This new print publication provides a unique resource for scholars researching linguistic and literary history, the history of the language, social history, and more. Read more and see a sample page.
(stræp) [f. STRAP n. (Cf. STROP v.)]
1. a. trans. To furnish with a strap; to fasten, bind, or secure with a strap or with straps. Also with on, up, together.
1711 W. SUTHERLAND Shipbuild. Assist. 141 A general Proportion for strapping every Block in a Ship.
1735 DYCHE &
PARDON Dict.,
Strap, to fasten down with a Strap.
1776 G. SEMPLE Building in Water 35 Let your Mauls be well hooped and strapped with Iron.
1837 DICKENS Pickw. ii, His scanty black trousers..were strapped very tightly over a pair of patched and mended shoes.
1843 L
EFEVRE Life Trav. Phys. III.
III. iv. 120 A tin case strapped over his shoulders.
1860 TYNDALL Glac. I. ii. 15, I strapped on my knapsack.
1861 SALA Dutch Pict. xviii. 282 The barouche..had a hamper strapped behind it.
1873 BLACK Pr. Thule xxiv, [She] asked..if all her portmanteaus were strapped up.
1874 THEARLE Naval Arch. §280. 292 They are also carefully strapped with two rivets on each side of the butt.
1885 M. E. BRADDON Wyllard's Weird i, He began to collect all this literature and to strap it neatly together.
1909 Daily News 20 Oct. 7/1 ‘It is blowing a bit hard’, was the intrepid aviator's remark as he strapped himself to his seat on the machine.
b. Surg. To apply straps of adhesive plaster to (a wound, etc.); to fasten (dressing) on with plaster; to strap up, to dress and bandage (a wound or a person, i.e. his wound).
1843 R. J. GRAVES Lect. Clin. Med. xxx. 385 But [he] expected some improvement from strapping the ulcer with real adhesive plaster.
1872 O. W. HOLMES Poet Breakf.-t. v. (1885) 110 He..strapped up my cut.
1902 Munsey's Mag. XXVI. 583/2, I awoke and found Low..ready to take off my bandages and dress my wound... And after he had strapped me up again the baroness came in with my breakfast.
1905 H. D. ROLLESTON Dis. Liver 118 The local pain and tenderness [should be] relieved..by strapping the hepatic region with narrow strips of plaster as if for fractured ribs.
c. To bind and hang (a person). Also with up. Also intr., to be hanged. Sc.
1815 SCOTT Guy M. xxxiii, I am done up already, and if I must strap for it, all shall out.
1815 
Let. in
Lockhart III. xi. 381 A full account of the affair of 1745, with the trials..of the poor plaids who were strapped up at Carlisle.
d. To fasten, bind, or secure (a strap) tightly.
1818 SCOTT Rob Roy xxxiv When they strapped the horse~girth ower my arms, I might hae judged what was biding me.
e. to strap (oneself) in: in an aircraft, to fasten one's safety belt. Also absol. (occas. with up or without adv.).
1913 Flight 20 Sept. 1040/2 Neither the pilot nor passenger was strapped in.
1919 J. BUCHAN Mr. Standfast I. ix. 173 He signalled to me to strap myself in..and he proceeded to practise
‘stunts’
the loop, the spinning nose-dive, and others.
1958 ‘CASTLE’ &
‘HAILEY’ Flight into Danger v. 72 Better strap yourself in... You must have watched the pilot quite a lot.
1962 L. DEIGHTON Ipcress File v. 31 The steward helped him strap in.
1970 ‘R. L
LEWELLYN’
But we didn't get Fox vii. 69 She waited for me to strap, started a jet..and taxied down the loop.
1977 R. Air Force Yearbk. 29 The excellent leverage of the straps is a noteworthy point and enables the pilots to strap in tightly and securely.
1977 ‘O. J
ACKS’
Autumn Heroes v. 69 Gerry Steinberg was strapping up beside his pilot.
f. intr. for pass. To admit of being fastened by means of a strap.
1924 A. D. SEDGWICK Little French Girl I. v. 37 Grey shoes strapping across the instep with a buckle.
2. To beat with a strap or leather thong.
1735 DYCHE &
PARDON Dict. 1832 Min. Evid. Comm. Factories Bill 193 When I got home I saw her shoulders, and I said, ‘Ann, what is the matter?’ she said, ‘The over~looker has strapped me.’
