Strain: The binding force that causes matter to stretch in response, whether it is the flesh of an arm, that constricted in one place pushes out around it, the pumping of a heart, the sowing of seed, or the straining of grains of sand through a sieve. Accordingly, it is a force of stiffening, bound with its release so that they, ultimately, form one force.

Drying Soil Strained by Water Stretching Under the Strain of Heat