[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

strait \strait\, n.; pl. straits. oe. straight, streit, of.
   estreit, estroit. see strait, a.
   1. a narrow pass or passage.
      1913 webster

            he brought him through a darksome narrow strait
            to a broad gate all built of beaten gold. --spenser.
      1913 webster

            honor travels in a strait so narrow
            where one but goes abreast.           --shak.
      1913 webster

   2. specifically: geog. a comparatively narrow passageway
      connecting two large bodies of water; -- often in the
      plural; as, the strait, or straits, of gibraltar; the
      straits of magellan; the strait, or straits, of mackinaw.
      1913 webster

            we steered directly through a large outlet which
            they call a strait, though it be fifteen miles
            broad.                                --de foe.
      1913 webster

   3. a neck of land; an isthmus. r.
      1913 webster

            a dark strait of barren land.         --tennyson.
      1913 webster

   4. fig.: a condition of narrowness or restriction; doubt;
      distress; difficulty; poverty; perplexity; -- sometimes in
      the plural; as, reduced to great straits.
      1913 webster

            for i am in a strait betwixt two.     --phil. i. 23.
      1913 webster

            let no man, who owns a providence, grow desperate
            under any calamity or strait whatsoever. --south.
      1913 webster

            ulysses made use of the pretense of natural
            infirmity to conceal the straits he was in at that
            time in his thoughts.                 --broome.
      1913 webster
see also:
straits strait 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

straits
     n 1: a bad or difficult situation or state of affairs syn: pass,
           strait
     2: a difficult juncture; "a pretty pass"; "matters came to a
        head yesterday" syn: pass, head
see also:
pass strait head 

[3] : Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0

87 moby thesaurus words for "straits":
   arm, armlet, bay, bayou, belt, bight, bind, boca, broken fortune,
   clutch, complication, cove, creek, crunch, difficulties, distress,
   embarrassing position, embarrassment, estuary, euripus,
   fine how-do-you-do, fjord, frith, genteel poverty, gulf, gut,
   harbor, hard pinch, hardship, hell to pay, hobble, hot water,
   how-do-you-do, imbroglio, impecuniosity, impecuniousness, inlet,
   insolvency, jam, kyle, light purse, loch, mess, mix, morass, mouth,
   narrow, narrow means, narrow seas, narrows, natural harbor,
   parlous straits, pass, pickle, pinch, plight, poorness, poverty,
   predicament, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament,
   quagmire, quicksand, reach, road, roads, roadstead, scrape,
   slender means, slough, sound, spot, squeeze, stew, sticky wicket,
   strait, straitened circumstances, swamp, tight spot, tight squeeze,
   tightrope, tricky spot, unholy mess, unprosperousness,
   voluntary poverty, vows of poverty

Straits >> S Words
Straits, definition of term: Straits
straits_pag1.html

Dire Straits >> D Words
Dire Straits, definition of term: Dire Straits
dire+straits_pag1.html

Straits Of Dove >> S Words
Straits Of Dove, definition of term: Straits Of Dove
straits+of+dove_pag1.html