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Thanks for your understanding.
Chris -- 2018-04-11
Strain, prostrate, strew, straw, stretch, strand, structure, sternum and street are all derived from the putative PIE root *stere- “to spread, extend, stretch out.” Who knew that “stranded” meant “beached on a strand”, and a strand, a stretch of sand? Don’t answer that.
But it’s easy to get confused; there are two strains of strain:
strain (v.) “to stretch, draw tight,” c.1300, from prp. stem of O.Fr. estreindre “bind tightly, clasp, squeeze,” from L. stringere (2) “bind or draw tight,” from PIE root *strenk- “tight, narrow; pull tight, twist” (cf. Lith. stregti “congeal;” Gk. strangein “twist;” O.H.G. strician “mends nets;” O.E. streccian “to stretch,” streng “string;” Ger. stramm, Du. stram “stiff”). Sense of “press through a filter” is from early 14c. (implied in strainer); that of “lay undue stress on, make a forced interpretation of” is from mid-15c.strain (n.) “line of descent,” O.E. strion, streon “gain, begetting,” from P.Gmc. *streun- “to pile up,” from PIE root *stere- “to spread, extend, stretch out”. Applied to animal species first in c.1600.
Strains of music are related to the stretched or spread strain. The other strain, from strenk, has given us, confusingly, to stretch and strangle, restrict, and string. And strains of bacteria.
Last summer, on the news, I heard a description of the difficulty of finding the source of a Legionnaire’s disease outbreak because the Legionnaire’s disease bacterium has many strands, and you must find just the one strand that causes disease among all the many strands present in a cooling tower.
Dr. Bo’s® Super Pro™ (capsules or powder) is a mega proprietary Probiotic blend of 10 different strands of bacteria
Dr Bo
Several strands of bacteria can cause pyogenic skin lesions in wounds.
Job safety
A team that included National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) microbiologist Maria Eugenia Farias discovered the unique strands of bacteria–called “polyextremophiles” because they can survive in multiple different types of extreme conditions–in an inhospitable area of the South American country known as Lake Diamante.
Science popularization
Last edited by David Bird (2015-07-15 07:05:32)
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