1154 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) ann. 1137 Me dide cnotted strenges abuton here hæued.

c1200 Vices & Virtues 45 Þat ure ropes ne to-breken, þe bieð ibroiden mid þrie strænges.

c1290 St. Edmund 167 in S. Eng. Leg. 436 Heo [sc. a hair shirt] nas i-sponne ne i-weoue ake i-broide strengus longue.

1297 R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) 9353 Þe streng brac & he [sc. the pyx] vel adoun suche signe nas noȝt god.

c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 480/1 Strynge, cordula, instita, funiculus.

1631 H. Crooke Expl. Instr. Chirurg. 15 But the Seton or string which is in the wound must be gently drawne to and againe.

1726 J. Swift Gulliver II. iii. ii. 25 Like the scraps of Paper fastned by School-boys at the end of the String that holds their Kite.

1908 E. Fowler Between Trent & Ancholme 82 A string, pretty strong, with loop for the hand.

1827 M. Faraday Chem. Manip. i. 21 Matches, string, and bladder, are also necessary.

1859 C. Dickens Tale of Two Cities ii. xxi. 141 Lo, Miss Pross, in harness of string, awakening the echoes, as an unruly charger, whip-corrected.

1892 W. W. Greener Breech-loader 77 It is best to balance the gun on thin string.

c1000 West Saxon Gospels: John (Corpus Cambr.) ii. 15 And he worhte swipan of strengon.

1576 G. Gascoigne Complaynt of Phylomene in Steele Glas sig. K.iij^v She bare a skourge, with many a knottie string.

1579 S. Gosson Schoole of Abuse f. 10^v Musick replyes, that Melanippides,..& such fantasticall heades, haue..with manye stringes, geuen her so many woundes, that [etc.].

1839 C. M. Kirkland New Home i. 12 Until by unwearied chirruping and some judicious touches of ‘the string’ the horses are induced to struggle as for their lives.

c1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 166 Un oysel ke est dist becaz Près du rivere est pris en laz [glossed streing].

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter cxxxix. [cxl.] 6 And strengis [L. funes] þai strekid in snare.

1837 T. Carlyle French Revol. III. vi. i. 348 We walk in a world of Plots; strings, universally spread, of deadly gins and falltraps.

1612 J. Donne Second Anniuersarie 20 in First Anniuersarie And as these stars were but so many beades Strunge on one string.

1676 E. Stillingfleet Def. Disc. Idolatry i. i. §13. 119 They..say their prayers exactly with their Beads, of which they have 180 on a string.

1830 W. Scott Monastery (new ed.) I. Introd. p. xxix As the string of a necklace links the beads, which are otherwise detached.

1867 W. Morris Life & Death of Jason xvii. 357 Nor on one string are all life's jewels strung.

1585 T. Washington tr. N. de Nicolay Nauigations Turkie i. xvi. 17 b Eeles..haue so sharpe teeth, that there cannot be a string so good, but they will bite it asunder.

1615 E. Sharpe Britaines Busse sig. D2^v Stringes for each Man sixe..euery string must be fifty fathome long.

1860–70 W. Stubbs Lect. European Hist. (1904) i. i. 11 A king who pulled the strings of government so exclusively himself.

1868 Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 191 650 Persons..who pull the strings of the Catholic world in the city of Rome.

c1880 Our Own Country II. 257 Some men..who pulled the strings that influenced the mob.

1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lx. 421 The same men continuing to serve year after year, because they hold the strings in their hands.

1924 M. Kennedy Constant Nymph iii. xvi. 213 With half a dozen strings within her reach, she had not made up her mind which to pull.

1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xxii. 404 I've been trying to pull a few strings myself..but there's an ominous frigidity on all sides.

1955 G. Greene Loser takes All i. v. 26 Rice is still short, but I'm certain Aunt Marion can pull strings with the grocer.

1960 News Chron. 30 Jan. 3/8 She admits she will pull any strings to get things done.

1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. viii. 265 He couldn't be dumb or they wouldn't have accepted him at Le Rosay. On the other hand, his father had strings to pull everywhere.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa VI. xxi. 66 He pulled the string... The coachman stopp'd.

