strand1
/strand
/verb [with object]
1Drive or leave (a boat, sailor, or sea creature) aground on a shore: the ships were stranded in shallow water quantities of sea creatures were left stranded...
- Yesterday at low tide, silt shut the slough like trap, and mud stranded boats on docks perched high above water.
- In 1868 when the vessel was stranded on a beach in New Zealand, the then Captain rescued the figurehead.
- I would like to inform the authority that I had only three outings on the lake this year and rescued two stranded day boats.
1.1Leave (someone) without the means to move from somewhere: two of the firm’s lorries are stranded in France...
- Elderly people are regularly stranded in hospital long after they should have been discharged because they have nowhere else to go.
- However, hundreds of people were still stranded at British airports last night, queuing for limited places.
- An estimated 500,000 people are stranded in remote mountain villages cut off from aid and supplies by landslides.
noun literary or Irish
The shore of a sea, lake, or large river: a heron glided to rest on a pebbly strand...
- Of the total of 39 pilot whales that came ashore, 18 died and were buried on the strand by Dingle Coast Guard and Kerry County Council.
- The Annual Blessing of the Boats will take place on Friday, May 30, at 5 pm on the front strand at Cro-mane Lower.
- The Blessing of the Boats will take place on Saturday, June 5, at 5.30 pm in the front strand in Cromane Lower.
Synonyms
seashore, shore, beach, sands, foreshore, shoreline;
coast, seaside, seaboard, waterfront, front, waterside, water's edge
technical littoral
French plage
Origin
Old English (as a noun), of unknown origin. The verb dates from the early 17th century.
The strand meaning ‘leave aground’ is the same as that meaning ‘land bordering water’. The strand of thread is unrelated and of uncertain history.
Rhymes
strand2
/strand/noun
1A single thin length of something such as thread, fibre, or wire, especially as twisted together with others: strands of coloured wool...
- Fibre optics are thin strands of glass or plastic that transmit light by reflecting it.
- Use silk thread or several strands of contrast cotton thread.
- The teams then thread the strands into an automatic wire bailer.
Synonyms
thread, filament, fibre;
length, piece, string;
ply
technical fibril
1.1A single hair or thin lock of hair: strands of dark hair had fallen over his brows...
- My ponytail had come partially undone so strands and locks of hair lay in my eyes, stuck to the sweat and tears on my face.
- Not a single strand of her dark hair had escaped her complicated, coiling up-do and her clothes were stylish and wrinkle-free.
- ‘Wonder what he's up to,’ Tatiana mused, curling a strand of dark brown hair around her finger.
Synonyms
lock, tress, wisp, tendril;
curl, ringlet
1.2A string of beads or pearls.She wears a wide beaded choker and an extra-long strand of pearls double looped around her neck....
- We both layered on fake pearls, her a choker and stud earrings me, layers of long strands of pearls.
- He felt in his pocket, and found his target: a strand of rosary beads his mother had given him before he had gone to serve in the Guard three months before.
1.3An element that forms part of a complex whole: the journal has carried articles representing many different strands of opinion on the left...
- With the fellowship now splintered into three, the score of the second part becomes more complex than the first, weaving between the plot strands with different musical themes.
- With hindsight one can see that historical and contemporary strands were discrete and complementary.
- Cristofer also improves on, or completes, a plot strand in the novel.
Synonyms
element, component, factor, ingredient, aspect, feature;
theme, strain, trope
Origin
Late 15th century: of unknown origin.