See Also: strength(dictionary)
Strength(medicine)
strength(dictionary)
tensile strength(dictionary)
Bench Strength(money)
Relative strength(money)
Relative strength(finance)
Selling into strength(finance)
strength of materials(encyclopedia)
Extra-strength aim(health)

strength (iou)



strength noun.
[Old English strengTu = Old High German strengida from Germanic base also of STRONG adjective: see -TH1.]
I. The quality or condition of being strong.
a. Physical power; ability to exert muscular force. OE.
M. Das He wished he had the strength of a giant.
b. Bodily vigour or efficiency in general, esp. as opp. to the weakness of illness, age, etc. OE.
R. Rendell His cuts and bruises were nearly healed, his strength returning. G. Daly The outbursts used up her small store of strength.
c. Power, whether mental, physical, or due to external resources, to act effectively; efficiency or vigour of mind or body. OE.
H. P. Liddon His strength lay in accurate verbal scholarship.
Capacity for moral effort or endurance; firmness of mind, purpose, etc. OE.
J. H. Newman Men who make such sacrifices..evidence much strength of character. H. Kushner God..can supply us with the strength we need.
Superior power exerted for conquest, compulsion, etc.; force, violence. OE-LME.
Military power, esp. in numbers, equipment, or resources. OE.
b. Defensive power of a fortification, fortified place, etc. LME.
John Morgan Some Place of Strength, wherein to fortify himself.
Capacity in a thing to produce an effect; operative power. OE.
Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream Thy threats have no more strength than her weak prayers. attrib.: Which? Ready-made reading glasses have equal strength lenses.
b. Cards. Effectiveness of a hand or player due to the cards held; the condition of being strong in a specified suit. M19.
Intensity of a force, physical condition, or feeling; potency or intensity of a drug, liquor, or active ingredient. ME.
R. V. Jones Weak signals on the expected wavelength..increased in strength. N. Herman They spoke of currents and their treacherous strength. Green Magazine Cot deaths..linked to the strength of surrounding electromagnetic fields. Intercity Magazine An ale's strength is measured by its Original Gravity.
The demonstrative force or weight of something, esp. evidence, an argument, etc. Formerly also, the force or import of a document. ME.
Legal authority or validity. LME-L17.
Law Times The litigant should..learn something of the strength of his opponent's case.
Power to sustain force without breaking or yielding. LME.
Engineer An all-welded..frame for greater structural strength.
b. spec. (Commerce) Firmness of prices, absence of lowering tendency. L19.
Firmness or richness of soil. L16.
Energy or vigour of literary or artistic creation; forcefulness of delineation, expression, etc. L17.
Edinburgh Review Dr Rennel's..sermon..is admirable for its strength of language. G. Lees The..embodiment of swing, of sheer surging musical strength.
II. A strong thing.
A source of power or strength; a person or thing giving strength or support. Also, an attribute making for strength of character. OE.
W. H. Prescott The strength of his army lay in his Spanish veterans.
A power, a faculty; an active property. OE-E16.
A feat of physical strength; an act requiring physical power. ME-L16.
a. A stronghold, a fortress. Now Hist. (chiefly Scot.). ME.
b. A defensive work, a fortification. Also, a secure or defensive position. LME-E18.
a. collect. Troops, forces. ME-E18.
b. A body of soldiers; a force. L15-E17.
The strongest part of something, esp. of a tide or current. E16.
a. Military etc. The number of people on the muster-roll of an army, regiment, etc.; the body of people enrolled; the number of ships in a navy or fleet. E17.
B. Montgomery Rifle platoons..were under strength and the reinforcement situation was bad. C. Ryan Some companies had lost..50 per cent of their strength.
b. gen. The number of people present or available. Also, a full complement. E17.
P. V. White Voss called his men and divided his strength into several parts.
Phrases: from strength from a strong position. from strength to strength with ever-increasing success. give me strength: expr. exasperation. in strength in large numbers. on the strength (Military etc.) on a muster-roll; (of an army marriage) officially approved and recognized. on the strength of encouraged by, relying on, on the basis of. OUTGROW one's strength. strength through joy [German Kraft durch Freude, a movement founded in Germany by the National Socialist Party in 1933] the promotion of physical and cultural recreational activities among working people. tensile strength: see TENSILE 2. the strength of (a) the point or meaning of, the essence of; (b) that's about the strength of it, that is what it amounts to; (c) get the strength of, understand. tower of strength: see TOWER noun1. wet strength: see WET adjective.
strengthful adjective full of or characterized by strength LME.
strengthless adjective without strength ME.
strengthlessly adverb (rare) L19.
strengthlessness noun M17.