English
strike
see also: Strike
Pronunciation Verb

strike (strikes, present participle striking; past struck, past participle stricken)

  1. (transitive, sometimes with out or through) To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
    Please strike the last sentence.
  2. (physical) To have a sharp or sudden effect.
    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, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene xi]:
        He at Philippi kept / His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck / The lean and wrinkled Cassius.
    2. (transitive) To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.
      • Bible, Book of Exodus xii.7:
        They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two sideposts.
      • 1812, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 22697011 ↗, canto II, stanza LXXVI:
        Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?
    3. (intransitive) To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.
      A hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
      • 1591, William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act V, scene i]:
        Strike now, or else the iron cools.
    4. (transitive) To manufacture, as by stamping.
      We will strike a medal in your honour.
    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.
      • 1816, Lord Byron, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], OCLC 1015450009 ↗, canto III, stanza XXI, page 13 ↗:
        But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
    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. (personal, social) To have a sharp or severe effect.
    1. (transitive) To punish; to afflict; to smite.
      • Bible, Proverbs xvii.26:
        To punish the just is not good, nor strike princes for equity.
    2. (intransitive) To carry out a violent or illegal action.
      • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794 ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwptej;view=1up;seq=5 page 01]:
        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.
    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.
    5. (intransitive) To stop working as a protest to achieve better working conditions.
      Synonyms: 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 […]
    6. (transitive) To impress, seem or appear (to).
      Golf has always struck me as a waste of time.
      • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Ch.X:
        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.
    7. (transitive) To create an impression.
      The news struck a sombre chord.
    8. (sports) To score a goal.
    9. 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
    10. To affect by a sudden impression or impulse.
      The proposed plan strikes me favourably.  May the Lord strike down those sinners!  I was struck dumb with astonishment.
    11. (intransitive, UK, obsolete, slang) To steal or rob; to take forcibly or fraudulently.
    12. (slang, archaic) To borrow money from; to make a demand upon.
  5. To touch; to act by appulse.
  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!
    3. To dismantle and take away (a theater set; a tent; etc.).
      • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Ch.22:
        “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.
  7. (intransitive) To set off on a walk or trip.
    They struck off along the river.
  8. (intransitive) To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
    • Bible, Book of Proverbs vii.23:
      till a dart strike through his liver
  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.
  11. To make and ratify.
    to strike a bargain
  12. To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.
  13. (masonry) To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
  14. To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.
    My eye struck a strange word in the text.  They soon struck the trail.
  15. (sugar-making, obsolete) To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.
  16. To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
    • Bible, 2 Books of Kings v.11:
      Behold, I thought, He will […] strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
  17. (obsolete) To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.
    • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act 1, scene i]:
      well struck in years
  18. To balance (a ledger or account).
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: affaler
  • Russian: спусти́ть
Translations Noun

strike (plural strikes)

  1. (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.
  2. (bowling) The act of knocking down all ten pins in on the first roll of a frame.
  3. A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.
  4. A blow or application of physical force against something.
    • 2008, Lich King, "Attack of the Wrath of the War of the Death of the Strike of the Sword of the Blood of the Beast", Toxic Zombie Onslaught
      quote en
    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, ... attention en
  5. (finance) In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option.
  6. An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel.
  7. (cricket) The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at.
    The batsmen have crossed, and Dhoni now has the strike.
  8. The primary face of a hammer, opposite the peen.
  9. (geology) The compass direction of the line of intersection between a rock layer and the surface of the Earth.
  10. 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.
  11. (obsolete) Fullness of measure; hence, excellence of quality.
  12. An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.
  13. (ironworking) A puddler's stirrer.
  14. (obsolete) The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmail.
  15. The discovery of a source of something.
  16. The strike plate of a door.
Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations
Strike
Proper noun
  1. Surname


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