Streptostylica 
(lia and Sauria (including Amphisbfena'). ,S7- 
niiis, 1856. 
Streptothrix (strep 'to-thriks), . [NL. (F. 
Colin), < Gr. mpc^ro^, twisted, + Opif, the hair.] 
A genus standing probably intermediate be- 
tween the bacteria and the fungi proper, it 
comprises very minute, colorless, branching flhimunts, 
growing in interlacing masses like the mycelium of fungi. 
S. foergteri was found by Cohn in the concretions of the 
lacrymal canals of the eye. 
stress 1 (stres), v. t. [< OF. estrecicr, cslrcssier, 
estrechicr, estroyssicr, etc., straiten, contract, < 
ML. as if *ttrictiare, < L. strictus, pp. of strin- 
gere, draw together, compress: see stringent. 
strain 1 , strict. Cf. distress."] 1. To straiten; 
constrain; press; urge; hamper. [Bare.] 
If the magistrate be so stressed that he cannot protect 
those that are pious and peaceable, the Lord help. 
Waterhouse, Apol. for Learning, p. 155. (Latham.) 
2. In mech., to subject to a stress. 
The theory of elastic solids . . . shows that when a solid 
is stressed the state of stress is completely determined 
when the amount and direction of the three principal 
stresses are known. Thomson and Tait, Nat Phil., 8 832. 
3. To lay the stress, emphasis, or accent on ; 
emphasize. 
If he had eased his heart in stressing the first syllable, 
it was only temporary relief. 
0. Meredith, The Egoist, xviil. 
stress 1 (stres), n. [< stress 1 , .] 1. Constrain- 
ing, urging, or impelling force; constraining 
power or influence; pressure; urgency; vio- 
lence. 
By stress of weather driven, 
At last they landed. Dryden, ^Eneid, 1. 503. 
2. In mech., an elastic force, whether in equi- 
librium with an external force or not ; the force 
called into play by a strain. This word was intro- 
duced into mechanics by Kankine in 1855. In the follow- 
ing year Sir William Thomson used the word as synony- 
mous with pressure, or an external force balanced by elas- 
tic forces. The terminology has been further confused 
by the use of Rankine's word strain, by Thomson and 
others, as a synonym for deformation. The words stress 
and strain are needed in the senses originally given to 
them by liankine ; while they both have familiar equiva- 
lents to which they have been wrested. At present, some 
writers use them in one way and some in the other. 
In this paper the word strain will be used to denote the 
change of volume and figure constituting the deviation 
of a molecule of a solid from that condition which it pre- 
serves when free from the action of external forces ; and 
the word stress will be used to denote the force, or com- 
bination of forces, which such a molecule exerts in tend- 
ing to recover its free condition, and which, for a state of 
equilibrium, is equal and opposite to the combination of 
external forces applied to it. 
Ranlcine, Axes of Elasticity, 2. 
A stressis an equilibrating application of force toabody. 
... It will be seen that I have deviated slightly from Mr. 
Rankine's definition of the word stress, as I have applied 
it to the direct action experienced by a body from the 
matter around it, and not, as proposed by him, to the 
elastic reaction of the body equal and opposite to that 
action. Thomson, Phil. Trans., CLXVI. 487. 
3. Stretch; strain; effort. 
Though the faculties of the mind are improved by ex- 
ercise, yet they must not he put to a stress beyond their 
strength. Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, xxvlil. 
4. Weight ; importance ; special force or sig- 
nificance; emphasis. 
Consider how great a stress he laid upon this duty, . . . 
and how earnestly he recommended it. Bp. Atterbury. 
This, on which the great stress of the business depends. 
Locke. (Johnson.) 
So rare the sweep, so nice the art, 
That lays no stress on any part. 
Lowell, Appledore. 
5. The relative loudness with which certain 
syllables or parts of syllables are pronounced; 
emphasis in utterance ; accent ; ictus. In elocu- 
tion, initial, opening, or radical stress is stress or emphasis 
at the beginning ; medial or median stress is that in the 
middle; and close, final, or vanishing stress is stress at the 
end of a vowel-sound. The union of initial and final is 
compound stress, that of all three stresses is thorough stress. 
Anticlastic stress. Heeantidastic. Axisof a stress 
tion. Center of stress. See center!. Close stress" See 
def. s. Composition of stresses. See composition of 
displacements, under composition. Compound stress 
See def. 5. Concurrent stress and strain. See coii- 
current. Final stress. See def. 5. Homogeneous 
Stress, in mech., a stress which affects alike all similar 
and similarly turned portions of matter within the boun- 
dary within which the stress is said to be homogeneous. 
-Initial stress. See def. B.-Lateral stress. See 
lateral. Medial, median stress. See def. 5. Normal 
stress, a stress such that its tendency to change the 
relative positions of two parts of a solid always acts 
along the normals to the surface separating those parts, 
such a stress consists of three extensive or compressive 
stresses along three rectangular axes. Orthogonal 
stress, (a) Relatively to a homogeneous strain, a stress 
which neither increases nor diminishes the work of pro- 
ducing that strain. (6) Relatively to another stress, a stress 
5988 
orthogonal to a strain perfectly concurrent with the other 
stress. Perfectly concurrent stress, (a) Relatively to 
another stress, a stress equal to that other multiplied by 
a real number. (&) Relatively to an infinitesimal homoge- 
neous strain, a stress such that, if the strain be so com- 
pounded with a rotation as to produce a pure strain, the 
motions of the particles upon the surface of a sphere rela- 
tively to its center represent in magnitude and direction 
(lie components of the stress. Principal tension of a 
stress, a component of the stress along one of its axes. 
Radical stress. See def. s. Shearing stress, a stress 
tending to produce a shear. Storm and stress. See 
storm. SynclastiC stress, a stress upon a plate tending 
to give it a positive curvature. Tangential stress, a 
stress such that its tendency to change the relative posi- 
tions of two parts of a solid always acts along the tan- 
gents to the surface separating those parts. Such a stress 
consists of three shearing stresses having orthogonal 
axes. The principal axes of stress. See owi 
Thorough stress. See def. 5. Type of a stress. See 
type. Vanishing stress, an increasing loudness toward 
the end of a vowel-sound, producing the effect of a jerk. 
See def. 5. =Syn. 0. Accent, etc. See emphasis. 
Stress 2 (stres), n. [< stress 1 , t: In part an 
aphetic form of distress, a. v.] 1. Distress; 
difficulty; extremity; pinch. [Obsolete or ar- 
chaic.] 
And help the pure that ar In sires 
Opprest and hereit mercyles. 
Louder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), I. 469. 
The agony and stress 
Of pitying love. Whittier, The Two Rabbis. 
2. In late: (a) The act of distraining; distress. 
(6) A former mode of taking up indictments 
for circuit courts. 
stress-diagram (stres'di'a-gram), . See dia- 
gram. 
Stressless(stres'les),fl. [<s*re*si+-tess.] With- 
out stress; specifically, unaccented. Encyc. 
Brit., XVm. 788. 
Stress-sheet (stres'shet), n. In bridge-building, 
same as strain-sheet. 
Stretch (strech). v. K ME. strecchen (also un- 
assibilated streken, whence mod. E. dial, street, 
streak, var. stroke) (pret. straughte, straght, 
strahte, streahte, "streighte, streigte, gtreihte, 
strelite, pp. stranght, straugt, streight, streigt, 
streiht), < AS. streccan (pret. strehte, pp. streht) 
= OFries. strekka = D. strekken = MLG. streck- 
en = OHG. strecchen, MHG. G. strecken = Sw. 
stracka = Dan. strxkke, draw out, stretch; con- 
nected with the adj. AS. strtec, strec, strong, vio- 
lent (lit. stretched f ), = MHG. strac (strack-), G. 
struck, straight ; / strak, perhaps orig. / "srak, 
a var. of -/rafc in retch 2 , reck, reach 1 ; otherwise 
akin to L. stringere, pp. strictug, draw tight (see 
stringent, strain 1 , strait 1 ), and to Gr. arpayyk, 
twisted tight. Hence straight 1 , orig. pp. of 
stretch. Connection with string, strong 1 , etc., 
is uncertain.] I. trans. If. To draw (out); 
pull (out). 
But stert vp stithly, straght out a swerde. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 1240. 
2. To draw out to full length ; extend ; expand ; 
spread : as, to stretch one's self ; to stretch the 
wings; to stretch one's legs ; hence, sometimes, 
to tighten ; make tense or taut. 
Redli, of jour rigt arm that oner rome xtrfyt, 
I se wel the slgnifiaunce. 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2957. 
I have stretched my legs up Tottenham Hill to overtake 
you. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 43. 
3. To extend, or cause to reach or extend, 
lengthwise, or between specified points : as, to 
stretch a rope from one point to another. 
My wings shall be 
Stretch'd out no further then from thee to thee. 
(juarles, Emblems, iii. 12. 
Phoenicia is stretched by some . . . euen to .Sgypt, all 
alongst that Sea-coast. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 95. 
A clothes-line with some clothes on it ... is stretched 
between the trunks of some stunted willows. 
Raskin, Elements of Drawing, Iii. 
4. To draw put or extend in any direction by 
the application of force ; draw out by tensile 
stress : as, to stretch cloth ; to stretch a rubber 
band beyond its strength. 
My business and that of my wife is to stretch new boots 
for millionaires. Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 623. 
5. To distend or expand forcibly or violently; 
strain by the exercise of force; subject to 
stress, literally or figuratively. 
Come, stretch thy chest, and let thy eyes spout blood. 
SAa*., T. and C., iv. 5. 10. 
