1mass noun Material consisting of threads of cotton, hemp, or other material twisted together to form a thin length.

1. 1.1count noun A piece of string used to tie round or attach to something.
   the elephant mask had a trunk you could raise by pulling a string

   Example sentencesExamples

   • We were conspirators, seizing the opportunity to cut the strings from the other's kite!
   • The bikini bottom had strings that tied together at the sides to keep it on, and the bikini top was halter style.
   • One of the simplest ways for investigators to determine if a UFO photo has been faked is to look for the wire, string, or thread that suspended the model.
   • The long, thin string and the heavy bob will enable the pendulum to swing unencumbered for hours and hours and hours.
   • There are strings of about half meter long attaching the balloons to the tables.
   • Step 1: Take the blind apart by cutting the connecting strings where they come out of the headrain and where they go into the baserail.
   • It was apparent the two children who had been harassing me tenaciously were merely puppets attached to a string with the other end in the grip of that woman.
   • Now I plant plenty of ‘Kentucky Wonder’ pole beans to dry on strings and enjoy all winter, too.
   • A set of raffia strings connect the skins on either end.
   • McLean attaches the strings to my harness and sets me loose.
   • The fan, whose rotating blades had been disabled had strings attached to the fan housing, radiating out from it through 360 degrees.
   • I spent a long time undoing five knots from one length of yo-yo string.
   • Soon, she was flipping out her hands and shaking her hips rigidly as if her body parts were attached with strings and the evil DJ was controlling them.
   • Most of the other creations showed doves, the symbols of peace, holding on to strings attached to planet earth.
   • Lucky did as he was told and pulled the string that was connected to a blue balloon.
   • Outside, charpoys cradled drivers, some sleeping, others sitting cross-legged on the woven strings, scooping food on to triangles of chapati from tin plates and bowls.
   • If you were to attach two strings to the centre of the wheel and hang it off the ceiling, you could spin the wheel and let it keep spinning in mid-air.
   • For the adventurous players, home made bows of rosined string or even fishing line will suffice.
   • Yes, maybe he will be, but could you not see the strings attached to Vajpayee's limbs?
   • The model had a set of strings attached to one of its wings.
2. 1.2count noun A piece of catgut or similar material interwoven with others to form the head of a sports racket.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • It's not like you've got to hit the thing hard - the strings do all the work for you.
   • He seems to be playing the ball in sheer delight at the things he can do with it, playing with a racket whose strings are one moment cobweb, the next piano-wire.
   • Change the dimensions of the court: Tennis courts were drawn up when rackets were made of wood and strings were made of sheepskin.
   • What he drew up was a putter that had strings similar to a tennis racket.
   • She also was bothered by her racket strings, opponent Emilie Loit's style and the weather.
   • At such pressure, the rackets were extremely vulnerable: one year Borg broke strings on 60 rackets during the French Open.
   • He was handing the racket I used, now missing a few strings, back to Maki.
   • Tennis balls stay on the racket strings for only a few milliseconds and are several feet away by the time a signal from your hand can travel to your brain and back to generate a correction.
   • It smashed off the strings of his racket and over to my side of the court.
   • The 20 year-old was never the same after breaking a string at 4-4 in the first set.
   • The trouble with tennis these days is that a helpless child could hit a serve at a 100 mph because of them strings!
   • There was a beautiful stop volley, a shot so delicate that the ball barely seemed to contact the strings at all.
   • It's a private moment at his locker in which he routinely wipes away dirt, applies a protective cream and checks the strength of the strings.
   • With these light but well-balanced rackets, the ball stays on the strings longer, giving extra control and more spin, yet it still jumps off with zing.
   • He broke strings in both his Prince rackets during the victory and had to use his third - choice Wilson racket to complete the victory, doubles partner Tom Sanders lending him a spare just in case.
   • And it held the ball on the strings longer, allowing athletes to impart greater topspin on the ball than they would with a normal topspin stroke.
   • Henin-Hardenne loses a point at 30-when a string breaks on her racket.
   • The only gifts I can remember at this instant were a tennis racket without any strings, and square hula-hoops.
   • Yes that's right, its time to dust the cobwebs off the old wooden racket, tighten the strings on the shiny racket that has only seen a tennis ball in two weeks total out of this last four years.
3. 1.3count noun A length of catgut or wire on a musical instrument, producing a note by vibration.
   the D string broke

