n.
  - 
(also straits)
 a narrow passage of water connecting two seas or other large areas of water.
 - 
(straits)
 a situation characterized by a specified degree of trouble or difficulty:
 in dire straits.
 
adj.
 archaic  - narrow or cramped.
 - strict or rigorous.
 
 
  Derivative
  
    - straitly adv.
  - straitness n.
 
   
  Etymology
  ME: shortening of OFr. estreit ‘tight, narrow’, from L. strictus (see strict).