1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. III. 41 The door [of his bedroom was] without a lock, and the bell without a string.

1852 R. B. Mansfield Log Water Lily 43 Coxswain could only lay down in the boat, and pull whichever string he was directed.

1891 Labour Commission Gloss. String in length, is three yards three inches of warp. It is a method of measurement of work in the weaving trade to be paid by the piece at so much per string.

1851 J. B. Lamar et al. Polly Peablossom's Wedding & Other Tales 92 Of course Mabe was innocent of the ‘string’.

1937 E. H. Sutherland Professional Thief iii. 69 Many other shortcon games have been played, including the gold-brick,..the strap, the string (a variation of the string). [sic: ? read strap].

1914 Queen 24 Oct. 2 (advt.) Colours—champagne, silver, Wedgwood, sky, string.

1923 Daily Mail 7 June 6 In Ivory, String, Beige, Light Grey.

1949 Dict. Colours Interior Decoration (Brit. Colour Council) III. 26/1 String, a colour standardised by B.C.C. in 1934. A similar colour is here shown under the name of String Beige.

1963 Harper's Bazaar May 17 (advt.) In navy, string, cedar, nut brown or black calf... In cardinal, white or string calf.

1972 Vogue June 13/1 A kind of warm biscuit shade that some paint-makers bluntly term ‘string’.

1964 Which? Apr. 123/1 There are four main types of knit for men's underwear—plain; interlock; cellular, mesh or eyelet; and string... String fabrics are mesh fabrics, but of a very open structure—the holes may be nearly one inch across, and the fabric is usually in the form of thick strands joined together. This type originated in Norway, where the fishermen used to cut up their old fishing nets and wrap them round their bodies to keep warm when fishing in icy weather.

1966 ‘A. York’ Eliminator viii. 156 His underwear was Norwegian string. His coat was a Burberry.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cordé, Corded,..also, out of season; (a Metaphor from Lampreyes, which being out of season, haue a hard string in their backes).

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. 140 Lamprey..considerable for having..Two pair of finns; either that which is the biggest of this tribe, having two very long strings from the upper jaw, and four shorter from the lower jaw [etc.].

1675 V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo iii. 155 A vein of his old thredbare Fallacy discovers it self, which I now perceive (like the poysonous string in the Lamprey,) he resolves shall run through his whole Discourse.

1725 H. Sloane Voy. Islands II. 289 The Old-Wife... There is no Prickles in this Fish's Fins only long Strings.

1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 146/1 Capreolus,..the strings that wind about and fasten the vine to the perches or polles: they be called tendrilles.

1658 J. Evelyn tr. N. de Bonnefons French Gardiner 255 When your Strawberies shoot their strings, you must castrate them.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 131 If the Haum and Strings of the Hops be burnt every year.

a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 105 Peas..never thrive well till they can take hands with one another, that is, by their strings.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 622 After the potatoe plants have begun to throw out their wires or strings.

a1000 Ags. Ps. cxliii. 10 Mid tyn strengum getogen hearpe.

c1000 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 311/16 Fidis, streng.

a1300 E.E. Psalter xxxii. 2 In harpe and sautre Of ten stringes to him sing yhe.

1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) xii. ii. A iiij b Strenges made of wulfes guttes..corrumpyth strenges made of shepes guttes yf..they be sette amonge theym as in lute or in harpe.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) II. lf. 162^v The strenges of the harpe.

1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 351/2 Hypate,..a basse or base string: that string that maketh the base sound.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 597 All sounds on Fret by String or Golden Wire Temper'd soft Tunings. View more context for this quotation

1748 D. Hume Enq. Human Understanding vii. ii We say..that the vibration of this string is the cause of this particular sound.

1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music String, any wire, or preparation of sheep or catgut, used in musical instruments.

1825 T. Hook Sayings & Doings 2nd Ser. III. 110 The sweet tones of a harp, whose strings were swept with a master's hand, sounded through the adjoining saloon.