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The shamisen is a lute instrument with three strings.
   • Guitar strings are ripped, drums thrashed and the blitzkrieg commences.
   • Through amplification and loudspeakers, the singer's voice vibrates the open piano strings.
   • Tchaikovsky's strings were gut rather than metal and were played with little vibrato.
   • This acts as a wonderful foil to the modal hymn tune with plucked strings in the bass attempting to calm matters down.
   • Her fingers stilled on the keys as the piano strings stopped their vibrations and the lounge was silent again.
   • There are metallic overtones and an accompanying percussive sound, as if something were pounding upon an electric guitar's strings.
   • The guitar returns, its strings seemingly snapped frantically as crackling pebbles fuse into a single shrill noise.
   • Her fingers strummed the strings creating sad melodies.
   • It was Pythagoras who was the first person to study the notes emitted by plucked strings of various lengths.
   • She plays a Slavic stringed instrument whose strings are of different lengths and heights, producing a sound softer than that of the violin.
   • Take for instance, his cantata: the use of pizzicato, or plucking strings, to express the clashing of swords.
   • Bassist Palladino can strum four strings, but his notes are delicate, dainty plucks compared to Entwistle's ability to work an electric bass.
   • The strings, of catgut or wire, are all of the same length but of different thicknesses, and are all tuned to the same note.
   • The mechanism that he winds with the handle to pluck the strings makes more noise than the actual musical notes of the strings themselves.
   • Irish harpers used their fingernails on the wire strings of their harps, again probably near the soundboard.
   • Pythagoras saw the connection between music and numbers and clearly understood how the note produced by a string related to its length.
   • He takes a monochord, like a single string on a musical instrument.
   • Even before the first guitar strings were plucked, Young made it clear that the spirit of Farm Aid was alive and well.
   • As for the title track, why not use plucked strings, craggy violin bowing, and rumbling xylophones to gleefully pervert the title's sentiment?
4. 1.4strings The stringed instruments in an orchestra.
   the blend of the wind-group is less perfect than that of the strings

   Example sentencesExamples

   • They've grown up and want us to realise it; this album is more low key and features an impressive array of instruments including a ukulele, zithers, brass and strings.
   • I Love LA relies heavily on acoustic guitars and strings offset by a series of well-constructed electronic blips and beeps.
   • The album is ripe with folk and country elements as well and encompasses many instruments, from epic strings to mouth organ and horns.
   • ‘Nan's Song’ is a beautiful strings and acoustic guitar song number and a fitting conclusion to his best album yet.
   • Everything - strings, clarinets, guitars - is rendered in Technicolor.
   • The strings provide a foundation over which the brass soar.
   • The pieces can be used for a quartet of the same type instruments such as strings, recorders, saxophones or wind and brass combinations.
   • The guitars, strings, wind instruments, synths and God knows what else in the mix are used sparingly but effectively.
   • As always, Orton doesn't stick to the normal acoustic guitars and occasional strings.
   • In Psalm 150, we find the trumpet, lute, and harp, cymbals, strings and pipe.
   • The majority of this album is built up around similar ambiences as the trio elaborate poignant melodies and impressive arrangements, complete with guitars, strings and horns.
   • Linkin have matured in the interim (if by maturing one means adding pianos and strings to their guitar assault).
   • The electric bleeps and clicks that lie scattered across aching swathes of strings and delicate guitars work perfectly, like crickets serenading sleepers on a warm summer's night.
   • In fact the opening title track is a bit orchestral, though swamped with shortwave radio static and increasingly fractured, distorted bursts of strings, organ and guitar.
   • There are times when Jonsi's falsetto is right in your ear and at times it's like your in the middle of a thunder storm of wailing strings and distorted guitars.
   • Raw strings and belting brass convey the hell-on-earth of the Dutchman's existence.
   • On this album there aren't any real strings or any orchestra instruments like harp or timpani.
   • Blending strings and chunky distorted guitars works well, especially on ‘Borderline.’
   • From whooping theremins to massed strings and synths, music furnishes our future dreams.
   • But for those who cared, Guthrie's adept pop songwriting and smooth consolidation of orch strings and guitars made for some good, good times.

