Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—S

Strain

(1 syl.). To strain courtesy. To stand upon ceremony. Here, strain is to stretch, as parchment is strained on a drum-head. When strain means to filter, the idea is pressing or squeezing through a canvas or woollen bag.

Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
To make much fuss about little pecadillos, but commit offences of real magnitude. “Strain at” is strain out or off (Greek, di-ulizo). The allusion is to the practice of filtering wine for fear of swallowing an insect, which was “unclean.” Tyndale has “strain out” in his version. Our expression “strain at” is a corruption of strain-ut, “ut” being the Saxon form of out, retained in the words ut-most, utter, uttermost, etc.

The quality of mercy is not strained
(Merchant of Venice, iv. 1)- constrained or forced, but cometh down freely as the rain, which is God's gift.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Stralenheim
Straight as an Arrow
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