1879 J. Stainer Music of Bible 74 The most primitive material used for strings was, probably, twisted grass; next in time, the guts of animals; lastly, wire or silk.

1898 ‘H. S. Merriman’ Roden's Corner vii. 73 Cornish remembered that he had been specially told to get a new bass string for the banjo.

1583 H. Howard Defensatiue E j We read..of a certaine..custome among the false prophets..to meete together:..at which times, I doubt not, but they tuned euery string with such a cunning wrest, as none could trippe them in theyr tale.

1636 P. Massinger Great Duke of Florence ii. iii. sig. E3 Ever touching Upon that string?

1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. II. 14 You touch the right string of my inclination, when you pray me to praise..that Prince.

1655 Ld. Norwich Let. 30 Nov. in E. Nicholas Papers (1897) III. 217 But why touch I this string agayne?

1705 J. Collier Ess. Moral Subj.: Pt. III i. 19 This is scruing up the Strings too high in all Conscience.

1718 A. Pope Corr. 12 Dec. (1956) II. 23 But I must own, when you talk of Building and Planting, you touch my String.

1741 S. Richardson Pamela III. xxv. 147 The dear Gentleman makes me spring to his Arms, whenever he touches this String.

1748 J. Thomson Castle of Indolence i. xxxi But how shall I attempt such arduous string?

1787 F. Burney Diary & Lett. (1842) III. vii. 275 No sooner did the King touch upon that dangerous string, the history of music, than all else was forgotten!

1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxxvii. 376 I asked Mr. Vholes if he would like to live altogether in the country? ‘There, miss,’ said he, ‘you touch me on a tender string.’

1854 Poultry Chron. 2 320 What, another song to the old tune,—another play on the old string.

a1340 R. Rolle Psalter cl. 4 Louys him in strenges & orgyns [1535 Coverdale vpon the strynges; L. in chordis].

1820 Q. Musical Mag. 2 414 The peculiar appropriateness of wind instruments to that element [water], and their decided preference over strings.

1880 Academy 24 Dec. 467/1 Herr Joachim introduced last season his sextet for strings.

1884 Girl's Own Paper Nov. 20/1 By the ‘strings’ of an orchestra, we are always to understand merely such instruments as are played with a bow.

1887 Daily Tel. 14 Mar. (Cassell) With the orchestra little fault could be found beyond the weakness of the strings.

OE Beowulf 3117 Þonne stræla storm strengum gebæded scoc ofer scildweall.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 729 He leadde an his honde enne bowe stronge. & he þene streng up braid.

c1386 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 359 He took his bowe in honde And vp the streng he pulled to his ere.

1420 in M. Sellers York Memorandum Bk. (1915) II. 123 Et quod lez strynges pro arcubus, qui inventi erunt defectivi, sint forisfacti.

?1530 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry (rev. ed.) f. xlviii Bow, arowes, sworde, buckler, horne, leysshe, gloues, thy stryng, & thy bracer.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Psalms xx[i]. 12 With thy stringes thou shalt make ready thine arowes agaynst the faces off them.

1609 P. Holland tr. Ammianus Marcellinus Rom. Hist. xv. x. 50 As if they were bolts and darts discharged violently from the writhed and wrested strings of a brake or such like engine.

1611 Bible (King James) Psalms xi. 2 They make ready their arrow vpon the string . View more context for this quotation

1796 S. T. Coleridge Poems Var. Subj. 75 When twang'd an arrow from Love's mystic string.

1849 E. Bulwer-Lytton King Arthur ii. xcix He did but pause, with more effect to wing The stone that chance thus fitted to his string.

1870 W. C. Bryant tr. Homer Iliad I. iv. 149 On the string He laid that fatal arrow.

1524 T. Wolsey in State Papers Henry VIII (1836) IV. 103 Ne totally to grounde you upon the said Quenes doinges, but to have 2 stringes to your bowe, specially whan the oone is wrought with a womans fingers.