   Synonyms

   stringed instruments
5. 1.5as modifier Relating to or consisting of stringed instruments.
   a string quartet

   Example sentencesExamples

   • His compositions comprise mainly chamber music, including string quartets and accompanied keyboard sonatas.
   • It was cool for 15 minutes, then everyone started writing everybody else's songs with all the same string band instrumentations.
   • Beautiful musicianship, some great string arrangements and a variety of additional instruments all contribute to a great album.
   • Even more telling is the group's almost complete abandonment of the gentle string melodies and structured songs that won them a following in the first place.
   • He began composing late in life, completing six symphonies and nine string quartets.
   • In some cases, the composer himself arranged the music for string orchestra.
   • When you need that Mike Pinder string sound for your Moody Blues sound-alike or that Kraftwerk human choir thing, dial up the M-Tron!
   • Subtle horns creak from enveloping static before becoming lost in an overbearing string arrangement.
   • There is no messing around with extraneous instrumentation or string sections here.
   • "Midnight " flourishes with an orchestral string arrangement and a surging chorus to suit.
   • The string players brought tremendous energy and concentration to the apocalyptic visions of the Allegretto.
   • A piano and stringed instruments were purchased and the family formed a string quartet.
   • Vassilev is also the founder and leader of Laureate, an exclusive string ensemble made up of international prize-winning string instrumentalists.
   • He had already recorded the string orchestra and his guitar on his own.
   • The 10 tracks are based more in piano than acoustic guitar, and feature more string orchestration than before: not exactly killer on first listen.
   • Copenhagen Classic is a string sextet ensemble from Denmark that had its debut in 1997.
   • I was introduced to Biangai string band music by Sampson.
   • The major work last night was Don Quixote, that staple of National Youth Orchestra string audition extracts.
   • The production and studio sound is excellent, the songs in Irish attractive, the string arrangements gorgeous and the instrumental dexterity often dazzling.
   • While Horntveth played most of the instruments himself, he got a nine-piece string ensemble on board to supply some extra textures.

2A set of things tied or threaded together on a thin cord.

