strait-laced
or straight-laced
[ streyt-leyst ]
/ ˈstreɪtˈleɪst /
adjective
excessively strict in conduct or morality; puritanical; prudish: strait-laced censors.
tightly laced, as a bodice.
wearing tightly laced garments.
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RELATED WORDS
uptight, Victorian, priggish, prim, prissy, proper, puritanical, rigid, square, starchy, stiff, strict, stuffy, old-maidish
Nearby words
- straining piece,
- straining sill,
- strait,
- strait-jacket,
- strait-lace,
- straiten,
- straitened,
- straitjacket,
- straitly,
- straits
Origin of strait-laced
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50
strait-lace
[ streyt-leys ]
/ ˈstreɪtˌleɪs /
verb (used with object), strait-laced, strait-lac·ing.
to bind, confine, or restrain with or as if with laces.
Origin of strait-lace
First recorded in 1630–40; back formation from strait-laced
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for strait-laced
strait-laced
straight-laced
adjective
prudish or puritanical
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
strait-laced
1540s, of stays or bodices; figurative sense of "over-precise, prudish" is from 1550s; see strait (n.) + lace (v.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper