Definition of "strait" []

• A narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water. Often used in the plural with a singular verb. (noun)
• A position of difficulty, perplexity, distress, or need. Often used in the plural: in desperate straits. (noun)
• Difficult; stressful. (adjective)
• Having or marked by limited funds or resources. (adjective)
• Archaic Narrow. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Taking the issue to the people, and free from what he termed strait-jacket restrictions, the Governor said at Columbus, when he talked to the Ohio Democratic Convention:"
• "Sumatra from Java, which he called the strait of Polimban, from a city he erroneously supposed to lie on the Javan shore, and passing through this returned to Malacca by the east; being the first European who sailed round the island of Sumatra."
• "We were right in our guesses here to a tittle, and we steered directly through a large outlet, which they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles broad, and to an island they call Dammer, and from thence N.N.E. to"