Narrow
(Nar"row) a. [Compar. Narrower ; superl. Narrowest.] [OE. narwe, naru, AS. nearu; akin to
OS. naru, naro.]
1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a narrow
street; a narrow hem.
Hath passed in safety through the narrow seas.
Shak. 2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
Bp. Wilkins. 3. Having but a little margin; having barely sufficient space, time, or number, etc.; close; near; — with special
reference to some peril or misfortune; as, a narrow shot; a narrow escape; a narrow majority. Dryden.
4. Limited as to means; straitened; pinching; as, narrow circumstances.
5. Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted; as, a narrow mind; narrow views. "A narrow understanding."
Macaulay.
6. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
A very narrow and stinted charity.
Smalridge. 7. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
But first with narrow search I must walk round
This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
Milton. 8. (Phon.) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or
(according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; — distinguished from wide; as e (eve) and &oomac
etc., from i (ill) and &oocr etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13.
Narrow is not unfrequently prefixed to words, especially to participles and adjectives, forming compounds
of obvious signification; as, narrow-bordered, narrow- brimmed, narrow-breasted, narrow-edged, narrow-
faced, narrow-headed, narrow-leaved, narrow- pointed, narrow-souled, narrow-sphered, etc.
Narrow gauge. (Railroad) See Note under Gauge, n., 6.
Narrow
(Nar"row) n.; pl. Narrows A narrow passage; esp., a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a
strait connecting two bodies of water; — usually in the plural; as, The Narrows of New York harbor.
Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous
narrow.
Gladstone. Narrow
(Nar"row), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Narrowed ; p. pr. & vb. n. Narrowing.] [AS. nearwian.]
1. To lessen the breadth of; to contract; to draw into a smaller compass; to reduce the width or extent of.
Sir W. Temple.
2. To contract the reach or sphere of; to make less liberal or more selfish; to limit; to confine; to restrict; as,
to narrow one's views or knowledge; to narrow a question in discussion.
Our knowledge is much more narrowed if we confine ourselves to our own solitary reasonings.
I. Watts. 3. (Knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
Narrow
(Nar"row), v. i.
