straight

Pronunciation

• IPA: /streɪt/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English streight, also streyt and streght,^[2][3][4] the old past participle of Middle English strecchen, inherited from Old English streht, earlier streaht, the past participle of streccan (“to stretch”),^[2][3][5] the source of stretch.^[6][7][8] It thus originally meant “stretched, extended at full length”.^[8][7] The SOED compares distraught.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the body, “not bent or curved”: the early 14th century,^[2] probably before 1325.^[3] The OED records “extended at full length” from about 1400, and “not crooked” from about 1350.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Of a line or a street, “direct, undeviating”, it is from the late 14th century,^[2] and a straight line from 1398.^[10] The adverb, “in a straight line”, and also “at once, immediately”, is from about 1300.^[2][3] Of a person, “direct, honest”, it is from the early 15th century,^[2] and of conduct, “free from crookedness”, from the 1520s;^[2] Hoad says this sense was obsolete in the 17th century and revived in the 19th.^[11] Of hair, “not curly”, it is from 1748.^[10] “Undiluted”, as of whiskey, is American, from 1874,^[2] the equivalent of British neat.^[8] Straight and narrow (about 1794) rests on a misreading of Matthew 7:14, where the gate is actually strait,^[2] and probably suggested the sense “conventional”, especially “heterosexual”, from 1941.^[2] A straight in poker is from 1841, and the straight of a racetrack from 1864.^[2] Go straight, “to give up crime”, is from 1919.^[2] The verb straighten is from 1542,^[3] and straightforward from 1806.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – adverb, directly, at once.^[2]
• before 1325 – not bent.^[3]
• late 14th century – direct.^[2]
• early 15th century – honest.^[2]
• 1542 – straighten.^[3]
• 1748 – of hair.^[10]
• 1841 – a straight in poker.^[2]
• 1874 – undiluted.^[2]
• 1919 – go straight.^[2]
• 1941 – conventional, heterosexual.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Extending in one direction without bending or curving.
2. Level, upright or properly arranged.
3. Honest and direct; frank.
4. In a row; consecutive: three straight wins.
5. Of a drink, undiluted; neat.
6. (informal) Conventional; heterosexual.

Adverb

1. In a straight line; directly.
2. Without delay: straight away.
3. Honestly; frankly.

Noun

1. A straight part, as of a racetrack.
2. In poker, a sequence of five cards.
3. (informal) A heterosexual or conventional person.

Word family

• straightly
• straightness
• straightish
• straightbred
• unstraight
• straight-arm
• straightaway
• straightedge

Related words

• stretch
• strait
• straighten
• straightforward
• distraught

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press