STRAIT, a narrow channel or arm of the sea, enclosed between lands on either side, and affording a passage out of one great sea into another.
There are three kinds of straits. 1. Such as join one ocean to another. Of this kind are the Straits of Magellan and Le Maire. 2. Those which join the ocean to a gulf: the Straits of Gibraltar and Babelmandel are of this kind, the Mediterranean and Red Sea being only large gulfs. 3. Those which join one gulf to another; as the Straits of Caffa, which join the Palus Macotis to the Euxine or Black Sea.