Dictionary

strike back

Verb

(intransitive) To respond to an attack by attacking one's opponent or opponents.
Synonyms: retaliate
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, London: Smith Elder, Volume 1, Chapter 6, p. 101,
  When we are struck at without a reason, we should strike back again very hard; I am sure we should—so hard as to teach the person who struck us never to do it again.
- 1906, Jack London, White Fang, New York: Macmillan, Part 2, Chapter 1, pp. 61-62,
  The she-wolf was angry. She sank her fangs into her mate’s shoulder in reproof; and he, frightened, unaware of what constituted this new onslaught, struck back ferociously and in still greater fright, ripping down the side of the she-wolf’s muzzle.
- 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 17, p. 297,
  As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life—a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways.
- 1987, Edward Rutherfurd, Sarum (novel), New York: Crown, p. 641,
  […] William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke (died 1570) led seven thousand men to rout the French. It was a brief triumph. In January 1558, after Pembroke himself had returned, the French struck back and attacked Calais.
- 2011, Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France,
  England struck back with a fine try from Ben Foden and closed to within seven points with three minutes left when Mark Cueto capitalised on a break from replacement Matt Banahan.
(intransitive) To leave or set out (in a particular direction, often to where one has been).
Synonyms: head#verb
- 1846, Herman Melville, Typee, New York: Wiley and Putnam, Chapter 5, p. 40,
  The next day the starboard watch, to which we both belonged, was to be sent ashore on liberty; and availing ourselves of this opportunity, we determined, as soon after the landing as possible, to separate ourselves from the rest of the men without exciting their suspicions, and strike back at once for the mountains.
- 1905, Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth, New York: Scribner, Book 2, Chapter 6, p. 389,
  It was in this frame of mind that, striking back from the shore one morning into the windings of an unfamiliar lane, she came suddenly upon the figure of George Dorset.
- 1973, Colin Fletcher, The Winds of Mara, New York: Knopf, “Discovery,” p. 295,
  When we left camp before sunrise, heading on a beeline for the most northerly gully, I drove eagerly, with the kind of shining hope that early morning starts can generate. But eight hours later, when we struck back toward camp across the open plain, I found myself sagging in the driver’s seat.
(transitive, obsolete) To send (light, heat, a substance) in the direction of its source.
Synonyms: reflect
- 1563, William Fulke, A Goodly Gallerye with a Most Pleasaunt Prospect, into the Garden of Naturall Contemplation, London: William Griffith, Book 1,
  […] the lowest [region of the air] beinge next the earth and the waters, is temperat, and by repercussion or striking back of the sunne beames wax#Etymology_3|waxeth hoate, and by absence of them is made colde, being subiect to Wynter and Sommer.
- 1645, Edward Reynolds, Israels Prayer in Time of Trouble with Gods Gracious Answer Thereunto, London: Robert Bostock, Sermon 3, p. 34,
  A direct love begets a Reflect love, as the heat wrought in the earth strikes back a heat up into the aire againe.
- 1794, Robert Jephson, Roman Portraits, London: G.G. and J. Robinson, “Cleopatra#Relationship_with_Mark_Antony,” lines 2079-2080, p. 161,
  […] as when down Berdan River’ stream
  Her burnish’d prow struck back the sun’s bright beam,
(transitive, obsolete) To push or force (someone or something) away.
Synonyms: repel
- 1669, uncredited translator, Mundus Subterraneus (book), by Athanasius Kircher, London: John Allen, Chapter 5, p. 28,
  […] if you cast a stone thereinto, it being struck back presently, you shall receive it cast forth again with great force.
- 1693, Samuel Wesley (poet), The Life of Our Blessed Lord & Saviour, Jesus Christ, London: Charles Harper and Benjamin Motte, Book 8, p. 282,
  […] by the sound
  Of those Majestic Words, struck back, they fell to th’ Ground.
- 1792, Richard Cumberland (dramatist), Calvary: or the Death of Christ, London: C. Dilly, Book 3, lines 104-106, p. 77,
  Now sudden rage
  Impell’d him onward, now with palsied fear
  Struck back, he reel’d and shook in ev’ry joint.

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