NARROW

Definitions

1. 1. Of little breadth; not wide or broad; having little distance from side to side; as, a narrow board; a narrow street; a narrow hem. Hath passed in safety through the narrow seas. Shak.
2. 2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed. The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world. Bp. Wilkins.
3. 3. Having but a little margin; having barely sufficient space, time, or number, etc.; close; near; -- with special reference to some peril or misfortune; as, a narrow shot; a narrow escape; a narrow majority. Dryden.
4. 4. Limited as to means; straitened; pinching; as, narrow circumstances.
5. 5. Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted; as, a narrow mind; narrow views. "A narrow understanding." Macaulay.
6. 6. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish. A very narrow and stinted charity. Smalridge.
7. 7. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact. But first with narrow search I must walk round This garden, and no corner leave unspied. Milton.
8. 8. Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; -- distinguished from wide; as e (eve) and oo (food), etc., from ì (ìll) and oo (foot), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, § 13.