Italian → English
► narrow
/BrE ˈnarəʊ 
, AmE ˈnɛroʊ /
I
adjective
[LENGTH MEASURES] 1 (in breadth) [street, valley, room, bridge, gap, vase] stretto
to grow or become narrow [road, river, valley] restringersi
to have narrow eyes avere gli occhi stretti
he is narrow across the shoulders or his shoulders are narrow ha le spalle strette
2 (in scope) [range, choice, group, field, issue, views, boundaries] ristretto; [sense] stretto; [vision, interests, understanding] limitato; [life] meschino; [version] ridotto
3 (in degree) [majority] esiguo; [margin] stretto
to have a narrow lead avere un leggero vantaggio
to suffer a narrow defeat essere sconfitto per un pelo
to win a narrow victory or to win by the narrowest of margins vincere per un pelo
to have a narrow escape or a narrow squeak British scamparla bella or salvarsi per miracolo or per un pelo
that was a narrow squeak! British l'abbiamo scampata bella or per un pelo!
4 (in size, shape) [shoes, jacket, dress, skirt, trousers] stretto
5 Linguistics [vowel, transcription] stretto
II narrows
plural noun
stretto m
III
transitive verb
1 (limit) restringere [choice, range, field, options] (to a); limitare [sense, definition] (to a)
2 (reduce) ridurre [gap, deficit, margin] (from da, to a)
Elliott has narrowed the gap (in race, poll) Elliott ha accorciato le distanze
3 (reduce breadth of) restringere [road, path, arteries]
to narrow one's eyes socchiudere gli occhi
IV
intransitive verb
1 (in breadth) [street, lake, corridor, valley, arteries] restringersi
the road narrowed to a track la strada si riduceva a un sentiero
her eyes narrowed socchiuse gli occhi
2 (fall off) [gap, deficit, margin, lead] ridursi (to a)
3 (in scope) [choice] limitarsi, restringersi (to a)
Idioms
the straight and narrow
la retta via
to keep to, wander from the straight and narrow
mantenersi sulla, deviare dalla retta via
Phrasal verb
■ narrow down
[investigation, search] restringersi, limitarsi (to a); [field of contestants, suspects] ridursi (to a)
narrow [sth] down, narrow down [sth]
restringere, limitare [choice, investigation, research] (to a); ridurre [numbers, list] (to a)