strength

noun
/ˈstɹɛŋθ//ˈstɹeɪŋθ/CA

Etymology

From Middle English strengthe, from Old English strengþu (“strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *strangiþu (“strongness; strength”), equivalent to strong + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Dutch strengte (“strength”), German Low German Strengde, Strengte (“harshness; rigidity; strictness; severity”).

  1. inherited from *strangiþu
  2. inherited from strengþu
  3. inherited from strengthe

Definitions

  1. The quality or degree of being strong.

    • It requires great strength to lift heavy objects.
    • Our castle’s strength will laugh a siege to scorn.
  2. The intensity of a force or power

    The intensity of a force or power; potency.

    • He had the strength of ten men.
    • Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.
  3. The strongest part of something

    The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.

    • God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
    • […] certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations, then is deposited in an obedient understanding […].
  4. + 5 more definitions
    1. A positive attribute.

      • to play to one's strengths
      • We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.
      • The compulsion to expose, renegotiate, or reinvent the strengths and weaknesses of dance tradition offers little in its final outcome to attract the average dance-goer.
    2. An armed force, a body of troops.

      • Thou princely leader of our English strength, Never so needful on the earth of France,
      • That done, dissever your united strengths, And part your mingled colours once again;
    3. A strong place

      A strong place; a stronghold.

      • All like himself rebellious, by whose aid This inaccessible high strength, the seat Of Deitie supream, us dispossest, He trusted to have seis’d […]
    4. The minimum ratio of the number of edges removed from a given graph to components…

      The minimum ratio of the number of edges removed from a given graph to components created, over all possible removals.

    5. To strengthen (all senses).

      • ſtrengthed with all myght / thꝛowe hys gloꝛious power / vnto all pacience / and longe ſufferynge with ioyfulnes
      • Then ſhalt thow perceave what it meaneth that the power of this wretched monſtre / muſt be ſtrengthed / by anothers power and not by his awne.
      • In witnes wherof we haue cauſed this pꝛeſent wꝛiting to be ſtrengthed with the ſeal of our facultie[…]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at strength. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01strength02confidence03secret04principle05guiding06guide07institution08house09human10nature

A definitional loop anchored at strength. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at strength

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA