| 释义 |
▪ I. strike, n.|straɪk|
Forms: 4–6 strik, stryk, 4–7 stryke, 4– strike.
[f. strike v. (In senses 2–4 perh. a. MLG. derivatives of the same root: cf. strick n.)
In early instances it is sometimes doubtful whether the word is this or strick n. or streak n.1, as the spelling strik, stryk, strick does not always indicate a short vowel, and conversely the spelling strike, stryke does not always imply that the vowel is long.]
†1. A distance. Obs.
From the rimes the word seems to be strike, not strick.
c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1052 He dyde make for fens a dyk Aboute þe castel a gret stryk. Ibid. 1420 In-to þe se of Aufryke þey comen, & passed a gret stryke.
2. a. A bundle or hank of flax, hemp, etc.: = strick n. 1. [Cf. Pg. estriga.]
c1386Chaucer Prol. 676 This Pardoner hadde heer as yelow as wex, But smooth it heeng as dooth a strike of flex. 1530Palsgr. 277/2 Stryke of flaxe, poupee de filace. 1615Markham Eng. Housew. ii. iii. 96 Then you shall say it [the hemp or flax] is brak't enough, and then tearming that which you called a baite or bundle before, now a strike, you shall lay them together. 1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. 276 A Strike of Flax, so much as is Heckled at one handful. 1743R. Maxwell Sel. Trans. Soc. Improv. Agric. 336 When the Flax is well scutched, take a moderate Handful of it, fold it in the Middle, plet it like a Rope, but loosely... After you have beat it for some time, open the Strike. 1794A. Young Agric. Suffolk 49 The buyer heckles it [sc. hemp]..; he makes it into two or three sorts: long strike, short strike, and pull tow.
b. ? A handful of corn-stalks.
1817Coleridge Three Graves iii. ii, On the hedge-elms in the narrow lane Still swung the strikes [so Sibyll. Leaves; earlier version spikes] of corn.
3. a. = strickle n. 1, strick n. 3.
c1425Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 664/14 Hoc ostorium, stryke. 1474Stat. Winch. in Coventry Leet Bk. 396, viij Buysshelles makith a Quarter, striken with a Rasid stryke, and neyther hepe nor Cantell. 1538Elyot Dict., Hostorium, the staffe wherwith all measures be made euen, a stryke. 1557Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) 467 In every myll ther shalbe a toll dysshe..cheyned with a cheyne of iron, and a stryke of iron fast to the cheyne. 1639Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unlocked xxxii. §400 Bread-corne..being measured is strick'd even with a strike (strickle). 1758in Rep. Comm. Ho. Commons II. 431 (Weights & Meas.) The Bushel is striked, and to strike it they use a round circular Strike, which is of the same Diameter from one End to the other. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 280 In connection with the bushel is the strike for sweeping off the superfluous corn above the edge of the bushel. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 457.
b. An instrument, usually a rod or narrow board, used in various trades (e.g. brickmaking, casting, plumbing, gardening) for levelling a surface by striking off the superfluous material.
1683J. Houghton Collect. Lett. Improv. Husb. II. vi. 188 We also have upon the Table..a little Trough,..and in it a Strike to run over the Mould, to make the Bricks smooth: this Strike is usually made of Firr, nine inches long, an inch and a half broad, and half inch thick. 1825J. Nicholson Oper. Mech. 631 A kind of rake, called a strike, which consists of a board about 5 inches broad. 1839Penny Cycl. XIII. 372/1 An instrument called a strike is..provided to regulate the thickness of the sheet [of lead], and to spread the melted metal evenly over the table. 1840Florist's Jrnl. (1846) I. 198 A strike, which is made of wood, about two feet longer than the width of the bed. 1850E. Dobson Bricks & Tiles i. 27 After which the superfluous clay is striken with a strike. Ibid. 71 The strike is not used at Nottingham. 1885P. J. Davies Pract. Plumbing I. 28 The Strike..is rather an important tool, made as follows.
c. Measurement by the use of the ‘strike’ (sense 3 a): Struck or levelled, as opposed to heaped measure. Now rare or Obs.
1674S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 70 Usage in some places hath continued Measure by heap, although some Statutes order it by Strike. 1821Acc. Peculations Coal Trade 5 The Newcastle chaldron..by measure is 24 bolls strike... The London chaldron is 36 bushels heaped.
4. A denomination of dry measure in various parts of England (but not officially recognized since the 16th c.); usually identical with the bushel, but in some districts equal to a half-bushel, and in others to two or four bushels. Also, the cylindrical wooden measuring vessel containing this quantity. Cf. stroke n. 22.
First recorded in AF. form estrike. The word is believed to have been originally used for a measure ‘struck’ or levelled with a strickle, not heaped.
[1284MS. Acc. Exch. K.R. Bd. 97 No. 3 m. 11 In .vij. estrikes et .j. pecke auene. 1350–1Rolls of Parlt. II. 230/2 Et q̃ les Estrikes soient auxi bien enseales, come Bussels & autres Mesures.] 13..Propr. Sanct. (Vernon MS.) in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr. LXXXI. 318/16 Men takeþ not of a lanterne þe liht And put vndur a strik vnriht Bote on a Candelstikke on hiȝ. c1440Pallad. on Husb. xi. 104 Salt let screue On hem, iij stryk on x strike [L. per decem modios] of oliue. 1467Coventry Leet Bk. 334 Also they have ordenyd that the wardens Make ij strikis, ij halfe strykis, ij hopes, & let the salters have hem with-owt eny money. 1523–34Fitzherb. Husb. §12 Two London busshelles of pease, the whyche is but two strykes in other places. 1540Nottingham Rec. III. 378 A cordyng to the Kynges Standard, after viijt gallans to the stryke. 1598Bp. Hall Sat. iv. vi. 27 Altho he buy whole Haruests in the spring And foist in false strikes to the measuring. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. Annot. d ij, A measure with us called a strike, or London bushell would have cost 4.s. 1636Sir R. Baker Cato Variegatus 28 Hees no good Husbandman, that will mislike: To sowe a Pynte where he may reape a strike. 1680W. Walker Idiomat. Anglo-Lat. 452 He measures his money by strikes, Nummos modio metitur. 1681in Reliquary (1862) III. 100 Paid for gathering 208 Strikes of acornes, 03 09 06. 1707[E. Ward] Hud. Rediv. vi. 11 In Shape most like That Measure which we call a Strike. 1759R. Brown Compl. Farmer 57 A strike, which is a bushel measure fill'd only to the edges. 1811P. Kelly Univ. Cambist I. 259 A Last contains..40 Strikes or 80 Bushels. 1868Peacock Myrc Notes 81 In the Isle of Axholme,..a bushel is not, as elsewhere, one-eighth of a quarter, but double that measure. The strike or half-bushel represents there the legal bushel of eight pecks.
†5. The unit proportion of malt in ale or beer. Also (? erroneously) of the first strike = of the highest strength: said of ale. Obs. Cf. straik n.1 2.
1610Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady v. iii, Thou miserable man, repent, and brew three strikes more in a hogshed. 1702Floyer Cold Bathing iv. 129 We must use..more moderate vinose Liquors, Beer of three or four Strike at Meals. 1819Scott Ivanhoe xl, Our cellarer shall have orders to deliver to thee a butt of sack,..and three hogsheads of ale of the first strike, yearly. 1820― Monast. xviii, An hogshead of ale at Martlemas, of the double strike.
6. An act of striking.
a. An act of striking a blow; of a snake, the act of darting at its prey.
1587W. Fowler Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 69 Sche suddenlye hir visage did from his [sc. Cupid's] strykes so hyde, that [etc.]. 1638Sir A. Johnston (Ld. Wariston) Diary (S.H.S.) 325 The Almighty..hes many arroues in his quyver to peirce the at the heart if the first stryk in thy flesch move the not. 1859H. Kingsley Geoff. Hamlyn xxviii, She [the dog] had drawn herself ahead, and made a bold strike at the kangaroo, but missed him. 1879R. J. Atcherley Trip to Boërland 50 This brute [a snake]..made a strike at my boot as I was in the very act of taking it off. 1902‘M. Fairless’ Roadmender 7 With the snake there is the swift, silent strike, the tiny, tiny wound, then sleep and a forgetting.
fig.1888Stevenson Black Arrow iii. iv, It had been determined..to make one bold strike that evening, and, by brute force, to set Joanna free.
b. The striking of a clock, or of the clapper of a bell.
1871Ellacombe Belfries & Ringers (ed. 3) 38 The way to cure a clapper of rearing, or doubling its strike, is to lengthen the flight. 1903B. Harraden Kath. Frensham 47 We go on adjusting our lives and emotions to the strike of the parish clock.
†c. strike of day: daybreak. Obs. or spurious.[If genuine, perh. referring to the striking of the hour. But possibly a mistake of Grose (followed by Dickens) for shrike of day (skrike n. 2). Cf. streak n.1 3.] 1790Grose Prov. Gloss. (ed. 2) Suppl., Strike of Day, break of day. 1854Dickens Hard T. ii. iv, I could sen nommore if I was to speak till Strike o' day.
d. Infestation of a sheep or cow with flies whose larvæ burrow into the skin; an occurrence of this. Freq. with preceding n.
