Etymology From Middle English strengthe, from Old English strengþu (“strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *strangiþu (“strongness; strength”), equivalent to strong + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Dutch strengte (“strength”), German Low German Strengde, Strengte (“harshness; rigidity; strictness; severity”).
Our castle’s strength will laugh a siege to scorn.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
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He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
2
The intensity of a force or power; potency.
He had the strength of ten men.
Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations:
3
The strongest part of something; that on which confidence or reliance is based.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 46:1:
[…] certainly there is not in the world a greater strength against temptations, then is deposited in an obedient understanding […].1649, Jeremy Taylor, The Great Examplar of Sanctity and Holy Life according to the Christian Institution, London: Francis Ash, Part 1, Section 4, Discourse 2, p. 66:
4
A positive attribute.
to play to one's strengths
We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.
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The compulsion to expose, renegotiate, or reinvent the strengths and weaknesses of dance tradition offers little in its final outcome to attract the average dance-goer.2013, Deborah Hay, My Body, The Buddhist, →ISBN, page 78:
Career diplomat Conrad Tribble said on Twitter that multiculturalism “is one of our greatest strengths as a country, and I go to that well often as an American diplomat. It’s hard to overstate the global soft power impact of America’s cultural diversity.”2021 January 19, Jennifer Hansler, Kylie Atwood and Nicole Gaouette, “Pompeo attacks multiculturalism, saying it is ‘not who America is’”, in CNN:
Thou princely leader of our English strength, Never so needful on the earth of France,1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:
That done, dissever your united strengths, And part your mingled colours once again;c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
All like himself rebellious, by whose aid This inaccessible high strength, the seat Of Deitie supream, us dispossest, He trusted to have seis’d […]1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 140-143:
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Graph theory, Mathematics, Sciences The minimum ratio of the number of edges removed from a given graph to components created, over all possible removals.
Etymology From Middle English strengthe, from Old English strengþu (“strength”), from Proto-West Germanic *strangiþu (“strongness; strength”), equivalent to strong + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with Dutch strengte (“strength”), German Low German Strengde, Strengte (“harshness; rigidity; strictness; severity”).
ſtrengthed with all myght / thꝛowe hys gloꝛious power / vnto all pacience / and longe ſufferynge with ioyfulnes1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Colossians j:[11], folio cclviiii, verso:
Then ſhalt thow perceave what it meaneth that the power of this wretched monſtre / muſt be ſtrengthed / by anothers power and not by his awne.1529, John Frith, A piſtle to the Chriſten reader […] :
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In witnes wherof we haue cauſed this pꝛeſent wꝛiting to be ſtrengthed with the ſeal of our facultie[…]1550, Edward Halle, “King Henry the viij.”, in The Vnion of the Two Noble and Illuſtre Famelies of Lancaſtre and Yoꝛke, page 1271: