strike
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɹaɪk/
ipa: /stiː.ɹaɪk/
ipa: [stiː.ɹ̠ʌɪ̯k(ʰ)]
rhymes: -aɪk
Forms: form: strikes
form: striking
form: struck
form: striked
form: strook
form: stroke
form: strake
form: struck
form: striked
form: strook
form: stroke
form: strake
form: stricken
form: strucken
Etymology: From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”).
Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.
Senses: examples: text: Please strike the last sentence.
glosses: To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
raw_tags: with out or through
examples: text: Strike the door sharply with your foot and see if it comes loose.  A bullet struck him.  The ship struck a reef.
text: […]he at Philippi kept / His ſword e’ne like a dancer, while I ſtrooke / The leane and wrinkled Caſſius,[…]
ref: c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene xi], page 356, column 1:
text: The 0812 Huddersfield-Sheffield service struck the stabiliser leg of a lorry being used to take away portable toilets after local repair work.
ref: 2021 December 29, “Network News: RAIB: tighten up supervision after 27mph train sideswipe incident”, in RAIL, number 947, page 8:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To hit.
examples: text: And they ſhall take of the blood and ſtrike it on the two ſide poſtes,[…]
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 12:7, column 2:
text: Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?
ref: 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza LXXV, page 102:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.
examples: text: A hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
text: Nay when? ſtrike now, or elſe the Iron cooles.
ref: 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 168, column 2:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.
examples: text: We will strike a medal in your honour.
text: [I]n practice, small deformations will occur in the shell on striking the shuttering, or... alternatively, some small deformations are due to slightly imperfect placing of the original formwork.
ref: 1977, Jaques Heyman, Equilibrium of Shell Structures, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 107:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To manufacture, as by stamping.
examples: text: The ship struck in the night.
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; to run aground.
examples: text: The clock struck twelve.  The drums strike up a march.
text: I read with my watch upon the table, purposing to close my book at eleven o’clock. As I shut it, Saint Paul’s, and all the many church-clocks in the City—some leading, some accompanying, some following—struck that hour.
ref: 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter XX, in Great Expectations […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, pages 328-329:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes. Of a clock, to announce (an hour of the day), usually by one or more sounds.
examples: text: But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
ref: 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXI, page 13:
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows.
examples: text: to strike a light
text: And waving wide her mirtle wand / She ſtrikes a univerſall Peace through Sea and Land.
ref: 1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, The Hymn, stanza III, page 3:
english: And waving wide her myrtle wand, / She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.
translation: And waving wide her myrtle wand, / She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.
bold_translation_offsets: 39
46
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke.
examples: text: to strike a match
glosses: To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
To cause to ignite by friction.
examples: text: A tree strikes its roots deep.
glosses: To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.
examples: text: Alſo to puniſh the iuſt is not good, nor to ſtrike princes for equitie.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 17:26, column 2:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To punish; to afflict; to smite.
examples: text: The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
ref: 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 6:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To carry out a violent or illegal action.
examples: text: The bank robber struck on the 2nd and 5th of May.
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To act suddenly, especially in a violent or criminal way.
examples: text: The first thing to strike my eye was a beautiful pagoda.  Tragedy struck when his brother was killed in a bush fire.
text: In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts,[…], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 1:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To impinge upon.
examples: text: Golf has always struck me as a waste of time.
text: I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay, this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.
ref: 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, page 163:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To impress, seem or appear to (a person).
examples: text: The news struck a sombre chord.
text: The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.
ref: 1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 249:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To create an impression.
examples: text: Defender Chris Baird struck twice early in the first half to help Fulham move out of the relegation zone and ease the pressure on manager Mark Hughes.
ref: 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0-2 Fulham”, in BBC:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To score a goal.
examples: text: to strike the mind with surprise;  to strike somebody with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror
text: In like manner the writings of mere men[…]strike and surprise us most upon our first perusal of them[…].
ref: 1734, Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preached at the Rolls, December 24, 1710: The Baptist's Message to Jesus, and Jesus's Answer Explained”, in Sermons on Several Occasions, new edition, volume I, published from the originals by Thomas Moore, London; reprinted in Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, volume II, London, 1820, page 25:
text: Court-virtues bear, like gems, the highest rate, / Born where Heav'n's influence scarce can penetrate. / In life's low vale, the soil the virtues like, / They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.
ref: 1734, Alexander Pope, An Epistle To The Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Cobham; reprinted in Henry W. Boynton, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope (The Cambridge Edition of the Poets), Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1903, page 159, lines 141–144:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To make a sudden impression upon, as if by a blow; to affect with some strong emotion.
examples: text: The proposed plan strikes me favourably.
text: I was struck dumb with astonishment.