1. 2.1 A sequence of similar items or events.
   a string of burglaries

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Not for nothing has he presided over a string of setbacks in meaningless friendlies, while also putting together a sequence of just two defeats in 21 competitive internationals.
   • All twelve celebrities taking part will jet off to the paradise island this week where they will stay on the beach in traditional bamboo huts before being paired off together for a string of dates..
   • Temple also notes that the tradition of making films about festivals, which reached its zenith in the early 1970s, has hardly produced a string of cinematic masterpieces.
   • Earlier this season Sale blew a golden opportunity to beat Saracens at Vicarage Road and have a score to settle for a previous string of heavy defeats by the Watford-based outfit.
   • In 1965, Kaat won 18 games for a Twins team that broke the Yankees five-year string of American League pennants.
   • Rice commented on the string of injuries that have affected the Schwikerts and their teammates.
   • Wayland then manages to turn the tables on them in a rather surprising string of plot twists.
   • Detectives are piecing together the evidence of what appears to be a string of related incidents in Irkutsk.
   • The play features a string of realistic scenes tied together only by the fact that they take place on holidays: Mother's Day, Father's Day, Canada Day.
   • Vince Clarke and Andy Bell have been working together for 21 years, churning out a string of hits and outrageous stage shows.
   • The Mariners and the Tigers scratch out their runs with bunts, strings of hits and a willingness to move the runners.
   • Earlier this year a judge ruled that a man left severely brain-damaged after his car skidded and crashed on wet tram rails in 1995 was not to blame, paving the way for a string of compensation claims.
   • These four cities together with a string of interconnected towns, form the Randstad, which has a population of 6,100,000.
   • But after what seemed a routine pregnancy, their son, Adam, was stillborn - the first in a long string of misfortunes.
   • I think it's going to be one of those years where it's a bat tie all the way to the end, and if we can put a string of races together, then maybe we can put ourselves in the championship hunt.
   • Through these broadcasts we can watch Germany drifting into a war in 1939 followed by the string of amazing victories in 1940.
   • Now he grabs the telephone, punches in a string of numbers and clasps the receiver to his ear, knuckles white with pressure.
   • Last Saturday, he didn't strike out a batter or walk one, instead happily settling for a long string of ground balls.
   • The great string of victories beginning at Naseby in June 1645 was the product not of its zeal, but of regular pay.
   • Starring together in a string of grade B romance adventures, the couple had become the hottest item in Hollywood.

   Synonyms

   series, succession, chain, sequence, concatenation, run, streak

   pattern
2. 2.2Computing A linear sequence of characters, words, or other data.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Additional null characters may follow the string, padding it out to a size that ensures the following structure is properly aligned.
   • Today, it's almost impossible to prove that any raw text is original without searching for a selected string of words in a search engine.
   • Sometimes, though, the password is not really the string of alphanumeric characters you typed but instead a randomly assigned sequence.
   • The latter part of the string consists of alphanumeric characters, with slashes interspersed.
   • Fitness functions include a simple linear problem for binary strings and classification of data sets which are dynamically loaded from a specified data file.
3. 2.3 A group of racehorses trained at one stable.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • Burke said the purse structure and easy access to Turfway through international flights in and out of Cincinnati convinced him to stable a small string there.
   • The fact that she owned a string of race horses could be politely overlooked.
   • Marlow added that training his own string had always been his goal.
   • A tax exile living in Geneva, McManus has a large string of horses trained in England, Ireland and France.
   • I'd be at Aintree, preparing to see one of my string of racehorses running tomorrow, before taking my helicopter back to my mansion.
4. 2.4 A reserve team or player holding a specified position in an order of preference.
   the village team held Rangers' second string to a 0–0 draw

   Example sentencesExamples

   • But despite being the third string at Selby, Charlie Booth's side have a formidable spirit of team-work and have beaten a number of higher ranked teams before.
   • Matthews started three games for the Bears last year; Wuerffel was third string on the same team.
   • At Montgomery Blair High School, Francis was academically ineligible as a freshman, and then a third string varsity bench warmer as a sophomore.
   • With the Premier title already in the bag and the FA Sunday Cup final looming on Sunday, Albion Sports paraded most of their third string for the visit of bogey side Crown.
   • But he relegated Harbaugh to third string behind Ryan Leaf and Moses Moreno at the start of the season.
5. 2.5 A player assigned a specified rank in a team in an individual sport such as squash.
   Taylor lost to third string Baines

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Earlier in the tie Manchester stalwart Nick Taylor beat the visitors' third string Sam Miller 9-7 9-5 7-9 9-6 to begin the home team's victory surge.

3A tough piece of fibre in vegetables, meat, or other food, such as a tough elongated piece connecting the two halves of a bean pod.

4A G-string or thong.

5

6Physics
A hypothetical one-dimensional subatomic particle having the dynamical properties of a flexible loop.

