strike

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English

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Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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strike (third-person singular simple present strikes, present participle striking, simple past struck or (see usage notes) striked or (all obsolete) strook or stroke or strake, past participle struck or (see usage notes) stricken or (both obsolete) strucken or strook)

  1. (transitive, sometimes with out or through) To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
    Please strike the last sentence.
  2. To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as from a blow.
    1. (transitive) To hit.
      Strike the door sharply with your foot and see if it comes loose.  A bullet struck him.  The ship struck a reef.
      • 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:
        […] he at Philippi kept / His ſword e’ne like a dancer, while I ſtrooke / The leane and wrinkled Caſſius, […]
      • 2021 December 29, “Network News: RAIB: tighten up supervision after 27mph train sideswipe incident”, in RAIL, number 947, page 8:
        The 0812 Huddersfield-Sheffield service struck the stabiliser leg of a lorry being used to take away portable toilets after local repair work.
    2. (transitive) To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.
    3. (intransitive) To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.
      A hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
    4. (transitive) To manufacture, as by stamping.
      We will strike a medal in your honour.
      • 1977, Jaques Heyman, Equilibrium of Shell Structures, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 107:
        [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.
    5. (intransitive, dated) To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; to run aground.
      The ship struck in the night.
    6. (transitive) 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.
      The clock struck twelve.  The drums strike up a march.
    7. (intransitive) To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows.
    8. (transitive) To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke.
      to strike a light
    9. (transitive) To cause to ignite by friction.
      to strike a match
  3. (transitive) To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.
    A tree strikes its roots deep.
  4. To have a sharp or severe effect on a more abstract level.
    1. (transitive) To punish; to afflict; to smite.
    2. (intransitive) To carry out a violent or illegal action.
    3. (intransitive) To act suddenly, especially in a violent or criminal way.
      The bank robber struck on the 2nd and 5th of May.
    4. (transitive, figurative) To impinge upon.
      The first thing to strike my eye was a beautiful pagoda.  Tragedy struck when his brother was killed in a bush fire.
      • 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:
        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.
    5. (transitive) To impress, seem or appear to (a person).
      Golf has always struck me as a waste of time.
      • 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:
        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.
    6. (transitive) To create an impression.
      The news struck a sombre chord.
    7. (sports) To score a goal.
      • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0-2 Fulham”, in BBC:
        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.
    8. To make a sudden impression upon, as if by a blow; to affect with some strong emotion.
      to strike the mind with surprise;  to strike somebody with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror
      • 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:
        In like manner the writings of mere men […] strike and surprise us most upon our first perusal of them […].
      • 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:
        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.
    9. To affect by a sudden impression or impulse.
      The proposed plan strikes me favourably.
      I was struck dumb with astonishment.
    10. (intransitive, UK, obsolete, slang) To steal or rob; to take forcibly or fraudulently.
      • 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:
        Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some chete.
        Now we have well drunk, let us steal something.
      • 1591, Robert Greene, “A discourse, or rather discovery of the Nip and the Foist, laying open the nature of the Cutpurse and Pick-pocket.”, in 'The Second Part of Conny-catching', London: John Wolfe; reprinted in Alexander B. Grosart, editor, 'The Life and Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Robert Greene', volume 10, London, Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson and Viney, 1881, page 112:
        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.
        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.[1]
    11. (slang, archaic) To borrow money from; to make a demand upon.
  5. To touch; to act by appulse.
    • 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:
      Let us conſider the red and white colours in Porphyre: Hinder light, but from ſtriking on it, and its Colours vaniſh […].
  6. (transitive) To take down, especially in the following contexts.
    1. (nautical) To haul down or lower (a flag, mast, etc.)
    2. (by extension) To capitulate; to signal a surrender by hauling down the colours.
      The frigate has struck, sir! We've beaten them, the lily-livers!
      • 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:
        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.
    3. (intransitive, by extension) To stop working as a protest to achieve better working conditions.
      Synonym: strike work
      • 1889, New York (State). Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report (part 2, page 127)
        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 […]
    4. (transitive, dated, by extension) To quit (one's job).
      • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 227:
        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.
    5. To dismantle and take away (a theater set; a tent; etc.).
      • 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:
        “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.
      • 1979, Texas Monthly, volume 7, number 8, page 109:
        The crew struck the set with a ferocity hitherto unseen, an army more valiant in retreat than advance.
    6. To unfasten, to loosen (chains, bonds, etc.).
  7. (intransitive) To set off on a walk or trip.
    They struck off along the river.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      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.
  8. (intransitive) To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 7:23, column 2:
      Til a dart ſtrike through his liuer, […]
    • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Fryar: Or, the Double Discovery. […], London: […] Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act I, page 11:
      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 […].
  9. (dated) To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into.
    to strike into reputation;  to strike into a run
  10. (intransitive) To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.
  12. (transitive) To make and ratify; to reach; to find.
    to strike a bargain, to strike a great bargain
    to strike a deal
    to strike an agreement
    to strike a compromise
    to strike a pact
    to strike a truce, to strike an uneasy truce
    to strike an accord
    to strike an alliance
    to strike a ceasefire
    to strike an armistice
    to strike a balance, to strike a delicate balance between
  13. To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil.
    to strike gold
    • 1998, “A Gold Rush Timeline”, in The Brasher Bulletin‎[1], volume 10, number 2, page 5:
      Howard Franklin and Henry Madison strike gold on the Fortymile River...
  14. To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.
  15. (masonry) To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
  16. To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.
    My eye struck a strange word in the text.  They soon struck the trail.
  17. (sugar-making, obsolete) To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.
    • 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:
      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.
  18. To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
  19. (obsolete) To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.
  20. To balance (a ledger or account).

