632 
S T R 
S T R 
His unkindness, 
That stript her from his benediction, turn’d her 
To foreign casualties, gave her dear rights 
To her dog-hearted daughters: these things sting him. 
Shakspeare, 
To separate from something adhesive or connected. Not 
accurately used. —Amongst men who examine not scrupu¬ 
lously their own ideas, and strip them not from the marks 
men use for them, but confound them with words, there 
must be endless dispute. Locke. —To draw the after-milk¬ 
ings of cows. North. Grose. 
STRIP, s. A narrow shred. 
A plumed fan may shade thy chalked face, 
And lawny strips thy naked bosom grace. Bp. Hall. 
To STRIPE, v. a. \strepen, Dutch.] To variegate with 
lines of different colours; to beat; to lash. 
STRIPE, s. \_strepe, Dutch.] A lineary variation of 
colour.—Gardeners may have three roots among an hundred 
that are rare, as purple and carnation of several stripes. 
Bacon. —A shred of a different colour.—One of the most 
valuable trimmings of their clothes was a long stripe sowed 
upon the garment, called latus clavus. Arbuthnot. —A 
weal, or discolouration made by a lash or blow.—Cruelty 
marked him with inglorious stripes. Thomson. —A blow ; 
a lash.—A body cannot be so torn with stripes, as a mind 
with remembrance of wicked actions. Hayward. 
STRI'PED, part. adj. Distinguished by lines of different 
colour. 
STRI'PLING, s. [Of uncertain etymology. Dr. John¬ 
son. — It is probable, by an easy metathesis, from the Sax. 
pppitan, to shoot out. See To Outstrip.] A youth ; one 
in the state of adolescence. 
’Thwart the lane. 
He, with two striplings, lads, more like to run 
The country base, than to commit such slaughter. 
Made good the passage. Shakspeare. 
STRI'PPER, s. One that strips. Sherwood. 
STRI'PPINGS, s. After-milkings. Noi'th. See the last 
sense of To Strip. Grose. 
STRl'TCHEL, s. A strickle. Sherwood. See Strickle. 
STRIVALI (the ancient Strophades), a small cluster, of 
islands of the Ionian sea, on the west coast of the Morea. 
They are four in number. The largest, the abode, according 
to the Greek poets, of the harpies, abounds in olives and 
other fruit, but produces hardly enough of corn for its limited 
population. The smallest is little else than a rock, and the 
two others form a kind of harbour for small craft; 26 miles 
south of Zante. Lat. 37. 29. N. long. 21. 12. E. 
To STRIVE, v. n. preterite strove, anciently strived: 
part. pass, striven. [ strevcn,_ Dutch; estriver, Fr.] To 
struggle; to labour; to make an effort. 
Was it for this that Rome’s best blood he spilt, 
With so much falsehood, so much guilt? 
Was it for this that his ambition stt'ove 
To equal Caesar first, and after Jove ? Cowley. 
To contest; to contend; to struggle in opposition to ano¬ 
ther : with against or with before the person opposed. 
Do as adversaries do in law. 
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. Shakspeare. 
To oppose by contrariety of qualities. 
Now private pity strove with public hate. 
Reason with rage, and eloquence with fate. Denham. 
To vie; to be comparable to; to emulate; to contend in 
excellence. 
Nor that sweet grove 
Of Daphne by Orontes, and the inspir’d 
Castalian spring, might with this paradise 
Of Eden strive. Milton. 
STRI'VER, s. One who labours; one who contends. 
Prompt. Parv. —An imperfect striver may overcome sin in 
some instances; and yet in that do no great matter neither, 
if he lies down, and goes no further, Glanville. 
STRI'VING, Contest.—This is warrantable conflict for 
trial of our faith; so that these strivings are not a contend¬ 
ing with superior power. L'Estrange. 
STRI'VINGLY, adv. With struggle; with contest. 
Huloet. 
STRIX, the Owl, in Ornithology, a genus of birds of the 
order accipitres.—Generic Character : the bill is hooked, and 
covered at the base with bristles, instead of that membran¬ 
ous substance called the cere in other predatory birds. The 
nostrils of owls are oblong, and their tongues cloven at the 
end; the heads are, in every species, remarkably large, and 
in some, the large apertures of the ear, called the horns, are 
covered with a tuft of feathers; their claws are hooked and 
sharp; and the outer toe capable of turning backward like 
that of the parrot. There are forty-three species, besides 
many varieties; and they are ranged in two subdivisions; 
the eared, and the earless. 
The eyes of these birds distinguish them from every other 
genus; they are large and protuberant, and possess such ex¬ 
quisite sensibility, that they are dazzled by the full light of 
day, and altogether overpowered by the rays of the sun. As 
among quadrupeds, those of the tiger and cat kind, by the 
structure of the eye, are capable of seeing in a faint light, so 
among the feathered race, this numerous tribe is fitted for 
plunder amid the darkness of night, when the other animals 
are overpowered by sleep. “ In these birds,” says Gold¬ 
smith, “ the pupil of the eye is capable of opening very wide, 
or shutting very close; by contracting the pupil, the 
brighter light of the day, which would act too power¬ 
fully on the sensibility of the retina, is excluded; by dilat¬ 
ing the pupil, the animal takes in the more faint rays 
of the night, and thereby is enabled to spy its prey, and 
catch it with greater facility in the dark.” We are not, how¬ 
ever to imagine that the eyes of these animals, which are so 
perfectly fitted for a feeble light, can see without it altogether, 
or are capable of penetrating into absolute darkness. On the 
contrary, in the dead of night it is probable that they see but 
little, and resemble the hares, wolves, and stags, who issue 
from the woods to feed or to chase in the night; only the 
eyes of these animals seem less dazzled by the full glare of 
the rays of the sun. It is in the evening twilight, or at the 
dawn of day, that the owls are best fitted- for seeing; it is 
then they issue from their dark retreats to chase or surprise 
their prey. Their search is generally successful; for, at these 
hours of rest, the little animals are off their guard, and inca¬ 
pable of eluding their search. 
Except during the nights of moon-shine, their time of chase 
is but very short; for they generally retire to their lurking’ 
places, before they are surprised by the profound gloom of 
midnight, or the dazzling beams of the sun. Moon-shine is 
their harvest; a season of pleasure and abundance; for then 
they protract their flight for several hours, and lay up an 
ample store of provision. If, from the scarcity of game, they 
continue their search longer than usual, and, following the 
dictates of appetite rather than of prudence, wait till broad 
day-light breaks in upon them, they are bewildered, dazzled, 
and confounded, and, however far from home, are obliged to 
remain in the same spot till the return of evening. If you 
force them aw’ay, they make short slow flights, as if afraid of 
dashing against some unseen object. If the other birds per¬ 
ceive, by his aukwardness or fear, the distress of the owl’s 
situation, they fly with emulation to insult him. The thrush, 
the jay, the bunting, and the red-breast, attack him in a 
body, with cries, insults, and strokes of their wings. The 
unfortunate owl knows not how to defend himself, or where 
to fly; “ astonished and purblind, he only replies to their 
mockeries by aukward and ridiculous gestures, by rolling his 
eyes, and turning his head with an air of stupidity.” Among 
this tribe of tormentors, the smallest and most feeble of his 
enemies are commonly the foremost; and, by a mistake si¬ 
milar to what the owl himself has committed, they sometimes 
prolong their insults till the return of evening restores him the 
use of his sight. Then he becomes truly formidable, and 
inflicts on his tormentors dreadful revenge for their ill-timed 
audacity. 