1933, etc. [see blow-fly strike s.v. blow-fly b]. 1933, etc. [see Mules]. 1934Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Sept. 22/1 The C.S.I.R. regards dipping in the light of only ‘perhaps rendering the sheep less favorable for strike, but a measure not to be relied upon’. 1937, etc. [see fly-strike s.v. fly n.1 11]. 1952I. E. Newsom Sheep Dis. vi. 140 In South Africa..L[ucilia] cuprina is thought to be responsible for 90 per cent of the strikes either alone or in combination with other flies. 1972TV Vet Sheep Bk. xlviii. 143/1 In Britain strike usually starts when the lambs start scouring. 1975N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Sept. 65/1 One measure for blowflies' resistance to insecticides is the time that it takes, after a spray or dip, for implanted larvae to establish a strike. 1977Bulletin (Sydney) 22 Jan. 16/3 The blowfly costs rural industry $70 million a year in sheep and cattle strike.
e. A sudden military attack concentrated on selected targets; also occas. concr., the force used in such an attack. Also (chiefly with reference to the use of nuclear weapons) preceded by a qualifying word, as first-strike, pre-emptive strike, second strike: see under the first elements.
1942[see strike patrol, sense 20 below]. 1943T. Dudley-Gordon Coastal Command at War ii. 16 When the Admiralty desires a special reconnaissance or strike to be ‘laid on’. 1943Yank 19 Nov. 3 But, when the last strike returned, there were no bullet holes, no torn fabric and the pilots climbed out unhurt. 1945[see air strike s.v. air B. III. 2]. 1963Ann. Reg. 1962 520 The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western hemisphere. 1972Newsweek 10 Jan. 1/1 Described by the Pentagon as ‘protective-reaction’ strikes, the bombings in fact signaled to the world the continuing U.S. interest in Southeast Asia. 1979H. Kissinger White House Years xxiii. 983 The Son Tay raid was accompanied by a two-day strike by 200 airplanes against North Vietnamese supply installations.
f. bird-strike: see bird n. 9.
7. Fishing.
†a. ? A place where salmon are speared. Obs. rare—1.
a1828T. Bewick Mem. (1862) 222, I was frequently sent by my parents to purchase a salmon from the fishers of the ‘strike’ at Eltringham ford.
b. The jerk by which the angler secures a fish that is already hooked.
1840J. Younger River Angling (1860) 88 [This motion is wrongly named: it is] rather a retentive hold than a start, or a strike. 1892Field 19 Mar. 402/1 Once the salmon has gone down head foremost with the fly, there is no reason to delay the strike.
c. A large capture (of fish).
1887Hall Caine Deemster x, No ‘strike’ was made. 1894R. Leighton Wreck Golden Fleece 36 The best strike of herrins be always at the moon-risin'. 1905Daily Chron. 3 Oct. 4/5 When there is a ‘strike,’ and the movement of the buoys that support the nets show that a shoal has become enmeshed [etc.].
8. Mining and Geol. The horizontal course of a stratum; direction with regard to the points of the compass. Cf. streak n.1 5, stretch n. 9.
Prob., as stated in a footnote to the first passage quoted below, a recent adoption from German. The Ger. word is streichen, the inf. of the vb. corresponding to strike v.
1829A. Sedgwick & Murchison in Trans. Geol. Soc. Ser. ii. III. 337 The range or strike of this series is from E.N.E. to W.S.W. 1833Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 346 In Europe the strike of the beds is not always parallel to the direction of the chain. 1850Ansted Elem. Geol., Min. etc. 291 The direction of the bed is called, in Geological language, the strike, and the inclination, the dip. 1888Teall Brit. Petrogr. 448 Strike—The strike of a bed is the direction (expressed by reference to the points of the compass) of the line formed by the intersection of the plane of the bed with the plane of the horizon.
transf.1883Nature 22 Feb. 395/2 The main strike of the auroræ is magnetic east-west.
9. a. A concerted cessation of work on the part of a body of workers, for the purpose of obtaining some concession from the employer or employers. Formerly sometimes more explicitly strike of work. Cf. strike v. 24, 24 b. Phrase, on strike, also (U.S.) on a strike. Freq. with preceding qualifying word, as general strike, outlaw strike, selective strike, sit-down strike, stay-away strike (-down, -in), sympathetic strike, wildcat strike: see under the first elements. Also fig.
