string

English Online Dictionary. What means string‎? What does string mean?

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /stɹɪŋ/
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ
• Hyphenation: string

Etymology 1

From Middle English string, streng, strynge, from Old English strenġ, from Proto-West Germanic *strangi, from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (“string”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“rope, cord, strand; to tighten”).

Cognate with Scots string (“string”), Dutch streng (“cord, strand”), Low German strenge (“strand, cord, rope”), German Strang (“strand, cord, rope”), Danish streng (“string”), Swedish sträng (“string, cord, wire”), Icelandic strengur (“string”), Latvian stringt (“to be tight, wither”), Latin stringō (“I tighten”), Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, “to strangle”), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, “halter”), Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “tied together, entangled, twisted”).

Noun

string (countable and uncountable, plural strings)

1. (countable, uncountable) A long, thin and flexible structure made from threads twisted together.

   Synonyms: cord, rope, line, thread, twine; see also Thesaurus:string
2. (countable) Any similar long, thin and flexible object.
   1. (music) A segment of wire (typically made of plastic or metal) or other material used as vibrating element on a musical instrument.

   2. (sports) A length of nylon or other material on the head of a racquet.
3. A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence, a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if so arranged.
4. (countable) A cohesive substance taking the form of a string.

5. (countable) A series of items or events.

   Synonyms: sequence, series

6. (countable) The members of a sports team or squad regarded as most likely to achieve success. (Perhaps metaphorical as the "strings" that hold the squad together.) Often first string, second string etc.
7. (countable) In various games and competitions, a certain number of turns at play, of rounds, etc.
8. (collective) A drove of horses, or a group of racehorses kept by one owner or at one stable.
10. (countable, programming) An ordered sequence of text characters stored consecutively in memory and capable of being processed as a single entity.
11. (music, metonymic, countable) A stringed instrument.
12. (music, usually in the plural) The stringed instruments as a section of an orchestra, especially those played by a bow, or the persons playing those instruments.

    Synonym: string section

13. (figurative, in the plural) The conditions and limitations in a contract collectively.

    Synonyms: conditions, provisions
14. (countable, physics) A tiny one-dimensional string-like entity, the main object of study in string theory, a branch of theoretical physics.
15. (slang) Cannabis or marijuana. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
16. (billiards) Part of the game of billiards, where the order of the play is determined by testing who can get a ball closest to the bottom rail by shooting it onto the end rail.
17. (historical, billiards) The buttons strung on a wire by which the score is kept.
18. (billiards, by extension) The points made in a game of billiards.
19. (billiards, pool) The line from behind and over which the cue ball must be played after being out of play, as by being pocketed or knocked off the table; also called the string line.
20. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are held together.
21. (archaic) A fibre, as of a plant; a little fibrous root.
22. (archaic) A nerve or tendon of an animal body.
23. (carpentry) A board supporting steps

    Synonyms: stringer, stringboard, stringpiece

24. (shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks, corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and bolted to it.
25. (botany) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves of the pericarp of leguminous plants.

26. (mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic vein.
27. (architecture, masonry) A stringcourse.
28. (dated, slang) A hoax; a fake story.
29. (slang) Synonym of stable (“group of prostitutes managed by one pimp”).
30. (oil industry) A column of drill pipe that transmits drilling fluid (using the mud pumps) and torque (using the kelly drive or top drive) to the drill bit.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English stryngen, strengen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

string (third-person singular simple present strings, present participle stringing, simple past strung or (colloquial) stringed or strang, past participle strung or (colloquial) stringed)

1. (transitive) To put (items) on a string.

2. (transitive) To put strings on (something).

3. (intransitive) To form into a string or strings, as a substance which is stretched, or people who are moving along, etc.
4. (intransitive, billiards) To drive the ball against the end of the table and back, in order to determine which player is to open the game.
5. (birdwatching) To deliberately state that a certain bird is present when it is not; to knowingly mislead other birders about the occurrence of a bird, especially a rarity; to misidentify a common bird as a rare species.

Synonyms

• (put on a string): thread
• (put strings on): lace

Derived terms

• string on
• stringer
• stringified
• stringifier
• stringify

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• string on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• String in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English string.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /strɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: string
• Rhymes: -ɪŋ

Noun

string m (plural strings, diminutive stringetje n)

1. (clothing) G-string, thong
2. (computing) character string

Synonyms

• (character string): tekenreeks
• (G-string): reetveter

French

Etymology

Pseudo-anglicism, derived from string.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stʁiŋ/

Noun

string m (plural strings)

1. G-string, thong, tanga

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English string. Doublet of estrém.

Pronunciation

Noun

string m or f (plural strings)

1. (computing) string (sequence of consecutive text characters)

   Synonyms: cadeia, cadeia de caracteres

Swedish

Etymology

From English string.

Noun

string c

1. G-string, thong

Declension

Derived terms

• stringkalsong
• stringtrosa

References

• string in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• string in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• string in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Anagrams

• ringts

Tok Pisin

Etymology

From English string.

Noun

string

1. string; cord