Usage notes

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  • Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: "In everyday English, people usually say hit rather than strike."
  • The simple past is almost always struck, but it is often avoided by using the verb hit (even more than in other tenses) or other verbs and expressions. This is especially true in the sense of stopped working in protest, about which many native speakers have strong opinions concerning the use or appropriateness of struck or striked. These strong opinions and criticism of different usage by other people are partly due to regional differences but mostly due to the verb actually being essentially defective (not used in all tenses) in this sense, although apparently no dictionary except Wiktionary mentions this. The expressions workers went on strike and workers were on strike are much more common than workers struck and workers striked, which sound odd, dated, or wrong to many native speakers.
  • The past participle is usually struck (e.g. He'd struck it rich, or When the clock had struck twelve, etc.). The form stricken is significantly rarer. However, it is still found in the sense of "to delete, cross out", as in The Court has stricken the statement from the record. Moreover, it is used in the passive in the sense of "afflicted", as in The city was stricken with/by disease. In other contexts it is literary or archaic.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → German: streiken

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun

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strike (plural strikes)

  2. (baseball) A status resulting from a batter swinging and missing a pitch, or not swinging at a pitch when the ball goes in the strike zone, or hitting a foul ball that is not caught.
    • 1996, Lyle Lovett, “Her First Mistake”, in The Road to Ensenada:
      It was then I knew I had made my third mistake. Yes, three strikes right across the plate, and as I hollered "Honey, please wait" she was gone.
  3. (bowling) The act of knocking down all ten pins on the first roll of a frame.
  5. A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.
    Synonym: walkout
    Antonyms: industrial peace, lockout, non-strike, nonstrike
    Hypernyms: labor action, industrial action
    Coordinate terms: go-slow, slowdown, stayaway, stayout, work-to-rule
  6. A blow or application of physical force against something.
    • 1990, Chris Traish, Leigh Olsson, An Overview of Martial Arts, page 14:
      Thus hand strikes now include single knuckle strikes, knife hand strikes, finger strikes, ridge hand strikes etc., and leg strikes include front kicks, knee strikes, axe kicks, […]
    • 1996, Annie Proulx, Accordion Crimes:
      […] and they could hear the rough sound, could hear too the first strikes of rain as though called down by the music.
    • 2008, Lich King (band), “Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast”, in Toxic Zombie Onslaught:
      He's got machine guns and hatchets and swords / And some missiles and foods with trans-fats / He will unleash mass destruction, you're dead / You just got smashed... by the ¶ Attack of the Wrath of the / War of the Death of the / Strike of the Sword of the / Blood... of the Beast
  7. (military, by extension) An attack, not necessarily physical.
    air strike; first strike
  8. (finance) In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option.
  9. (historical) An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel.
    • 1882, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 4, page 207:
      The sum is also used for the quarter, and the strike for the bushel.
  10. (cricket) The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at.
    The batsmen have crossed, and Dhoni now has the strike.
  11. The primary face of a hammer, opposite the peen.
  12. (geology) The compass direction of the line of intersection between a rock layer and the surface of the Earth or another solid celestial body.
  13. An instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure of grain, salt, etc., scraping off what is above the level of the top; a strickle.
  14. (obsolete) Fullness of measure; the whole amount produced at one time.
    a strike of malt; a strike of coin
  15. (obsolete, by extension) Excellence; quality.
    • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter X, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 266–267:
      […] our cellarer shall have orders to deliver to thee a butt of sack, a runlet of Malvesie, and three hogsheads of ale of the first strike, yearly—If that will not quench thy thirst, thou must come to court, and become acquainted with my butler.
  16. An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.
  17. (ironworking) A puddler's stirrer.
  18. (obsolete) The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmail.
  19. The discovery of a source of something.
    • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist‎[2], volume 408, number 8847:
      The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today’s prices).
  20. The strike plate of a door.
  21. (fishing) A nibble on the bait by a fish.
    • 2014, Michael Gorman, Effective Stillwater Fly Fishing, page 87:
      I must admit that my focus was divided, which limited my fishing success. I made a few casts, then arranged my inanimate subjects and took photos. When my indicator went down on my first strike, I cleanly missed the hook up.
  22. (philately) A cancellation postmark.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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(sports)

(protest)

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

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  1. ^ Modernised spelling via 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 2019-12-12, The Complete Cony-Catching by Robert Greene

Further reading

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Anagrams

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French

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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strike m (plural strikes)

  1. (bowling) a strike

Derived terms

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Italian

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Noun

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strike m (invariable)

  1. strike (in baseball and ten-pin bowling)

Portuguese

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English strike.

Pronunciation

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  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈstɾajk/ [ˈstɾaɪ̯k], /isˈtɾaj.ki/ [isˈtɾaɪ̯.ki], /esˈtɾaj.ki/ [esˈtɾaɪ̯.ki]
    • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈstɾajk/ [ˈstɾaɪ̯k], /iʃˈtɾaj.ki/ [iʃˈtɾaɪ̯.ki], /eʃˈtɾaj.ki/ [eʃˈtɾaɪ̯.ki]
    • (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈstɾajk/ [ˈstɾaɪ̯k], /esˈtɾaj.ke/ [esˈtɾaɪ̯.ke]

Noun

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strike m (plural strikes)

  1. (bowling) strike (the act of knocking down all pins)
  2. (baseball) strike (the act of missing a swing at the ball)

Spanish

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from English strike.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈstɾaik/ [ˈst̪ɾai̯k], /esˈtɾaik/ [esˈt̪ɾai̯k]
  • Rhymes: -aik

Noun

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strike m (plural strikes)

  1. (baseball) strike
    ¡Tres strikes y estás fuera! ― Three strikes, you're out!
  2. (bowling) strike

Usage notes

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According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

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