1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xi. sig. Div Ye haue many stryngs to the bowe.

1578 J. Lyly Euphues f. 44 My counsayle is that thou haue more strings to thy bow then one.

1645 R. Baillie Let. 25 Apr. (1841) II. 262 Allaster M^cDonnell wes the smallest string in his bow.

1678 S. Butler Hudibras: Third Pt. iii. i. 1 As he that has two Strings t' his Bow And burns for Love, and Money too.

1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park I. viii. 169 Miss Bertram..might be said to have two strings to her bow . View more context for this quotation

1877 C. H. Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 113 She had three strings to her bow.

1863 Baily's Monthly Mag. Mar. 102 Still Jennings has a very dangerous ‘second string’ in Valentine.

1884 Sat. Rev. 12 Apr. 469/1 La Touche..had won the [mile] race at Cambridge in about 4 min. 27 sec...while the Oxford first string, Pratt, had occupied nearly 13 sec. more in covering the ground.

1893 Daily News 22 Apr. 5/3 He ran a dead heat with the other Oxford string for first place in the One Hundred Yards Race.

1897 Earl of Suffolk et al. Encycl. Sport I. 62/2 (Athletics) Strings..(2) ‘First,’ ‘second,’ and ‘third’ strings are the first, second, and third men chosen to represent a club in any event.

1934 Times 14 Feb. 6/3 In the first string match P. Q. Reiss (R.A.F. Club) just beat S. N. Capel-Cure by three games to two.

1934 Times 3 Mar. 6/4 The match was decided on the last fight, that between the first-string welter-weights.

1951 Sport 27 Jan. 3/1 On Saturday, ‘Archie’ kept goal for the Rochdale second string.

1972 J. Mosedale Football iii. 32 Walter Camp named him a second-string All-American.

1976 Norwich Mercury 19 Nov. 10 Terry Medwin's finest moment so far as Norwich City Reserves' coach was in defeat. The second string went down 3–2 in September at Tottenham.

a1400 K. Alis. (Laud) 208 Her ȝelewe her was faire atired Mid riche strenges of golde wyred.

1564 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1877) 1st Ser. I. 308 lxxxxvi stringis to hattis of diverse cullouris.

1588–9 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 50 For mottlaye to be a cloke bagge and for stringes to the same, vij^s.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. i. 3 You..who has had my purse, As if the strings were thine. View more context for this quotation

1674 in Jrnl. Friends Hist. Soc. (1914) 30 Beare slypt out the runing string of his drawers and tyed it about his necke.

1737 in 6th Rep. Deputy Keeper Rec. App. ii. 120 A new invented Hoop Petticoat, with..strings for contracting the compass of a Petticoat from four yards in circumference to two yards.

1829 W. Scott Anne of Geierstein III. iv. 111 Our purses, my Lord Duke, are our own—we will not put the strings of them into your Highness's hands, unless [etc.].

1839 C. Dickens Nicholas Nickleby xvii. 160 Kate's..duties being limited to holding articles of costume until Miss Knag was ready to try them on, and now and then tying a string or fastening a hook-and-eye.

1847 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) xi. 101 The Doctor was a portly gentleman in a suit of black, with strings at his knees, and stockings below them.

1878 T. Hardy Return of Native III. v. iii. 145 Her poor little hands quivered so violently as she held them to her chin to fasten her bonnet that she could not tie the strings.

1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay v. 85 She wore just such a velvet string as this through the lace of her dress.

1583 Catalogus Librorum in J. Dee Private Diary (1842) 71 [A book] In paste-bords, with strings.

1585 S. Daniel tr. P. Giovio Worthy Tract contayning Disc. Imprese C v b A Booke of accomptes, with leather stringes and buckles.

1641 J. Milton Of Reformation 39 Many of those that pretend to be great Rabbies in these studies have scarce saluted them from the strings, and the titlepage.

