1. [n]  the act of singing; "with a shout and a song they marched up to the gates"
2. [n]  an intense or violent exertion
3. [n]  an effortful attempt to attain a goal
4. [n]  a lineage or race of people
5. [n]  pervading note of an utterance; "I could follow the general tenor of his argument"
6. [n]  a succession of notes forming a distinctive sequence; "she was humming an air from Beethoven"
7. [n]  a special kind of domesticated animals within a species; "he experimented on a particular breed of white rats"; "he created a new variety of sheep"
8. [n]  (biology) a group of organisms within a species that differ in trivial ways from similar groups; "a new strain of microorganisms"
9. [n]  (physics) deformation of a physical body under the action of applied forces
10. [n]  injury to a muscle (often caused by overuse); results in swelling and pain
11. [n]  (psychology) nervousness resulting from mental stress; "his responsibilities were a constant strain"; "the mental strain of staying alert hour after hour was too much for him"
12. [n]  difficulty that causes worry or emotional tension; "she endured the stresses and strains of life"; "he presided over the economy during the period of the greatest stress and danger"- R.J.Samuelson
13. [v]  make tense
14. [v]  to exert much effort or energy; "straining our ears to hear."
15. [v]  alter the shape of (something) by stress; "His body was deformed by leprosy"
16. [v]  use to the utmost; exert vigorously or to full capacity; "He really extended himself when he climbed Kilimanjaro"; "Don't strain your mind too much"
17. [v]  rub through a strainer or process in an electric blender; "puree the vegetables for the baby"
18. [v]  remove by passing through a filter; "filter out the impurities"
19. [v]  separate by passing through a sieve or other straining device to separate out coarser elements; "sift the flour"
20. [v]  stretch or force to the limit; "strain the rope"
21. [v]  test the limits of; "You are trying my patience!"

Strain
In the violent conclusion to an action manga, Shingo guns for the crime lord who holds the controlling shares in Kusaka. A Graphic Novel. Original.

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1. \Strain\, n. (Hort.)
   A cultural subvariety that is only slightly differentiated.
   

2. \Strain\, n. [See {Strene}.]
   1. Race; stock; generation; descent; family.
            He is of a noble strain.              --Shak.
            With animals and plants a cross between different
            varieties, or between individuals of the same
            variety but of another strain, gives vigor and
            fertility to the offspring.           --Darwin.
   2. Hereditary character, quality, or disposition.
            Intemperance and lust breed diseases, which,
            propogated, spoil the strain of nation. --Tillotson.
   3. Rank; a sort. ``The common strain.'' --Dryden.
   

3. \Strain\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Strained}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Straining}.] [OF. estraindre, estreindre, F. ['e]treindre,
   L. stringere to draw or bind tight; probably akin to Gr. ? a
   halter, ? that which is squeezwd out, a drop, or perhaps to
   E. strike. Cf. {Strangle}, {Strike}, {Constrain}, {District},
   {Strait}, a. {Stress}, {Strict}, {Stringent}.]
   1. To draw with force; to extend with great effort; to
      stretch; as, to strain a rope; to strain the shrouds of a
      ship; to strain the cords of a musical instrument. ``To
      strain his fetters with a stricter care.'' --Dryden.
   2. (Mech.) To act upon, in any way, so as to cause change of
      form or volume, as forces on a beam to bend it.
   3. To exert to the utmost; to ply vigorously.
            He sweats, Strains his young nerves.  --Shak.
            They strain their warbling throats To welcome in the
            spring.                               --Dryden.
   4. To stretch beyond its proper limit; to do violence to, in
      the matter of intent or meaning; as, to strain the law in
      order to convict an accused person.
            There can be no other meaning in this expression,
            however some may pretend to strain it. --Swift.
   5. To injure by drawing, stretching, or the exertion of
      force; as, the gale strained the timbers of the ship.
   6. To injure in the muscles or joints by causing to make too
      strong an effort; to harm by overexertion; to sprain; as,
      to strain a horse by overloading; to strain the wrist; to
      strain a muscle.
            Prudes decayed about may track, Strain their necks
            with looking back.                    --Swift.
   7. To squeeze; to press closely.
            Evander with a close embrace Strained his departing
            friend.                               --Dryden.
   8. To make uneasy or unnatural; to produce with apparent
      effort; to force; to constrain.
            He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirth Is
            forced and strained.                  --Denham.
            The quality of mercy is not strained. --Shak.
   9. To urge with importunity; to press; as, to strain a
      petition or invitation.
            Note, if your lady strain his entertainment. --Shak.
   10. To press, or cause to pass, through a strainer, as
       through a screen, a cloth, or some porous substance; to
       purify, or separate from extraneous or solid matter, by
       filtration; to filter; as, to strain milk through cloth.
   {To strain a point}, to make a special effort; especially, to
      do a degree of violence to some principle or to one's own
      feelings.
   {To strain courtesy}, to go beyond what courtesy requires; to
      insist somewhat too much upon the precedence of others; --
      often used ironically. --Shak.
   

4. \Strain\ (str[=a]n), v. i.
   1. To make violent efforts. ``Straining with too weak a
      wing.'' --Pope.
            To build his fortune I will strain a little. --Shak.
   2. To percolate; to be filtered; as, water straining through
      a sandy soil.
   

5. \Strain\, n.
   1. The act of straining, or the state of being strained.
      Specifically:
      (a) A violent effort; an excessive and hurtful exertion or
          tension, as of the muscles; as, he lifted the weight
          with a strain; the strain upon a ship's rigging in a
          gale; also, the hurt or injury resulting; a sprain.
                Whether any poet of our country since
                Shakespeare has exerted a greater variety of
                powers with less strain and less ostentation.
                                                  --Landor.
                Credit is gained by custom, and seldom recovers
                a strain.                         --Sir W.
                                                  Temple.
      (b) (Mech. Physics) A change of form or dimensions of a
          solid or liquid mass, produced by a stress. --Rankine.
   2. (Mus.) A portion of music divided off by a double bar; a
      complete musical period or sentence; a movement, or any
      rounded subdivision of a movement.
            Their heavenly harps a lower strain began. --Dryden.
   3. Any sustained note or movement; a song; a distinct portion
      of an ode or other poem; also, the pervading note, or
      burden, of a song, poem, oration, book, etc.; theme;
      motive; manner; style; also, a course of action or
      conduct; as, he spoke in a noble strain; there was a
      strain of woe in his story; a strain of trickery appears
      in his career. ``A strain of gallantry.'' --Sir W. Scott.
            Such take too high a strain at first. --Bacon.
            The genius and strain of the book of Proverbs.
                                                  --Tillotson.
            It [Pilgrim's Progress] seems a novelty, and yet
            contains Nothing but sound and honest gospel
            strains.                              --Bunyan.
   4. Turn; tendency; inborn disposition. Cf. 1st {Strain}.
            Because heretics have a strain of madness, he
            applied her with some corporal chastisements.
                                                  --Hayward.