Narrow /(năr"rō̇)/

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.

2. Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.

   The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.

3. Having but a little margin; having barely sufficient space, time, or number, etc.; close; near{5}; -- with special reference to some peril or misfortune; as, a narrow shot; a narrow escape; a narrow miss; a narrow majority.
4. Limited as to means; straitened; pinching; as, narrow circumstances.
5. Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted; as, a narrow mind; narrow views.
6. Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.

   A very narrow and stinted charity.

7. Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.

   But first with narrow search I must walk round This garden, and no corner leave unspied.

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 ē (ēve) and o͡o (fo͡od), etc., from ĭ (ĭll) and o͝o (fo͝ot), etc. See Guide to Pronunciation, §13. (Phon.)

pl. Narrows

1. A narrow passage; esp., a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water; -- usually in the plural; as, The Narrows of New York harbor.

   Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow.

imp. & p. p. Narrowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Narrowing

1. To lessen the breadth of; to contract; to draw into a smaller compass; to reduce the width or extent of.
2. To contract the reach or sphere of; to make less liberal or more selfish; to limit; to confine; to restrict; as, to narrow one's views or knowledge; to narrow a question in discussion.

   Our knowledge is much more narrowed if we confine ourselves to our own solitary reasonings.

3. To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one. (Knitting)

1. To become less broad; to contract; to become narrower; as, the sea narrows into a strait.
2. Not to step out enough to the one hand or the other; as, a horse narrows. (Man.)
3. To contract the size of a stocking or other knit article, by taking two stitches into one. (Knitting)