1646 R. Crashaw Steps to Temple 78 When your hands unty these strings, Thinke you have an Angell by th' wings.

1663 A. Wood Life & Times (1891) I. 470 Both which [books] for strings and covers cost me 1s. 7d.

1974 W 14 June 17/2 The latest—The String—looks like a winner on the beaches of other countries too... Held by thin strings, it's just two tiny triangles—front and back—worn with a mini-bra.

1974 Times 13 Aug. 5/6 The String, a sort of cache-sexe sized bathing suit from Brazil which is now sweeping America.

1977 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 5 Nov. 1/4 They were what we call ‘strings’—just a string holding them up.

1638 J. Suckling Aglaura ii. 11 Like the string of a watch wound up too high.

1675 J. Smith Horol. Dialogues ii. i. 38 You must first wind it [sc. a watch] up rightly;..not too hastily, least you force the stop, and break the string.

a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) iv. iv. 324 If I should see a curious Watch,..and should observe the exact disposition of the Spring, the String, the Wheels, the Ballance, the Index, [etc.].

1680 London Gaz. No. 1499/4 A silver Watch with a String.

1701 London Gaz. No. 3692/4 Lost.., a Watch with a double Case.., a Green and Silver String with 2 Seals.

1488–92 in T. Dickson Accts. Treasurer Scotl. (1877) I. 84 Ane string of grete perle contenand fyfti and a perle, and stringis of small perle.

1578 in T. Thomson Coll. Inventories Royal Wardrobe (1815) 263 A string of cornellingis sett in gold.

1620 T. Shelton tr. M. de Cervantes 2nd Pt. Don Quixote l. 335 I haue sent you..a string of Corall Beads.

1687 A. Lovell tr. J. de Thévenot Trav. into Levant i. 124 These Pouseragues are Wheels, with a Rope hanging round them like a string of Beads without an end.

1732 Earl of Oxford in Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 153 We had herrings for dinner caught that very morning, and was the first string they had this year.

1737 in J. Colville Ochtertyre House Bk. of Accomps (1907) 27 For two strings of flounders and a letter, 0 0 7.

a1821 J. Keats Otho iv. i, in R. M. Milnes Life, Lett. & Lit. Remains Keats (1848) II. 172 Fetch me a missal, and a string of beads.

1830 G. P. R. James Darnley I. iv. 60 Endless strings of sausages.

1834 F. Marryat Peter Simple II. ix. 140 The steward came down..loaded with cabbages, baskets of eggs, strings of onions, [etc.].

1874 H. H. Cole Catal. Objects Indian Art S. Kensington Mus. 173 Bracelet. Six strings of pink glass beads.

1891 Field 7 Mar. 344/1 A movement is making amongst the fish, several nice strings of codling having fallen to different boats.

1903 Mrs. H. Taylor Pastor Hsi vi. 43 He had no money to draw upon, and no means left of raising even a few strings of cash.

1878 Lumberman's Gaz. 5 Jan. One string of lumber went over the falls on Friday afternoon of last week.

1880 Lumberman's Gaz. 14 Jan. With this decrease in the size of the logs, comes the constant increase in the number of strings into which the company are required to tie the logs.

1855 J. Holbrook Ten Years among Mail Bags 60 Just allow me twenty on a ‘string’.

c1865 B. A. Baker Glance at N.Y. 11 I have beat Miss Wilson one string.

1871 G. W. Peck Adventures of Terence McGrant iii. 22 I'd do it to him half a string.

1879 Webster's Amer. Dict. Eng. Lang. Suppl. String, the number of points made, in a game of billiards.

1891 Cent. Dict. String 9 (a) A number of wooden buttons strung on a wire to keep the score or tally of the game. There is a string for each player or side. (b) The score, tally, or number of points scored by either player or side at any stage of a game: as, he made a poor string at first, but won.

1924 Billiards Mag. June 46/1 Kreshel beat the coast's amateur three-cushion titlist, 80–44. The score of the first block was 40–14, with the string completed in 110 innings.

1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. ix. 352 They generally plough with their Oxen in pairs, but with their Horses in a string, to prevent poching the land.

