Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STRAIT'EN, v.t. [stra'itn.]

1. To make narrow. In narrow circuit, straiten'd by a foe. – Milton.
2. To contract; to confine; as, to straiten the British commerce. – Addison.
3. To make tense or tight; as, to straiten a cord. – Dunciad.
4. To distress; to perplex; to press with poverty or other necessity; as, a man straitened in his circumstances.
5. To press by want of sufficient room. Waters when straitened, as at the falls of bridges, give a roaring noise. – Bacon.