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strap: Definition and Much More from Answers.com

For the band, see The Straps.

A strap, sometimes also called strop, is an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of fabric or leather.

Word Origins

"Strop" is the older form of strap, recorded since 1357 as loop or strap on a harness; strap appeared only since 1620 as a Scottish and/or nautical variant of 'strope.' The word "strop" probably derives from the Old French estrop, itself from the Latin stroppus "strap, band," perhaps from Etruscan, ultimately from Greek strophos "twisted band," from strephein "to turn".

Strap

Television industry form of Motion graphics.

A narrow horizontal onscreen graphic device for holding text information over live action. Often just a name or caption but sometimes with scrolling information such as rolling credits or a News ticker. Usually in the lower part of the screen known as the lower third, straps can be animated, faded or just cut on and off. Commonly known in US as Lower thirds (where there is a more detailed description) and also in UK as astons Aston Broadcast Systems.

Binding straps

Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, shoulder strap. A strap differs from a belt mainly in that a strap is usually integral to the item of clothing; either can be used in combination with buckles.

Straps are also used as fasteners to attach and bind items, to objects, animals (for example a saddle on a horse) and people, or even to tie down people and animals, as on an apparatus for corporal punishment. Occasionally a strap is specified after what it binds or holds, e.g. chin strap.

Disciplinary strapping

A strap may be used as an implement of physical punishment, known as a strapping. It is then typically a broad and heavy strip of leather, often with a hard handle with the more flexible 'blade' being applied to the victim.

Probably because of the stiffness, the word "strap" is sometimes used interchangeably with a leather paddle. Other terms that are sometimes used interchangeably include whipping, lashing, and confusingly even in some official language, belting -in principle a belt is lighter, without a handle. These terms are strictly speaking reserved for other implements.

Instead of a specially made disciplinary strap one can also, especially in a private sphere, use an object of the same stirrup leather, say in a stable. Like the Scottish tawse, which is a forked version with two or more tails, both are likely to be supplied by a saddlemaker.

The real thing, usually made for institutional use, is also known as a prison strap because it was mainly used on adult convicts – either for discipline within the prison system, or as an original judicial corporal punishment, often combined with prison time, imposed by court but carried out by prison staff. This has been the case notably in the USA (mainly the South, e.g. Arkansas at least until 1967; sometimes a spanking inflicted on the trousers, sometimes bare bottom but also used on the back) and Canada (until 1972; a spanking on the bare buttocks or stark naked). The strap has also been used on minors in reformatories and in schools (the latter particularly in Canada, on the hand, still reported in 2000).

Because of the forceful impact a disciplinary strap makes, which can easily knock the recipient out of balance and fall over (reported by strapped punishees who were ordered to receive it while grabbing their ankles), the victim is usually supported in a bending or lying position, often tied down, e.g. over a table or punishment horse, or against a whipping post.

Like the holed paddle, there is a version of the strap with holes. It intentionally increases the risk and severity of blistering if administered on the bare skin.

Razor strop

In origin the word strop is simply an alternative form of strap, but it is now mainly used in the sense of a flexible rectangular piece of leather or canvas used for sharpening a razor, also known as a razor strop.

It may be in the form of a hanging belt or a hand-held paddle. In both cases, as the names suggest, it makes a dreaded implement for punitive use (e.g. spanking), especially if made of leather, like a tawse; antique razor strops are generally heavier.

Other uses

In nautical usage a strap is a short rope (or cable) with two loops at both ends, forming an eight without crossing itself because a seizing holds the two loops together. The rope is wound around a tackle whereas one of the loops is hung on a hook, in the other loop is the tackle.
a strap can also be a piece of textile resembling the shape of a strap, often having a length exceeding the width, as in jock strap
Strap is also a street slang term for a gun.
Taping is sometimes referred to as strapping. It is used in treating of overuse and sports injuries.
In electronics usage strap or strapping refers to connecting pins on a chip, device, or circuit in a specified way to select built-in functionality, assign addresses, or define roles (such as master master or slave). Strapping can be built-in to the layout of a circuit board, made available on a header, or connected to a switch. Most straps connect pins directly to each other, to ground, or to voltage, but connecting through resistors or other simple circuits is also common.
In professional wrestling, strap is a slang term sometimes used to refer to a title belt.

A strap is also widely used by musicians for the support of instruments such as guitars, basses, mandolins and banjos.

Verbs

The derived verb to strap means to use or apply a strap, such as to bind something (as with rope or string) or to inflict a disciplinary strapping
The derived verb to strop means to use or apply a (razor) strop

Acronym

STRAP: Strategic Action Plan
STRAP: Structural Alignment Program, a free computer program to elucidate phylogenetic and functional relationships between two or more proteins using 3D-structure