1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 1 Apr. (1965) I. 340 The drivers take care to tye them [sc. camels] one to another with strong ropes, 50 in a string, led by an Ass on which the driver rides.

1820 Sporting Mag. 6 79 The long string of carriages..increased the animation..of the scene.

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 167 Dealers fasten the halter of one horse to the halter and tail of another, and so on to the amount of sixteen, twenty, or more, and either is a string. ‘Several strings of good horses entered Smithfield to-day.’

1830 S. T. Coleridge Table-talk 5 Oct. I call these strings of school boys or girls which we meet near London—walking advertisements.

1842 Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) I. 320 Smugglers and their strings of pack-horses.

1849 F. B. Head Stokers & Pokers (1851) iii. 41 A string of empty carriages..[to be] formed into the next departure train.

1885 Rudler & Chisholm Europe 175 A steam-tug with a long string of rafts or a heavily-laden barge in tow.

1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail iii. 16 The train consisted of a string of freight cars.

1910 G. F. Wright in The Fundamentals II. i. 10 Strings of captives with evidently Jewish features.

1801 J. Thomson Poems Sc. Dial. 12 Just like to wild geese in a string, When aff they flee.

1813 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 89 Not one string of birds came low enough to be fired at.

1889 F. A. Knight By Leafy Ways 70 We talk of a covey of partridges, a pack of grouse, a string of teal.

1744 R. North & M. North Life Sir D. North & Rev. J. North 59 He procured of him a String of Slaves out of his Chiurm, with a Capo, to work in his Building.

1764 Museum Rusticum 2 163 This circumstance of seeing his highness's string of mules, it was first induced me to think of breeding them.

a1809 T. Holcroft Memoirs (1816) I. i. xi. 88 Johnstone..had a string of no less than thirteen famous [race-]horses..under his care.

1814 B. Heyne Tracts on India 274 I learnt that a gentleman of my acquaintance was encamped near the town with a string of elephants.

1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols xviii. 230 He had flocks of sheep, herds of cattle, droves of horses, and strings of camels.

1889 R. S. S. Baden-Powell Pigsticking 120 A man to whom money is no object will naturally complete his ‘string’ with Arabs or small thoroughbred Walers.

1579 T. North tr. Plutarch Liues 108 Brutus..had maried their own sister, & had many children by her. Of the which the Vitellians had drawen to their stringe, two of the eldest of them.

16.. Rob. Hood & Maid Marian xii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1888) III. v. 219/1 ‘O hold thy hand,’..said Robin Hood, ‘And thou shalt be one of my string.’

1699 R. Bentley Diss. Epist. Phalaris (new ed.) 484 All of that String, Bacchylides, Simonides, Pindar, got their livelyhood by the Muses.

1627 T. Kellie Pallas Armata 125 Stand right in your Ranks and your Stringes.

1913 G. J. Kneeland Commercialized Prostitution N.Y. iv. 77 A single girl, at times a ‘string’ of girls, ‘working’ for them [sc. pimps] on the street or in houses.

1946 Amer. Mercury Sept. 272/2 Promoters of commercialized prostitution look to two main sources for replenishing their ‘stables’ or ‘strings’ of girls.

1982 L. Block Eight Million Ways to Die (1983) x. 87 She wants out of my string of girls.

1713 R. North Disc. Fish & Fish-ponds vi. 17 The third Pond may be a Work of another Year; and if the Ground lies fair for it,..I would not be without it; for it will..fill up a Range or String of Waters, which two doth not.

1788 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall V. lv. 544 A long sea-coast, [Croatia] indented with capacious harbours, covered with a string of islands.

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 166 Eastward of this lake, lie several small ones, which extend in a string to the great carrying place.

1843 G. W. Le Fevre Life Trav. Physician III. iii. viii. 184 A string of houses built after the model of the peasants' habitations.

1862 G. P. Scrope Volcanos (ed. 2) 365 Thence radiate several elevated embranchments or strings of conoidal hills.

1895 W. T. Brannt Petroleum vii. 182 The string of tools—the bit, the auger-stem and jars, with the sinkerbar—are [sic] more than sixty feet long.