The n., together with the related sense of the vb., has been adopted into several European langs.: G. streik, Du. strijk, Sw. strejk.
1810Docum. Hist. Amer. Industrial Soc. (1910) III. 370 The Society, in November 1809, ordered a general strike. 1815Ibid. IV. 42 It appeared there was a strike for higher wages. 1825Edin. Rev. XLIII. 14 Combinations and strikes of work may be necessary..to bring things sooner to their proper level. 1830Poor Man's Guardian 31 Dec. 8/1 It has been determined at a meeting of delegates, appointed by the spinners in the different parts of the country, that a general strike shall take place on Monday, the 27th instant, of all spinners who are receiving less that 4s. 2d. per 1000 hanks. 1850Athenæum 7 Dec. 1282/3 Three hundred men on strike have taken a mill! 1881Chicago Times 14 May, The employés of the Grand Trunk car shops are on a strike for an advance in wages. 1899C. Plummer Saxon Chron. II. 289 Simeon of Durham..represents the enactment as causing a sort of clerical strike. 1907R. Dunn Shameless Diary of Explorer xv. 201 Miller's stomach went on strike after we washed in the glacier stream.
b. transf. A concerted abstention from a particular economic, physical, or social activity on the part of persons who are attempting to obtain a concession from an authority or to register a protest; esp. in hunger strike, rent strike (see hunger n. 4, rent n.1 4 c).
1889, etc. [see hunger strike s.v. hunger n. 4]. 1911G. B. Shaw Getting Married 220 Ive told our last four Prime Ministers that if they didnt make our marriage laws reasonable there would be a strike against marriage. 1934Sun (Baltimore) 8 Nov. 10/4 People with fixed incomes necessarily buy less. There are indignation meetings and ‘buyers' strikes’. 1937Ibid. 30 Aug. 8/1 The falling birth rate indicates that ‘mankind cannot be forced or bribed to produce children’... The present ‘birth strike’ will continue until necessary social readjustments are effected. 1938Ibid. 28 Jan. 22/1 Forty-eight tenants of an apartment building..started a ‘strike’ January 1, demanding rent reductions. 1965B. Pearce tr. Preobrazhensky's New Economics 167 A consumers' strike is the limit which arises to state planning whenever the state's prices exceed the level acceptable to the private market. 1970, etc. [see rent strike s.v. rent n.1 4 c]. 1976Gramophone Dec. 1052/1 The Lysistrata plot about the women stopping a war by going on sexual strike.
10. A last ploughing before the sowing. local.
1823E. Moor Suffolk Words, Strike is also a mode of plowing. We call it back-striking. 1844Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 6 First year making the fallow, three whole tilths, and one strike, at 8s., 1l. 8s. 0d.
11. An act of ‘striking oil’ (see strike v. 68 d); a discovery of a rich vein of ore in mining. Similarly, the sudden discovery of an accumulation of natural gas. Also fig. a stroke of success. orig. U.S.
1852L. Clappe Shirley Lett. Calif. Mines (1922) 131 They are always longing for big strikes [of gold]. 1855H. Helper Land of Gold 296, I may make a ‘strike’, but that is mere speculation. 1864[see oil strike s.v. oil n.1 6 e]. 1883Century Mag. July 330/1 A restless, speculative person,..now making a lucky strike, and now sinking all his available means in a dry hole. 1895Daily News 13 Sept. 2/5 Langlaagte Estate Gold... The supervising director writes that the strike at the sixth level is really grand. 1901Munsey's Mag. XXIV. 841 Mr. Grau made a strike with his first novelty, ‘La Bohème’.
12. In certain games.
a. Ten-pins and Ninepins. The knocking down of all the pins with the first bowl. Also fig. U.S.
1859Atlantic Monthly Nov. 641 Strike: terms of the game of nine-pins. 1866Lowell Biglow P. Ser. ii. Introd., To make a strike is to knock down all the pins with one ball, hence it has come to mean fortunate, successful. 1884[see spare n.1 4]. 1939H. Miller Cosmological Eye 219 Of Human Bondage was a great book, he thought. I thought so too and I scored another strike for the constable on my mental blackboard. 1958[see frame n. 11 g]. 1974Cleveland (Ohio) Plain Dealer 13 Oct. c. 8/3 Marge opened her third game with nine strikes in a row, but left the 5-9 pins on her first ball in the 10th frame on the way to her 275 game and 614 series.
b. Baseball. (a) An act of striking at the ball, characterized as a fair strike or foul strike (see quot. 1874); three ‘foul strikes’ cause the batsman to be put out. (b) A ‘foul strike’, or any act or shortcoming on the batsman's part which incurs the same penalty. Hence, a pitched ball recorded against the batter; esp. as one of three counts against the batter.
