square inches of iron would bear, at 9 tons per square inch, 2340 tons, without stretching  ...

   • 2004, Sanjay Shrivastava, Medical Device Materials: Proceedings from the Materials & Processes for Medical Devices Conference 2003, 8-10 September 2003, Anaheim, California, ASM International (?ISBN), page 176:

     Therefore, the goal of this study is to assess the influence of strain on the corrosion resistance of passivated Nitinol and stainless steel implant materials. Materials and Methods Nitinol (50.8%at. Ni) wire (NDC, Fremont, CA) and 316L stainless ...

2. A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or tension, as of the muscles.

3. An injury resulting from violent effort; a sprain.
4. (uncountable, engineering) A dimensionless measure of object deformation either referring to engineering strain or true strain.
5. (obsolete) The track of a deer.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 145:

     When they have shot a Deere by land, they follow him like bloud-hounds by the bloud, and straine, and oftentimes so take them.

Derived terms

• breaking strain

Translations

Related terms

• stress
• strict
• stringent

Etymology 3

From Middle English strenen (“to beget, father, procreate”), from Old English str?onan, str?enan, str?nan (“to beget, generate, gain, acquire”), from Proto-Germanic *striunijan? (“to furnish, decorate, acquire”).

Verb

strain (third-person singular simple present strains, present participle straining, simple past and past participle strained)

1. (obsolete) To beget, generate (of light), engender, copulate (both of animals and humans), lie with, be born, come into the world.

Anagrams

• Sartin, Tarins, Trains, atrins, instar, santir, sartin, starin', tairns, tarins, trains