1. (n.) A narrow passageway connecting two larger bodies of water.

2. (superl.) Narrow; not broad.

3. (superl.) Tight; close; closely fitting.

4. (superl.) Close; intimate; near; familiar.

5. (superl.) Strict; scrupulous; rigorous.

6. (superl.) Difficult; distressful; straited.

7. (superl.) Parsimonious; niggardly; mean.

8. (adv.) Strictly; rigorously.

9. (n.) A narrow pass or passage.

10. (n.) A (comparatively) narrow passageway connecting two large bodies of water; -- often in the plural; as, the strait, or straits, of Gibraltar; the straits of Magellan; the strait, or straits, of Mackinaw.

11. (n.) A neck of land; an isthmus.

12. (a.) Fig.: A condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt; distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in the plural; as, reduced to great straits.

13. (v. t.) To put to difficulties.