strand

Etymology 1

* From Middle English strand, strond, from Old English strand (“strand, sea-shore, shore”), from Proto-West Germanic *strand, from Proto-Germanic *strandō (“edge, rim, shore”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)trAnt- (“strand, border, field”), from Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“to broaden, spread out”). Cognate with West Frisian strân, Dutch strand, German Strand, Danish strand, Swedish strand, Norwegian Bokmål strand. * (street): Perhaps from the similarity of shape.

noun

1. The shore or beach of the sea or ocean.
   Grand Strand
2. (poetic, archaic or regional) The shore or beach of a lake or river.
3. A small brook or rivulet.
4. (Britain dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) A passage for water; gutter.
5. A street.

verb

1. (transitive, nautical) To run aground; to beach.
2. (transitive, figurative) To leave (someone) in a difficult situation; to abandon or desert.
3. (transitive, baseball) To cause the third out of an inning to be made, leaving a runner on base.
   Jones pops up; that's going to strand a pair.

Etymology 2

Origin uncertain. Cognate with Scots stran, strawn, strand (“strand”). Perhaps the same as strand ("rivulet, stream, gutter"; see Etymology 1 above); or from Middle English *stran, from Old French estran (“a rope, cord”), from Middle High German stren, strene (“skein, strand”), from Old High German streno, from Proto-West Germanic *strenō, from Proto-Germanic *strinô (“strip, strand”), from Proto-Indo-European *strēy-, *ster- (“strip, line, streak, ray, stripe, row”); related to Dutch streen (“skein, hank of thread, strand, string”), German Strähne (“skein, hank of thread, strand of hair”).

noun

1. Each of the strings which, twisted together, make up a yarn, rope or cord.
2. A string.
3. An individual length of any fine, string-like substance.
   strand of spaghetti
   strand of hair.
4. (electronics) A group of wires, usually twisted or braided.
5. (broadcasting) A series of programmes on a particular theme or linked subject.
6. (figurative) An element in a composite whole; a sequence of linked events or facts; a logical thread.
   strand of truth
   She responds to both questions in writing and checks her answer on the fact question. Her suspicions confirmed about the importance of the two names, Miranda vows to pay close attention to this strand of the story as she continues to read. 2004, David Wray, Literacy: Major Themes in Education, Taylor & Francis, page 78
7. (genetics) A nucleotide chain.

verb

1. (transitive) To break a strand of (a rope).
2. (transitive) To form by uniting strands.