1854 THACKERAY Newcomes I. ii. 20 Many and many a time had his own father..strapped and beaten him.
1887 Pall Mall Gaz. 21 Dec. 7/1 The two little girls were strapped again. With faces marked by the strap they fled.
3. To sharpen (a razor, knife) by applying it to a strap or strop: = STROP v. Now rare or Obs.
1785 J. COLLIER Musical Trav. 119 Still strapped he his inexorable razor.
1823 Blackw. Mag. XIV. 592/1 He had not ‘strapped’ the razor
enoughor he had strapped it too much.
1845 S. JUDD Margaret I. xvii. (1881) 149 Strapping his knife on the edge of the kit.
1850 THACKERAY Pendennis lxviii, Mr. James Morgan laid out the silver dressing-case, and strapped the shining razor.
1856 [see
HONE v.3].
4. intr. To work closely and energetically (at a task); to buckle to one's work. Also with adv., as to, away. slang.
1823 EGAN Grose's Dict. Vulgar T.,
Strap, to work. The kiddy would not strap, so he went on the scamp.
1836 P. H
AWKER Diary (1893) II. 103 Writing, reading, and strapping hard at my long-lost music.
1849 ALB. SMITH Pottleton Leg. xxxi. 347 Pedestrians..strapping away at the rate of four miles and a half per hour.
1851 MAYHEW Lond. Labour II. 233/1 The strapping masters, or those who make the men (by extra supervision) ‘strap’ to their work, so as to do a greater quantity of labour in the usual time.
1891 Cornhill Mag. July 65 Maisie strapped to, and got a berth as a nursery governess.
5. trans. To groom (a horse).
1854 A. E. BAKER Northampt. Gloss.,
Strap, to groom a horse.
1875 My First ‘Wine’ 20 When the groom took off his [a horse's] clothes to strap him,..my hopes of winning..vanished altogether.
1881 A. C. GRANT Bush Life Queensld. xxv. (1882) 254 Tommy..leads the Bey [a racehorse] off to be thoroughly strapped and clothed [after the race].
6. To give credit for (goods). dial. or slang.
1862 C. C. ROBINSON Dial. Leeds 423 ‘Yuh mun strap muh this missis wal Seterder neet.’..‘D' yuh strap here
m
aster?’
1896 Evesham Jrnl. 26 Sept. (E.D.D.), Witness said she had not got a sixpence, and prisoner offered to ‘strap’ it with her.
7. Comb.: strap-down a. Astronautics, applied to an inertial guidance system in which the gyroscopes are fixed to the vehicle rather than mounted in gimbals; strap-on a., that can be attached by a strap or straps; in Astronautics, applied to a booster rocket mounted on the outside of the main rocket so as to be jettisonable; also as n., such a booster.
[
1962 F
ERNANDEZ & M
ACOMBER Inertial Guidance Engin. viii. 308 The strapped-down gyro reference package..has become widely used as a guidance aid in ballistic missiles where high accuracy is not required.]
1963 SLATER & A
USMAN in C. T. Leondes
Guidance & Control Aerospace Vehicles iii. 82 A system of this sort..is sometimes inelegantly called ‘strapdown’.
1983 Times 8 June 2/8 The IMU system uses specially designed and positioned gyros attached to the body of the missile, called strapdown gyros.
1966 Sci. News 13 Aug. 107 Solid propellant strap-ons could be used to raise the Saturn V's orbital payload..to as much as 427,000 pounds.
1968 New Scientist 31 Oct. 231 The vehicle..appeared to have a two-stage core with four strap-on boosters.
1975 Aviation Week 12 May 21/1 Viewed from below a climbing booster, the procedure would appear like the petals of a flower opening if all four strap-ons separated at the same moment.
1981 J. SUTHERLAND Bestsellers x. 111 Such ‘novelties’ as strap-on shark fins.
1982 Aviation Week 14 June 18 The U.S. vehicle..uses strap-on solid boosters and integral liquid propulsion to launch itself.
This message is confidential. You should not copy it or disclose its contents to anyone. You may use and apply the information for the intended purpose only. OUP does not accept legal responsibility for the contents of this message. Any views or opinions presented are those of the author only and not of OUP. If this email has come to you in error, please delete it, along with any attachments. Please note that OUP may intercept incoming and outgoing email communications.
k
l
L
r
re
e
e