1841Picayune (New Orleans) 25 May 2/2 If ‘Edith’ wishes to see ‘a great strike’.., let her walk down Water street..and see the ‘bachelors’ make the ball fly. 1845in Appletons' Ann. Cycl. 1885 (1886) X. 77/2 Players must take their strike in regular turn. 1856Spirit of Times 22 Nov. 197/2 The striker should also be compelled to run on such occasions, strike or no strike. 1867Ball Players' Chron. 4 July 6/2 Their batting was of a superior character, two of their players..each makng some powerful strikes. 1868H. Chadwick Base Ball Player's Bk. Reference 75 Mills called ‘one strike’ on him. 1874Chadwick Base Ball Man. 105 A fair strike. The batsman, when in the act of striking at the ball, must stand within the lines of his position... A foul strike. Should the batsman, when in the act of striking at the ball, step outside the lines of his position, the umpire must call ‘foul strike’. 1891N. Crane Baseball 76 Every ball that is not hit by the batsman must be a ‘strike’ or a ‘ball’. 1896Knowles & Morton Baseball 103 Strike.—When the batsman tries and fails to hit a ball delivered to him by the pitcher, or refuses to strike at a fair ball. 1912C. Mathewson Pitching 12 It put me in the hole with the count two balls and one strike. 1942Sun (Baltimore) 3 Apr. 18/7 The machine will throw 75 per cent more strikes in a given number of pitches than a human. 1974Anderson (S. Carolina) Independent 19 Apr. 4b/7 The Citadel scored on a missed third strike and two errors.
(c) fig. Usu. preceded by a numeral or enumerative adj. and const. against or † on. Something to one's discredit, a black mark.
1938New Republic 26 Jan. 336/1 All movements for social good will..have two strikes on them before they start. a1939in E. J. Nichols Hist. Dict. Baseball Terminol. (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania State College) Appendix I, p. iv, You therefore are starting with two strikes against him. It's up to you to hit one into the bleachers and send yourself home. 1943Official Rep. Deb. House of Commons Canada 31 May 3196/2, I am a little afraid that a man who approaches that board claiming exemption as a conscientious objector goes to bat with three strikes against him. 1956B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) xxi. 169 The only evidence they've got is on me. I've got one strike against me. 1962J. Glenn in Into Orbit 16, I knew that I might have a couple of small strikes against me... I was not a college graduate... Also..I was probably a little older than most of the men NASA was considering. 1968Globe & Mail Mag. (Toronto) 13 Jan. 3/2 The student council also did nothing. Strike one for student power. 1975Listener 13 Feb. 204/1 One of the main strikes against Ted Heath was that he did not ‘come over’ on the box. 1979‘S. Woods’ This Fatal Writ 129 The discovery of your man, injured, would have been an additional strike against him.
c. Cricket. The right of the batsman to receive the next ball. Also without article.
1886Cricket 20 May 137/1 Seeing over sixty runs scored, he, strange to relate, did not succeed in getting a strike. 1955[see farm v.2 6]. 1963A. Ross Australia 63 iii. 83 He played McKenzie fine of Harvey at cover, called euphorically, in an effort to keep the strike, for a second, and was run out. 1976J. Snow Cricket Rebel 57 Geoff Boycott took first strike leaving ‘Ollie’ [Milburn] at the non-striker's end.
d. U.S. Football. A forward pass, straight into the hands of the receiver.
1947Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 9 Nov. b7/7 Brown threw a perfect ‘strike’ to Elliott on the 10-yard ribbon, but the lanky freshman end dropped the ball. 1972J. Mosedale Football v. 72 To this strike-tossing forward passer..went the plaudits of the nation.
13. U.S. Polit. slang. (See quots.)
1885Century Mag. Apr. 824/2 When a member introduces a bill hostile to some moneyed interest, with the expectation of being paid to let the matter drop... [This proceeding is] technically called a ‘strike’. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. ii. xliv. II. 163 note. 1894H. C. Merwin in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 247/1 A ‘strike’ is a measure brought forward simply for purposes of blackmail.
†14. slang. ‘Twenty shillings’ (Grose Dict. Vulgar T., ed. 2, 1788).
