Old English streng "line, cord, thread," from Proto-Germanic *strangiz (cf. Old Norse strengr, Danish streng, Middle Dutch strenge, Dutch streng, Old High German strang, German Strang "rope, cord"), from *strang- "taut, stiff," from PIE root *strenk- "tight, narrow; pull tight, twist" (see strain). Gradually restricted by early Middle English to lines that are smaller than a rope. Sense of "a number of objects arranged in a line" first recorded late 15c.
Old English meaning "ligaments, tendons" is preserved in hamstring, heartstrings. Meaning "limitations, stipulations" (1888) is American English, probably from the common April Fool's joke of leaving a purse that looks full of money on the sidewalk, then tugging it away with an attached string when someone stoops to pick it up. To pull strings "control the course of affairs" (1860) is from the notion of puppet theater. First string, second string, etc. in athletics (1863) is from archers' custom of carrying spare bowstrings in the event that one breaks. Strings "stringed instruments" is attested from mid-14c. String bean is from 1759; string bikini is from 1974.
c.1400, "to fit a bow with a string," from string (n.). Meaning "to thread (beads, etc.) on a string" is from 1610s. To string (someone) along is slang from 1902; string (v.) in this sense is attested in British dialect from c.1812.
To deceive; fool; hoax: Who are you trying to string, anyhow?
Related Termspull someone's chain, pull the string
[1812+; fr the notion of getting somone on a string, under one's control]
programming
A sequence of data values, usually bytes, which usually stand for characters (a "character string"). The mapping between values and characters is determined by the character set which is itself specified implcitly or explicitly by the environment in which the string is being interpreted.
The most common character set is ASCII but, since the late 1990s, there has been increased interest in larger character sets such as Unicode where each character is represented by more than eight bits.
Most programming languages consider strings (e.g. "124:shabooya:\n", "hello world") basically distinct from numbers which are typically stored in fixed-length binary or floating-point representation.
A bit string is a sequence of bits.
(1999-12-21)