1. 6.1 A hypothetical threadlike concentration of energy within the structure of space–time.
   Example sentencesExamples

   • It attempts to reduce all matter, all energy, and all their interactions to the existence of higher-dimensional vibrating strings of energy.
   • Young theorists are encouraged in such reasoning by their senior colleagues, some of whom have recently become enamored of the possibility of operating time machines near cosmic strings or wormholes.
   • Massive cosmic strings would also be excellent candidates for gravitational lensing.
   • It is just the stuff to hold wormholes open with; the more the gravity of the black holes involved tries to squeeze the wormhole shut, the more the cosmic string will expand and hold it open.
   • Similarly, when the string moves in space and time, it warps the space around it just as Einstein predicted.

1with object and adverbial Hang (something) so that it stretches in a long line.

1. 1.1 Thread (a series of small objects) on a string.
   he collected stones with holes in them and strung them on a strong cord

   Example sentencesExamples

   • When they had finished, she strung the creations and hung them up on a window.
   • The necklace was all rubies, strung together to make it look like a line of blood around her neck.
   • Be it chunky beads strung in silver thread or kundan silver jewellery dipped in gold and worked on in fine detail, the jet-set crowd drools over these creations.
   • My mother spent hours stringing cranberries and popcorn, creating elegant ropes to hang on the branches.
   • These buttons, with no two alike, were then strung on a length of strong string.
   • Together, they chopped down the Christmas tree, set it up in the parlor, hung the ornaments, and strung popcorn to hang on the piney branches.
   • On this, the Swarovski crystal and pearls are strung like a festoon of flowers, with hanging clusters terminating in big pieces of aqua quartz.
   • Homemade decorations using herbs such as cinnamon sticks and whole star anise can be strung together with thin ribbon or raffia and hung from the branches for a different look.
   • The beads were strung on one thread and tacked down.
   • We strung popcorn and cranberries, hung lights and candy canes.
   • While they are stringing popcorn and cranberries to hang on the tree, Beth tells Calvin and Conrad that she had spoken to Carole Lazenby, who had informed her of something that Con should have told them.
   • Consisting of assorted gold beads that have been randomly strung together, this type of ornament was documented by European visitors in the fifteenth century.
   • Her installation was made of crystal beads strung on transparent threads.
   • The anklet on each foot had replicas of 10 wild chamomile flowers strung together.
   • Dried apple slices can also be strung together to fill a room with fragrance.
   • These would have been strung together perhaps as necklaces or wrist pieces as early examples of a charm bracelet.
   • Decorate a small conifer or other evergreen tree with garlands of unsalted popcorn and cranberries and grapes strung on heavy-duty thread.
   • Everything rests upon Krishna as pearls strung on a thread.
   • They would originally have been strung together in necklaces.
   • Boykin and Payne said Wilson then grabbed a white plastic bag and pulled out a bottle of sleeping pills and a G-string made from Pez candies strung together.

   Synonyms

   thread, loop, link, join
2. 1.2be strung Be arranged in a long line.
   the houses were strung along the road

