online medical dictionary | definition of strap

1. A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like; specifically, a strip of thick leather used in flogging. "A lively cobbler that . . . Had scarce passed a day without giving her [his wife] the discipline of the strap." (Addison)

2. Something made of such a strip, or of a part of one, or a combination of two or more for a particular use; as, a boot strap, shawl strap, stirrup strap.

3. A piece of leather, or strip of wood covered with a suitable material, for sharpening a razor; a strop.

4. A narrow strip of anything, as of iron or brass.

<machinery> Specifically: A band, plate, or loop of metal for clasping and holding timbers or parts of a machine.

A piece of rope or metal passing around a block and used for fastening it to anything.

5. <botany> The flat part of the corolla in ligulate florets, as those of the white circle in the daisy. The leaf, exclusive of its sheath, in some grasses.

6. A shoulder strap. See Shoulder. Strap bolt, a bolt of which one end is a flat bar of considerable length. Strap head, a flat rail formerly used.

Origin: OE. Strope, AS. Stropp, L. Stroppus, struppus, perhaps fr. Gr. A band or cord, fr. To twist, to turn (cf. Strophe). Cf. Strop a strap, a piece of rope.

(01 Mar 1998)