15. Printing. (See quots.)
1871Amer. Encycl. Printing (ed. Ringvalt) 149 Drives are also sometimes called strikes, or the originals of matrices. 1888[see drive n. 15]. 1888Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 134 Strikes, a term for type matrices struck from the original punches. 1900H. Hart Cent. Typogr. p. viii, Nowadays a type-founder..would be able..to buy ‘strikes’, which when justified would become matrices—the punches being left in the hands of the proprietor for the production of more ‘strikes’.
16. Sugar-manuf. See quot. 1864. (Cf. strike v. 21 b.)
1847W. J. Evans Sugar-Planter's Man. 152 The time required for taking off a strike containing fourteen moulds of fifty pounds each was two hours. 1864Webster, Strike of sugar, (a) the act of emptying the teache, or last boiler, in which the cane-juice is exposed to heat, into the coolers; (b) the quantity of the sirup thus emptied at once. 1887Century Mag. Nov. 114/1 When sufficiently boiled, the thick syrup is called the ‘masse cuite’. The ‘strike’ is now done, air is admitted to the pan, and the contents are run off into the ‘mixer’.
17. Coining. ‘The whole amount struck at one time.’
1891Century Dict.
18. Soap-making. The proper crystalline or mottled appearance of a soap, indicating complete saponification.
1884A. Watt Soap-making 50 The leys are made from..black ash, the impurities in which give the mottled or marbled ‘strike’ for which this variety of soap is famed. 1885W. L. Carpenter Manuf. Soap & Candles 12 The appearances known as ‘grain’ or ‘strike’ in a hard soap..are due to the crystalline character of soap.
†19. ? A strip or band (of metal). Obs. rare—1.
Possibly the word may belong to streak n.1, or may be misprinted. The passage (copied by Weever and some other authors) is the origin of the sense ‘stanchion or pale in a fence or gate’ given by some Dicts.
1603Stow Surv. (1908) I. 322 There were 9. Tombes of Alabaster and Marble, inuironed with strikes of Iron in the Quire, and one Tombe in the body of the Church, also coped with iron.
20. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 3 c) strike bushel, strike measure; (sense 6 e) strike aeroplane, strike aircraft, strike carrier, strike Command, strike patrol, strike power, strike trainer, strike wing; also strike-attack, strike-reconnaissance attrib. phrases; (sense 8) strike-fault, strike-joint, strike vein; strike-faulting vbl. n.; (sense 9) strike action, strike benefit, strike call, strike committee, strike fund, strike leader, strike meeting, strike money, strike movement, strike notice, strike record, strike wave, strike weapon; strike-free, strike-happy, strike-prone, strike-ridden, strike-torn adjs.; (sense 16) strike-heater, strike-pan. Also † strike-block [= Du. strijkblok] Carpentry (see quot. 1678); strike-bound a., immobilized by a strike; strike-breaker, a workman who consents to work for an employer whose workmen are on strike, thus contributing to the defeat of the strike; strike-breaking vbl. n., the action of a strike-breaker; also as ppl. a.; hence (as back-formation) strike-break v. intr.; strike force, (a) a military force equipped to deliver a (nuclear) strike; (b) a police unit organized for rapid and effective action against crime; strike-furrow plough = strike plough below; † strike iron, ? malleable iron; strike pay, the periodical payment made by a trade-union for the support of men on strike; strike plough (see quot. 1856); strike-slip Geol. (orig. U.S.), the component of the slip of a fault in a horizontal direction, parallel to the strike; also as adv.; freq. attrib., esp. in strike-slip fault, a fault in which motion was predominantly parallel to the strike; strike zone Baseball, an imaginary rectangle 17 inches wide, stretching from the height of the batter's armpits to that of his knees, within which the pitcher must throw the ball for the pitch to be called a strike.
1949Britannica Bk. of Year 606/2 Minority groups..threatening and, from time to time, taking *strike action by way of protest. 1977M. Edelman Polit. Lang. vii. 131 Wage demands their fellow workers would otherwise be free to back with strike action if necessary.
1965New Scientist 22 Apr. 217/1 The Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer naval *strike aeroplane might be modified to suit the RAF.
1957Times 22 Aug. 6/6 The supersonic *strike aircraft which Hawker Aircraft are developing as a private venture. Ibid., The fact that it is described as a strike aircraft indicates that it can be used as a bomber as well as a fighter. 1980Daily Tel. 24 Sept. 4/8 Iraqi transport aircraft have been withdrawn to the safety of bases in Jordan, beyond the reach of Iran's strike aircraft.
1977R.A.F. News 11–24 May 1/5 The two squadrons operate in the same maritime *strike attack role.