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Currently, the officers must cover Nunavik's 14 communities, strung along 250,000 kilometres of coastline.
   • Captive and captor emerged from the forest, and the former followed directions to the nearest cottage of twenty or thirty he could see strung along the riverbank.
   • Moreover, many are strung along vulnerable frontiers which divide them from fellow-nationals across the border.
   • Across the mountains, in Kosovo, there is 60% unemployment and small brothels are strung along the back streets of almost every town.
   • Across the water the grand York Road houses are set back, strung along a hillside skyline, spacing out as you go.
   • The white pebbledash house is one of a series of run-down semis, strung along one side of the typical south Leeds street, which are mainly owned by Asian families.
   • The 200-km stretch of Burgundy vineyards strung along the western flank of the north - south Saône valley provides many examples of complex local relationships between soil type and wine quality.
   • The three or four dive centres are strung along a little lane following the water's edge.
   • They entered the water at Marbella Beach, one of a series of popular beaches strung along a built-up stretch of coast lined by hotels and restaurants.
   • There are bright spots, particularly the fishing villages strung along the coast from Crail to Elie.
   • Instead of being strung along the building edges, the offices are grouped in pods with their backs to the cross-connections between the labs and the curtain wall.
   • When you stand and look down at the seed bed you see butterfly shapes strung along a black pipe, for the water has gently washed the ground into four linked circles at each irrigation point.
   • Fifteen rooms in seven simple stone cottages, most with decks overlooking tranquil Muskmelon Bay, are strung along a ridge.
   • Schools look more decrepit than houses, government offices, strung along the road, so run down you wonder if anybody ever visits them.
   • By 1,000 BC the first permanent settlements were established, strung along the shore like a long string of muddy pearls that were placed at a days rowing distance apart.
   • It winds up through rolling hills with stands of poplar trees, distant views of lakes and snowy mountain peaks strung along the horizon.
   • A short walk away in Fordsburg is Business Fun Day, with stalls, a bungee trampoline, a magic show, a petting zoo and other events strung along Mint Road.
   • Say they're the towns strung along State 41, south of Yosemite National Park, and suddenly you're no longer speaking Greek.
   • Instead the staff were in relatively unprotected temporary offices strung along the heavy compound walls near one corner at the main gate, the precise corner where the bomb was detonated up against those large walls.
   • Accommodation is in two areas: strung along the beach closest to the ruins; and along the road that runs south beside the water towards Punta Allen.

   Synonyms

   spread out, space out, set apart, place at intervals, distribute, extend, fan out, scatter, straggle
3. 1.3string something together Add items to one another to form a series or coherent whole.
   he can't string two sentences together

   Example sentencesExamples

   • The vast majority of cinema invents a fiction; it creates an illusion of narrative reality by stringing together a series of sounds and images in familiar, lifelike ways.
   • The key lies in the fact that the units of meaning, words, can be strung together in different ways, according to rules, to communicate different meanings.
   • Lions string together eight successive phases on the last play of the half.
   • The words that are recognizable are not strung together in a coherent way.
   • On the last day, I was so exhausted that while practicing a new form I saw the form as one object in time instead of a series of techniques strung together.
   • Or maybe you'll want to supersize your exercise by stringing together several five-minute circuits for an even higher calorie burn and maximum definition.
   • Again, random words strung together to look like existentialist poetry.
   • When you string together a series of championships, or piece together the ultimate team on a shoestring budget, it feels just that much better to play and win with them.
   • He seemed to be trying to suggest that it has no grammar at all - just words that can be strung together in any order you want.
   • I thank you all for reading, commenting, arguing and bearing with me while I figured out how to string words into sentences, and use commas, effectively.
   • One of the earliest stages of human evolution must have been the step from simply taking one action at a time, to stringing together a series of actions, each leading toward a pre-determined goal.
   • The person who can string the most movie titles together wins my undying admiration.
   • My ability to string words into a necklace of meaning is hobbled by a shaky, tortured, and misshapen syntax…
   • But the goal of this film is not to tell a story, it's to develop a reputation by stringing together a series of macabre scenes.
   • Moreover, rather than simply stringing together a series of events, Swisher bests Klein by explaining how and why the calamity unfolded.
   • Half a century of romance is actually just a vast collection of five-minute love affairs between the same people, strung closely together.
   • What results is a series of subplots that just don't string together well to form a coherent story.
   • O'Neill has solidified so well, in fact, that he strung together 22 goals in his last 27 games.
   • Without fashion, the musician is just a person stringing together a series of rhythmic sounds.
   • ‘Company was a bunch of one-act plays they strung together musically,’ says Holmes.

2with object Fit a string or strings to (a musical instrument, a racket, or a bow)

3with object Remove the strings from (a bean).

4North American informal with object Hoax or trick (someone)

5informal no object Work as a stringer in journalism.

6Billiards
no object Determine the order of play by striking the cue ball from baulk to rebound off the top cushion, first stroke going to the player whose ball comes to rest nearer the bottom cushion.