straiten

Etymology

verb

1. To make strait; to narrow or confine to a smaller space.
   The channel straitened the river through the town, made it flow faster, and caused more flooding upstream.
2. To restrict or diminish, especially financially.
   And the reason why Birds are Oviparous and lay Eggs, but do not bring forth their yong alive, is, because there might be more plenty of them also, and that neither the Birds of prey, the Serpent nor the Fowler, should streighten their generations too much. 1662, Henry More, An Antidote Against Atheism, Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 67
   Rising costs put those on fixed incomes in straitened circumstances.
3. Misspelling of straighten.