1896Rep. Proc. Internat. Typogr. Union N. Amer. 22/1, $48,087.18..[were] paid during the two years in *strike and lockout benefits.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. iv. 66 The *Strike-Block..is a Plain shorter than the Joynter,..and is used for the shooting of a short Joynt. 1823P. Nicholson Pract. Build. 245 The Strike-Block Plane.
1949Britannica Bk. of Year 687/1 *Strike-bound, prevented from moving, travelling, sailing etc. by a strike or strikes. 1956B.B.C. Handbk. 1957 121 The editors of strike-bound national dailies and periodicals. 1982Daily Tel. 3 Aug. 22/4 Strike-bound Sealink ships have..moored at the two Holyhead berths.
1961Economist 6 May 525/1 Individual exporters and importers should be allowed to send their own staff in to get their own goods on and off the ships, if their staff will agree to *strike-break in this way.
1904N.Y. Even. Post 4 Aug. 2 [Half of] the *strike breakers are men who, having been idle for a time, simply wanted a chance to make a little ready money. 1905Daily Chron. 4 May, The strikers made repeated attacks on the ‘strike-breakers’.
1905Amer. Mag. May 107/2 It is quite a new profession, this *strike breaking, a curious evolution of modern industrial methods. 1920Manch. Guardian News Bull. 10 Sept. 2/1 A direct incitement to strike-breaking. 1978S. Brill Teamsters x. 362 The police sent an armed convoy to escort a strikebreaking truck.
1858Trollope Three Clerks I. i. 12 Young Tudor had produced a very smart paper on the merits—or demerits—of the *strike bushel. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. App. A. 567 It may be worth stating that the Guernsey heaped bushel is nearly equivalent to the imperial strike bushel.
1976*Strike call [see stay-away s.v. stay v.1 31].
1966Daily Tel. 18 Aug. 1/4 ‘Straight Laced’ is the first multinational *strike-carrier exercise for some years.
1968Ann. Reg. 1967 27 The White Paper envisaged..the merging of the RAF's Fighter and Bomber Command into a new *Strike Command.
1949Britannica Bk. of Year 210/2 The men's allegiance to the *strike committee outweighed their loyalty to the union.
1879Encycl. Brit. X. 303/1 Faults..are classified as dip-faults and *strike-faults. 1894Tarr Econ. Geol. U.S. 50 When the horizontal direction of a fault plane is in the direction of the dip of the strata, the fault is a dip fault; when at right angles to this, a strike fault.
1925N. E. Odell in E. F. Norton Fight for Everest: 1924 299 There is considerable evidence of *strike-faulting which would explain this. 1965G. J. Williams Econ. Geol. N.Z. iii. 30/2 Some ore was won from a 390 ft shaft, but both strike- and cross⁓faulting seem to have disrupted the lode.
1961Listener 14 Dec. 1011/2 The development of nuclear *strike forces by Britain and France. 1973Black Panther 1 Sept. 11/2 Federal and local strike forces smashed into homes and offices in a series of pre-dawn raids.
1947Sun (Baltimore) 2 Jan. 17/1 If operations are *strike-free, enough steel can be turned out to restore within a few months a balance between supply and demand. 1982Times 23 Mar. 8/7 The reductions in strike-free days.
1906Daily Chron. 17 May 4/7 The earliest mention of a *strike fund occurred in the strike of the Parisian stocking-weavers in 1724.
1846Keightley Notes Virg., Terms Husb. 353 When the plough was prepared for seed-sowing, the aures were put to it, so that it then resembled our *strike-furrow plough.
1955Times 26 May 11/5 We are being placed on a par with other ‘*strike⁓happy’ industries.
1903Longman's Mag. Nov. 76 After repeated skimming and filtration, the juice is ready for the strike-pans, whence it is discharged by valves into the *strike-heaters—double-lined cauldrons supplied with steam enough to keep the sugar hot until crystallisation is reached.
1814Sporting Mag. XLIII. 269 A large quantity of these shears made out of *strike iron.
1879Encycl. Brit. X. 297/1 The former set is known as dip-joints,..the latter is termed *strike-joints.
1913W. Owen Let. 19 Oct. (1967) 201 You should set up as Suffragette, Dublin-*Strike-Leader, or Schoolmistress, so that you would be obliged to speak for seven hours a day. 1978P. Boardman Worlds of Patrick Geddes vii. 246 The strike leader had the reputation of being a dangerous man.
1766Museum Rust. VI. 264 More frequently a fraud, in the construction of measures of that kind, where heap, and not *strike measure, is the custom.
1926Brit. Gaz. 12 May 1/7 Large crowds of them congregated in the streets, while some abortive *strike meetings were held in the squares.