They that stretch his Infallibility further do they know 
not what Selden, Table-Talk, p. 86. 
6. To extend or strain too far ; impair by strain- 
ing; do violence to ; exaggerate: as, to stretch 
the truth. 7f. To exert; strain. 
Till my veins 
And sinews crack, I'll stretch my utmost strength. 
Beau, and Ft. (?X Faithful Friends, iii. 3. 
stretcher 
Stretching their best abilities to expresse their loires. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 182. 
8. To reach or hold out ; put forth; extend. 
He drough oute a letter that was wrapped in a cloth of 
silke, and strauijM it to the kynge. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. <v;n. 
Stretch thine hand unto the poor. Ecclus. vii. 32. 
9. To cause to lie or fall extended at full length : 
as, to stretch an opponent on the ground by a 
blow. 10. To hang. [Slang.] 
The night before Larry was stretched. 
H. Burrowes, in l*rout's Keliques, p. 267. 
To stretch a point. Same as to strain a point (which 
see. under pom(i). 
II. intrnns. 1. To extend; reach; be con- 
tinuous over a distance; be drawn out in 
length or in breadth, or both ; spread. 
Twenty fadme of brede the armes straughte. 
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2068. 
The town stretcheth along the bottome of the haven, 
backt on the West with a rocky mountain. 
Sandys, Travailes, p. 10. 
2. To be extended or to bear extension with- 
out breaking, as elastic substances; attain 
greater length : literally 9r figuratively. 
The Inner membrane, . . . because it would stretch and 
yield, remained unbroken. Boyle. 
The terms . . . must be very elastic if they would stretch 
widely enough to include all the poems. 
O, W. Holmes, Emerson, xiv. 
3. To go beyond the truth ; exaggerate. [Col- 
loq.] 
What an allay do we find to the credit of the most prob- 
able event that is reported by one who uses to stretch ! 
Government of the Tongue. 
4. Naut., to sail by the wind under all sail. 
5. To make violent efforts in running. stretch- 
ing convulsions, tetanic convulsions which, acting 
through the extensor muscles, straighten the limbs. 
Stretch out I an order to a boats crew to pull hard. 
Stretch (strech), . [< stretch, r.] 1. A stretch- 
ing or straining, especially a stretching Di- 
straining beyond measure : as, a stretch of au- 
thority. 
A great and snddaln stretch or contortion. 
May, Works of Creation, p. 287. 
It is only by a stretch of language that we can be said to 
desire that which is inconceivable. 
W. K. Clifford, Lectures, I. 229. 
2. A state of tension ; strain : as, to be on the 
stretch. 
Those put a lawful authority upon the stretch, to the 
abuse of power, under the colour of prerogative. 
Sir K. L' Estrange. 
3. Beach; extent; scope. 
At all her stretch her little wings she spread. 
Dryden, tr. of Ovid s Metamorph., Ceyx and Alcyone, 1. 482. 
This is the utmost stretch that Nature can, 
And all beyond is fulsome, false, and vain. 
Granvilte, Unnatural Flights in Poetry. 
It strains my faculties to their highest stretch. 
Swyt, Tale of a Tub, Ix. 
4. A long tract; an extended or continued sur- 
face or area, relatively narrow; a reach; dis- 
tance; sweep: as, a long stretch of country road; 
a great stretch of grassy land ; a stretch of moor- 
land. 
The grass, here and there, is for great stretches as smooth 
and level as a carpet. 
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 147. 
6. One of the two straight sides of a race-course, 
as distinguished from the bend or curve at each 
end . The home-stretch is that part of the course which the 
contestant goes over after passing the last curve just be- 
fore completing the race. 
6. Naut., the reach or extent of progress on one 
tack; a tack. 7. Inweaving: (a) The plot of 
ground on which a weaver stretches his warp. 
(6) The length of spun-yarn between the spin- 
dles and roller-beam, which is wound upon the 
spindles each time the carriage is run toward 
the roller-beam. Also called draw. Spans' 
Encyc. Manuf., i. 760. 8. A single continued 
effort; one uninterrupted sitting, diet, shift, 
turn, or the like: as, to work ten hours at a 
stretch. 
She could not entertain the child long on a stretch. 
Bulwer, Night and Morning, ii. 8. 
But all of them left me a week at a stretch to attend the 
county fair. The Century, XXVIII. 655. 
9. A year's imprisonment or punishment. 
[Thieves' slang.] 10. Course ; direction : as, 
the stretch of seams of coal. 11. Stride; 
bound, as of a running animal. Gay. 
stretcher (strech'er), n. [< stretch + -er 1 ."] 1. 
One who or that which stretches or expands. 
Specifically (a) A tool for stretching the fingers of lea- 
ther gloves, that they may be put on more easily. (6) In 
thoemaking, same as shoe-itretcher. (c) A frame, composed 
of four pieces of wood, upon which painters' canvas is drawn 
