To strain one's taters, verb. phr. (common).—To urinate: see Piss.
Stram, subs. (colloquial).—1. A
walk; spec. a society parade. As
verb = to walk stiffly: also (provincial:
Halliwell) = to dash
down violently, to beat.
1869. Stowe, Oldtown, 508. I hed sech a stram this mornin'.
2. (venery).—See Strumpet.
Stramash, subs. (colloquial).—A
disturbance; a rough and
tumble (q.v.). As verb = to beat,
bang, destroy.
1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg. 'House Warming.' More calling and bawling, and squalling and falling, Oh, what a fearful stramash they're all in.
1855. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xxxvi. I and three other University men . . . had a noble stramash on Folly Bridge. That is the last fighting I have seen.
Strammel. See Strummel.
Strammer, subs. (colloquial).—Anything
exceptional: see Whopper.
Stramming = huge, great.
Stranded, adj., (colloquial).—Penniless;
friendless.
1897. Marshall, Pomes, 26. Now, the bank was a trifle dyspeptic—a quid was its longest reach—And Yiffler could see himself stranded, for he sighted a pebbly beach.
Stranger, subs. (common).—1.
A sovereign: formerly a guinea
(Grose): see Rhino.
2. (common.)—A visitor: cf. the folk-saying of a badly burning candle, or a stalk in tea: 'A stranger's coming.'
Strangle-Goose, subs. phr. (old).—A
poulterer (Grose).
Strap, subs. (old).—1. A
barber. [Strap, a barber in
Smollett's Roderick Random,
1748.]
2. (common).—Credit: orig. credit for drink. On strap = 'on tick' (q.v.); strapped = penniless, bankrupt. See Hard-up.
1857. Nat. Intelligencer, Oct. Lowndes is strapped; had to pay his wife's cousin's last quarter's rent, which consumed what he had reserved for current expenses.
1903. Kennedy, Sailor Tramp, 1. ix. 'Say, . . . are you strapped?' 'Oh . . . I'm not hard up. I'm all right.' Ibid., II. i. Why didn't you come to me when you were strapped?
Verb. (venery).—1. 'To lie with a woman': see Greens and Ride (B. E. and Grose).
2. (common).—To flog; to beat. Hence strapping (or a dose of strap-oil or oil of strap'em) = a thrashing; an April fool joke is to send a lad for 'a penn'orth of strap oil': cf. Stirrup-oil.
3. (Scots).—To hang.
1825. Scott, St Ronan's Well, xiv. It's a crime baith by the law of God and man, and mony a pretty man has been strapped for it.
4. (old).—To work (Grose).
See Blackstrap.
Strappado, subs. (old).—A form
of torture: the culprit, his legs
tied, was hoisted by a rope
fastened to his arms behind his
back, and was given a rapid
descent stopped so suddenly that
the jerk often dislocated the joints
of arms and shoulders. This was
repeated once or twice. Cf.
Scavenger's Daughter.
