Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

String \String\ (str[i^]ng), n. [OE. string, streng, AS. streng;
   akin to D. streng, G. strang, Icel. strengr, Sw. str["a]ng,
   Dan. str[ae]ng; probably from the adj., E. strong (see
   {Strong}); or perhaps originally meaning, twisted, and akin
   to E. strangle.]
   1. A small cord, a line, a twine, or a slender strip of
      leather, or other substance, used for binding together,
      fastening, or tying things; a cord, larger than a thread
      and smaller than a rope; as, a shoe string; a bonnet
      string; a silken string. --Shak.

            Round Ormond's knee thou tiest the mystic string.
                                                  --Prior.

   2. A thread or cord on which a number of objects or parts are
      strung or arranged in close and orderly succession; hence,
      a line or series of things arranged on a thread, or as if
      so arranged; a succession; a concatenation; a chain; as, a
      string of shells or beads; a string of dried apples; a
      string of houses; a string of arguments. ``A string of
      islands.'' --Gibbon.

   3. A strip, as of leather, by which the covers of a book are
      held together. --Milton.

   4. The cord of a musical instrument, as of a piano, harp, or
      violin; specifically (pl.), the stringed instruments of an
      orchestra, in distinction from the wind instruments; as,
      the strings took up the theme. ``An instrument of ten
      strings.'' --Ps. xxx. iii. 2.

            Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of lute, or
            viol still.                           --Milton.

   5. The line or cord of a bow. --Ps. xi. 2.

            He twangs the grieving string.        --Pope.

   6. A fiber, as of a plant; a little, fibrous root.

            Duckweed putteth forth a little string into the
            water, from the bottom.               --Bacon.

   7. A nerve or tendon of an animal body.

            The string of his tongue was loosed.  --Mark vii.
                                                  35.

   8. (Shipbuilding) An inside range of ceiling planks,
      corresponding to the sheer strake on the outside and
      bolted to it.

   9. (Bot.) The tough fibrous substance that unites the valves
      of the pericap of leguminous plants, and which is readily
      pulled off; as, the strings of beans.

   10. (Mining) A small, filamentous ramification of a metallic
       vein. --Ure.

   11. (Arch.) Same as {Stringcourse}.

   12. (Billiards) The points made in a game.

   {String band} (Mus.), a band of musicians using only, or
      chiefly, stringed instruments.

   {String beans}.
       (a) A dish prepared from the unripe pods of several kinds
           of beans; -- so called because the strings are
           stripped off.
       (b) Any kind of beans in which the pods are used for
           cooking before the seeds are ripe; usually, the low
           bush bean.

   {To have two strings to one's bow}, to have a means or
      expedient in reserve in case the one employed fails.