straiten

[ streyt-n ]

/ ˈstreɪt n /

to put into difficulties, especially financial ones: His obligations had straitened him.

to restrict in range, extent, amount, pecuniary means, etc: Poverty straitens one's way of living.

Archaic.

Origin of straiten

First recorded in 1515–25; strait + -en¹

un·strait·ened, adjective

Even in straitened times, idiosyncratic literature should have its place.

Underground Novel of the Year |Taylor Antrim |March 5, 2009 |DAILY BEAST
But Margaret and Janet must not remain with straitened means; I wish they would come out also.

Janet McLaren |W.H.G. Kingston
Madam Wetherill was very generous with her outfit, though she began to feel the pinch of straitened means.

A Little Girl in Old Philadelphia |Amanda Minnie Douglas
We will not weary you by writing how straitened we have been.

The Formation of Christendom, Volume VI |Thomas W. (Thomas William) Allies

He could not essay it directly from the ground, his quarters being too straitened for free flight.

Jim |Charles G. D. Roberts
Perhaps they reveal the raveled sleeve, the anxieties of a straitened life and of narrow means.

Testimony of the Sonnets as to the Authorship of the Shakespearean Plays and Poems |Jesse Johnson

straiten

/ (ˈstreɪtən) /

(tr; usually passive) to embarrass or distress, esp financially

(tr) to limit, confine, or restrict

archaic to make or become narrow