strait-laced

comparative more strait-laced · superlative most strait-laced

1. Bound with stays.

   High she was in the instep, but short in the heel; strait-laced, but loose-bodied.

   2000, John Lyly, G. K. Hunter, David M. Bevington, Galatea: Midas, →ISBN, page 207

   2 more examples

   And if women were themselves to frame the bodies of their children in their wombs, as they 4 often endeavour to mend their shapes when they are out, we should as certainly have no perfect children born, as we have few well-shaped that are strait-laced, or much tampered with.

   1809, John Locke, Some thoughts concerning education, page 16

   Juryman. My lord, I desire to know whether her stays were laced? Dell. Yes, she was laced. Mr. Cowper. If I take you right, you say she was strait-laced? Dell. Her stays were laced.

   1816, Thomas Bayly Howell, A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors

2. alternativeAlternative spelling of straight-laced.