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To affect by a sudden impression or impulse.
examples: text: Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some chete.
ref: 1567, Thomas Harman, “The vpright Coſe cateth to the Roge. [The Upright Man speaketh to the Rogue.]”, in 'A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds'; reprinted in Charles Hindley, editor, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors, Vulgarly called Vagabonds, London: Reeves and Turner, 1871, page 119:
english: Now we have well drunk, let us steal something.
translation: Now we have well drunk, let us steal something.
bold_translation_offsets: 31
36
text: Hee being thus duſted with meale, intreated the meale man to wipe it out of his necke, and ſtoopte downe his head: the meale man laughing to ſee him ſo rayed and whited, was willing to ſhake off the meal, and the whilſt, while hee was buſie about that, the Nippe had ſtroken the purſe and done his feate, and both courteouſly thanked the meale man and cloſely / went away with his purchaſe.
ref: Greene, Robert (2017), “A discourse, or rather discovery of the Nip and the Foist, laying open the nature of the Cutpurse and Pick-pocket.”, in Ex-Classics Project, retrieved 12 Dec 2019, The Complete Cony-Catching by Robert Greene
english: He being thus dusted with meal, entreated the meal-man to wipe it out of his neck, and stooped down his head, the meal-man laughing to see him so arrayed and whited, was willing to shake off the meal, and while he was busy about that, the nip had stroken the purse and done his feat, and both courteously thanked the meal-man and closely went away with his purchase.
translation: He being thus dusted with meal, entreated the meal-man to wipe it out of his neck, and stooped down his head, the meal-man laughing to see him so arrayed and whited, was willing to shake off the meal, and while he was busy about that, the nip had stroken the purse and done his feat, and both courteously thanked the meal-man and closely went away with his purchase.
bold_translation_offsets: 247
254
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To steal or rob; to take forcibly or fraudulently.
examples: text: I must borrow money, / And that some call a striking; [...]
ref: 1655, James Shirley, 'The Gentleman of Venice'; reprinted in William Gifford, Alexander Dyce, editors, 'The Dramatic Works and Poems of James Shirley', volume 5, London: John Murray, 1833, page 6:
glosses: To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
To borrow money from; to make a demand upon.
examples: text: Let us conſider the red and white colours in Porphyre: Hinder light, but from ſtriking on it, and its Colours vaniſh[…].
ref: 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Some Farther Considerations Concerning Our Simple Ideas”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book II, § 19, page 58:
glosses: To touch; to act by appulse.
examples: text: Of course, almost any fool could strike a fish if it lay quiet in very shallow water.
ref: 1894, Outing and the Wheelman, volume 24, page 56:
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
glosses: To hook (a fish) by a quick turn of the wrist.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To haul down or lower (a flag, mast, etc.)
examples: text: The frigate has struck, sir! We've beaten them, the lily-livers!
text: He [King Charles II] ſent him [the Earl of Essex] Embaſſador to Denmark, where his behaviour in the affair of the flag gained him much reputation:[…]Lord Eſſex’s firſt buſineſs was to juſtify his behaviour in refuſing to ſtrike.[…]And he found very good materials to juſtify his conduct; ſince by formal treaties it had been expreſſly ſtipulated, that the Engliſh ſhips of war ſhould not ſtrike in the Daniſh ſeas.
ref: a. 1716 (date written), [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book III. Of the Rest of King Charles II’s Reign, from the Year 1673 to the Year 1685, in which He Died.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], published 1724, →OCLC, pages 396–397:
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To capitulate; to signal a surrender by hauling down the colours.
examples: text: Two men were put to work who could not set their looms; a third man was taken on who helped the inefficients to set the looms. The other weavers thought this was a breach of their union rules and 18 of them struck […]
ref: 1889, New York (State). Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report (part 2, page 127)
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To stop working as a protest to achieve better working conditions.
synonyms: strike work
examples: text: It appears that a compositor had been engaged for the Northem Territory Times, and for a considerable time the editor seems to have led a comparatively unruffled existence; till in an evil hour the compositor was smitten with gold fever, and struck work.