1929 H. E. Babbitt & J. J. Doland Water Supply Engin. vii. 160 The only tools on the string in spudding are usually the auger stem and the spudding drill.

1939 D. Hager Fund. Petroleum Industry viii. 181 A string of cable tools consists of the bit, stem, jars, sinker bar or sub, and rope socket. The parts of the string are all joined by tool joints and fastened to the drilling cable or line by means of the rope socket.

1947 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 12 Mar. 11/2 Pacific Western's well contains the longest ‘string’ of casing ever run into a well—16,406 feet.

1963 G. Sell Petroleum Industry iii. 53 The swivel is so designed as to allow the drilling string to rotate freely on roller bearings.

1976 M. Machlin Pipeline xxvii. 318 Can you imagine old Wilbur all touted out in greasy coveralls, working the string on some well up in the slope?

1979 R. Piper Story of Oil vi. 23 When boring for oil, a separate engine, apart from the one that raises and lowers the drill string, is needed to turn the drill stem.

1932 C. I. Lewis & C. H. Langford Symbolic Logic iii. 49 Propositions are not strings of marks, or series of sounds, except incidentally.

1940 W. V. Quine Math. Logic vii. 284 Now x is a string of accents, symbolically Ac x, if every initial segment of x ends in an accent.

1954 Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery 1 120/2 A finite, possibly null, sequence of members of the alphabet is called a string.

1955 N. Chomsky Logical Struct. Ling. Theory (microfilm, Mass. Inst. Technol.) viii. 356 There are cases where similar strings have intuitively quite different interpretations, but where we can discover no grounds..for assigning different markers to them.

1958 Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery 1 11 Strings of letters and figures enclosed by delimiters represent new entities. However, only two types of such strings are admissible: 1. Strings consisting of figures ζ only represent the (positive) integers G (including o) with the conventional meaning. 2. Strings beginning with a letter λ followed by arbitrary letters λ and/or figures ζ are called identifiers. They have no inherent meaning, but serve for identifying purposes only.

1970 J. Lyons Chomsky 58 The ambiguity of such strings as old men and women.

1977 Word 28 91 The surface string of such sentences indeed looks perfectly straightforward—an adjective with comparative inflection and a comparative marker.

1979 Sci. Amer. Oct. 138/3 It was hoped that by transforming the statements of mathematics into strings of meaningless symbols to be combined according to the rules of logic, whatever unavowed principles of reasoning had given rise to the paradoxes would be revealed.

1956 Jrnl. Assoc. Computing Machinery 3 147 Areas are set aside for shuttling strings of control fields back and forth until a completely sorted sequence is obtained.

1964 C. Dent Quantity Surv. by Computer iii. 34 After the second pass tapes A and B contain the data in strings of four items.

1979 E. S. Page & L. B. Wilson Introd. Computational Combinatorics iii. 49 Two strings of r, s items respectively are each in ascending order in the main store of a computer.

1713 H. Felton Diss. Reading Classics 26 If this [sc. the ballad theory of the Homeric poems] be true, they are the completest String of Ballads I ever met with.

1713 R. Steele or E. Budgell in Guardian 29 Apr. 2/1 Sir Harry hath what they call a String of Stories, which he tells over every Christmas.

1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 52/2 He then read to the House a string of resolutions under thirteen heads.

1797 C. Burney Let. to F. Burney 28 Sept. I had a string of questions ready to ask.

1839 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 165 Made a string of indispensable visits, that I could not catch a moment to do before.

1843 S. R. Maitland Dark Ages (1890) xv. 286 The brief records of whole strings of abbots, priors, &c.

1859 A. Helps Friends in Council New Ser. II. i. 10 The man..who masters long strings of facts.

1870 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (ed. 2) I. App. 695 We now come to the long string of English writers who accuse Eadric.

