Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Constrain

Constrain , transitive verb

[Old French constraindre, French contrainde, Latin constringere; con- + stringere to draw tight. See Strain, and. compare Constrict, Constringe.]

1.
To secure by bonds; to chain; to bond or confine; to hold tightly; to constringe.
He binds in chains The drowsy prophet, and his limbs constrains. — Dryden
When winter frosts constrain the fields with cold. — Dryden
2.
To bring into a narrow compass; to compress.
How the strait stays the slender waist constrain. — Gay
3.
To hold back by force; to restrain; to repress.
My sire in caves constrains the winds. — Dryden
4.
To compel; to force; to necessitate; to oblige.
The love of Christ constraineth us. — 2. Cor. v. 14
I was constrained to appeal unto Casar. — Acts xxviii. 19
5.
To violate; to ravish. [Obsolete] — Shakespeare
6.
To produce in such a manner as to give an unnatural effect; as, a constrained voice.