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S — Stovehouse to Strain (Part 2 of 7)

Strabism
(Stra"bism) n. (Med.) Strabismus.

Strabismometer
(Stra`bis*mom"e*ter) n. [Strabismus + -meter.] (Med.) An instrument for measuring the amount of strabismus.

Strabismus
(Stra*bis"mus) n. [NL., fr. Gr. fr. to squint, fr. distorted, squinting.] (Med.) An affection of one or both eyes, in which the optic axes can not be directed to the same object, — a defect due either to undue contraction or to undue relaxation of one or more of the muscles which move the eyeball; squinting; cross- eye.

Strabotomy
(Stra*bot"o*my) n. [Gr. squinting + to cut.] (Surg.) The operation for the removal of squinting by the division of such muscles as distort the eyeball.

Straddle
(Strad"dle) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Straddled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Straddling ] [Freq. from the root of stride.]

1. To part the legs wide; to stand or to walk with the legs far apart.

2. To stand with the ends staggered; — said of the spokes of a wagon wheel where they join the hub.

Straddle
(Strad"dle), v. t. To place one leg on one side and the other on the other side of; to stand or sit astride of; as, to straddle a fence or a horse.

Straddle
(Strad"dle), n.

1. The act of standing, sitting, or walking, with the feet far apart.

2. The position, or the distance between the feet, of one who straddles; as, a wide straddle.

3. A stock option giving the holder the double privilege of a "put" and a "call," i. e., securing to the buyer of the option the right either to demand of the seller at a certain price, within a certain time, certain securities, or to require him to take at the same price, and within the same time, the same securities. [Broker's Cant]

Straddling
(Strad"dling) a. Applied to spokes when they are arranged alternately in two circles in the hub. See Straddle, v. i., and Straddle, v. t., 3. Knight.

Stradometrical
(Strad`o*met"ric*al) a. [It. strada street or road + E. metrical.] Of, or relating to, the measuring of streets or roads. [R.]

Straggle
(Strag"gle) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Straggled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Straggling ] [Freq. of OE. straken to roam, to stroke. See Stroke, v. t.]

1. To wander from the direct course or way; to rove; to stray; to wander from the line of march or desert the line of battle; as, when troops are on the march, the men should not straggle. Dryden.

2. To wander at large; to roam idly about; to ramble.

The wolf spied out a straggling kid.
L'Estrange.

3. To escape or stretch beyond proper limits, as the branches of a plant; to spread widely apart; to shoot too far or widely in growth.

Trim off the small, superfluous branches on each side of the hedge that straggle too far out.
Mortimer.