1884 Law Times Rep. 50 278/1 Lyell administered to Kennedy a long string of interrogatories.

1902 S. E. White Blazed Trail vi. 47 The reptilian gentleman let out a string of oaths.

1721 N. Amhurst Terræ-filius No. 20. 104 These commodious sets of syllogisms are call'd strings and descend from undergraduate to undergraduate,..so that, when any candidate for a degree is to exercise his talent in argumentation, he has nothing else to do but to enquire amongst his friends for a string upon such or such a question, and to get it by heart, or read it over in his cap... I have in my custody a book of strings upon most or all of the questions discussed in a certain college.

1780 Gentleman's Mag. 50 277 Every undergraduate [at Oxford]..has in his possession certain papers, which have been handed down from generation to generation, and are denominated strings. [Note In our Sister University called arguments.].. These strings consist of two or three arguments, each on those subjects which are discussed in the schools.

1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. xiv. 141 Did he not talk a long string of learning about Greek.

1858 N. Hawthorne Jrnl. 6 Jan. in French & Ital. Notebks. (1980) i. 7 It sounds like a mere string of gabble.

1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirlaugh III. 236 The fox sang a string of doggerel.

1833 J. S. Sands Poems 105 Whiles the soul Is apt to tak a rigmarole; And o' her tale to lose the string.

1860–70 W. Stubbs Lect. European Hist. (1904) i. ix. 116 Events..not of great interest as touching the string of Charles's history.

1876 W. Stubbs Early Plantagenets v. 86 We must now return to the direct string of the story.

1890 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang II. 313/2 A common expression in America is ‘to get in a string’, applied to any kind of fortunate series.

1898 H. M. Blossom Checkers 170 Well, I've had my hard luck, and ‘played out the string’.

1967 Boston Herald 8 May 16/5 Womack preserved the victory that ended a four-game losing string for New York.

1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 15 Jan. 19/1 The victory stretched the Canadiens' unbeaten string to nine games.

1973 Times 17 Apr. 14/6 I try to take it in my stride and relax, and not get too nervous about continuing a string.

1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 27 June 1- f/2 The Mustangs stretched their scoreless string to 12 innings before finally connecting in the fourth inning.

1961 Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. String, a fixed or standard number of turns at play in a game or competition.

1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 28 Sept. 21/4 Fred Harrison failed to win any..prize money in the Ace Bowling Centre's men's open five pin tournament but he..included a perfect 450 game in his 10-game string.

1979 Ritger & Allen Compl. Guide Bowling Spares 228/1 String, a number of continuous strikes. Also, in some areas, one game of bowling.

1875 Chicago Tribune 23 Nov. 7/3 [She] always had a full string at measuring-time.

1889 Current Lit. Apr. 314/1 Presently his week's ‘string’ averaged twelve thousand a day.

1891 Cent. Dict. String... A piece-compositor's aggregate of the proofs of types set by him, pasted on a long strip of paper. The amount of work done is determined by the measurement of this string.

1898 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 11 Jan. 3/1 Printers..who found it no unusual thing to ‘paste up’ ‘strings’ that averaged more than 1,500 an hour.

1892 Dial. Notes 1 207 When he [sc. a correspondent] comes to make up his bill, he takes all the articles he has written for a given period and pastes them together, end to end. This he calls his string.

1913 W. G. Bleyer Newspaper Writing & Editing iii. 55 On some papers the correspondents clip out all of their news stories and paste them together in a ‘string’ which they send in once a month, so that the telegraph editor may pay them according to the length of the ‘string’.

1650 J. Bulwer Anthropometamorphosis 205 A Gelding (that was proud of a string).

1823 J. Pursglove Pract. Farriery 204 The string, or spring halt..is termed by some authors the blind spavin.

1776 Compl. Grazier (ed. 4) 40 The Hind Spring or String is when they [sc. kine] become bound in their body, and cannot dung.

1798 R. Douglas Gen. View Agric. Roxburgh & Selkirk 149 Calves..are sometimes seized with an inflammation in the intestines, provincially called liver-crook, or strings.

1802 G. V. Sampson Statist. Surv. Londonderry 214 Calves are liable to a disorder, called the strings.