ref: 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 227:
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To quit (one's job).
examples: text: “Strike the tent there!”—was the next order. As I hinted before, this whalebone marquee was never pitched except in port; and on board the Pequod, for thirty years, the order to strike the tent was well known to be the next thing to heaving up the anchor.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Merry Christmas”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 113:
text: The crew struck the set with a ferocity hitherto unseen, an army more valiant in retreat than advance.
ref: 1979, Texas Monthly, volume 7, number 8, page 109:
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To dismantle and take away (a theater set; a tent; etc.).
examples: text: He struck my chains, and gently spake and smiled:
As they were loosened by that Hermit old,
Mine eyes were of their madness half beguiled,
To answer those kind looks.
ref: 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 217:
glosses: To take down, especially in the following contexts.
To unfasten, to loosen (chains, bonds, etc.).
examples: text: They struck off along the river.
text: I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To set off on a walk or trip.
examples: text: Til a dart ſtrike through his liuer,[…]
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 7:23, column 2:
text: For if either the Story move us, or the Actor help the lameneſs of it with his performance, or now and then a glittering beam of wit or paſſion ſtrike through the obſcurity of the Poem, any of theſe are ſufficient to effect a preſent liking[…].
ref: 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 11:
glosses: To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
examples: text: to strike into reputation;  to strike into a run
glosses: To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into.
glosses: To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.
examples: text: to strike a bargain, deal or agreement
text: to strike a compromise
text: to strike a pact
text: to strike a truce, to strike an uneasy truce
text: to strike an accord, alliance, ceasefire or armistice
text: to strike a balance, to strike a delicate balance between
glosses: To make and ratify; to reach; to find.
examples: text: to strike gold
text: Howard Franklin and Henry Madison strike gold on the Fortymile River...
ref: 1998, “A Gold Rush Timeline”, in The Brasher Bulletin, volume 10, number 2, page 5:
glosses: To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil.
glosses: To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.
topics: business
construction
manufacturing
masonry
glosses: To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
examples: text: My eye struck a strange word in the text.  They soon struck the trail.
glosses: To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.
examples: text: In the teache the subject is still further evaporated, till it is judged sufficiently boiled to be removed from the fire. This operation is usually called striking; (i.e.) lading the liquor, now exceedingly thick, into the cooler.
ref: 1793, Bryan Edwards, The History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, volume II, London: John Stockdale; republished in englarged and corrected edition, volume III, Philadelphia: James Humphreys, 1806, page 46:
topics: business
manufacturing
sugar-making
glosses: To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.
examples: text: […]Beholde, I thought, He will[…]ſtrike his hand ouer the place, and recouer the leper.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 5:11, columns 2–1:
glosses: To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
examples: text: […]Well ſtrooke in yeares,[…]
ref: c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 174, column 1:
glosses: To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.
topics: business
finance
glosses: To balance (a ledger or account).
glosses: To become saturated with salt.
glosses: To run, or fade in colour.
glosses: To do menial work for an officer.
Derived terms: awestruck
counterstrike
cunt-struck
double-struck
dumbstruck
flystruck
fuckstruck
gobstruck
grief-stricken
heartstricken
horror-struck
lightning does not strike twice in the same place
lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place
lightning never strikes twice in the same place
light-struck
love-struck
misstrike
moonstruck
outstrike
overstrike
panic-stricken
panic-strike
planet-struck
poverty-stricken
restrike
stagestruck
star-struck
strike a balance
strike a bargain
strikeable
strike a blow
strike a chord
strike a false note
strike a jury
strike a lead
strike a light
strike a medium
strike a nerve
strike a stroke
strike at the heart of
strike back
strike camp
strike down
strike dumb
strikee
strike fear
strikefire
strike gold
strike hands
strike in
strike it lucky
strike it rich
strike lucky
strike me blind
strike me lucky
strike me pink
strike me silly
strike me up a gum tree
strike off
strike off strength
strike oil
strike one's colors
strike one's flag
strike out
striker
strike sail
strike someone's fancy
strike someone when they are down
strike tallies
strike the colors
strike the flag
strike the iron while it's hot
strike the tent
strike through
strike up
strike while the iron is hot
strike work
striking distance
sunstricken
sunstrike
terror-stricken
thunderstruck
wonderstruck