1913D. H. Lawrence in Westm. Gaz. 13 Sept. 2/2 *Strike⁓money is paid in the Primitive Methodist Chapel.
1932Sun (Baltimore) 13 Sept. 8/3 The certain futility of the ‘*strike’ movement.
1926Brit. Gaz. 12 May 2/2 The Weston Mercury, Weston-super-Mare, reports that after *strike notices had been received the local branch of the Typographical Association decided to return to work.
1903*Strike-pan: see strike-heater.
1942*Strike patrol [see rover1 3 e].
a1878in G. Howell Confl. Capital & Labour vii. 344 The men who receive what is called ‘*strike pay’. 1891Spectator 13 June, Whether these conditions are satisfied, it is not for us to say, though..the scale of strike-pay does not suggest an overflowing exchequer.
1789Trans. Soc. Arts I. 123, I took a common *strike plough. 1856Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 726/1 Strike-plough (Sussex), double-mould board plough.
1959Time 23 Feb. 22/3 U.S. *strike power is clearly supreme now.
1961Daily Tel. 22 Apr. 9/2 The *strike-prone motor industry.
1963Times 2 Feb. 9/2 Adopting American nuclear warheads for its *strike-reconnaissance aircraft missiles defending the North American continent.
1938Encycl. Brit. Bk. of Year 614/1 In 1936 there were but 156 strikes..; a rather typical *strike record for Canada.
1967Spectator 8 Dec. 706/2 Two of our favourite illusions are that we are among the most *strike-ridden nations on earth, and that every strike brings chaos in its wake.
1913W. Lindgren Mineral Deposits ix. 121 The *strike-slip is the component of the slip parallel with the fault slip. Ibid. 126 The expressions ‘normal’ and ‘reverse’ may be used in connection with oblique and dip faults, even when these are strike-slip or oblique slip faults. 1932C. R. Longwell et al. Textbk. Geol. i. xii. 315 (caption) Broken lines show the displacement (slip), and its three components—throw, heave, and strike-slip—measured along axes at right angles to each other. 1964W. C. Putnam Geology vi. 146/2 Ordinarily, in order to establish whether or not movement has been strike-slip or dip-slip, it is necessary to have layered rocks with strongly differing dips cut by the fault. Ibid. 147/1 The actual movement as demonstrated by the outcrop was strike-slip. 1971I. G. Gass et al. Understanding Earth xxiii. 327/2 The San Andreas is called a strike-slip fault. 1977Sci. Amer. Apr. 36/2 In Mongolia most earthquakes are associated with strike-slip faulting.
1977Belfast Tel. 28 Feb. 7/9 The crisis at *strike-torn Leyland deepened.
1967Observer 26 Nov. 2/6 The Jaguar *strike-trainer which was born.. in the Anglo-French agreement of 1965.
1877Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 241 The *strike-vein is north and south.
1957Encycl. Brit. XXI. 469/1 The *strike waves that accompanied the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917.
1955Times 26 May 11/5 The apparently indiscriminate use of the *strike weapon.
1944Hansard Commons 7 Mar. 1910 In conjunction with the *strike wings of Coastal Command and R.A.F. fighters our Light Forces have constantly attacked enemy convoys in the Channel.
1948Sporting News Dope Bk. 119 The umpire shall rule it a ball even though it passed over the heart of the plate within the *strike zone. 1950Official Baseball Rules ii. 17 The strike zone is that space over home plate which is between the batter's armpits and the top of his knees when he assumes his natural stance.
▸ orig. and chiefly U.S.three (also one, two) strikes and you're out and variants: a statement of the baseball rule applied more generally to any law or regulation which allows for the specified number of infractions before a severe penalty is imposed (spec. in U.S. Law). Freq. attrib.: designating or relating to such a measure.
1912N.Y. Times 30 June 16/6 This was the third of the Commoner's [sc. William Jennings Bryan's] appearances at this convention, and if the game were being played according to the rules it would be ‘three strikes and out’. 1949N.Y. Times 28 Mar. 27/2 As to Indian Service personnel, it was recommended that the rule on misfits be ‘three strikes and out’, which was explained as no more than two major assignments ‘muffed’. 1990Dallas Morning News 23 Nov. 28 a/1 Manley was given a lifetime suspension from the National Football League for violating the league's ‘three strikes, you're out’ drug policy. 1993Wall St. Jrnl. 4 Nov. a14/1 We are likely now to see the spread of measures such as ‘Three Strikes and You're Out’, which passed Tuesday by a whopping margin of 76% to 24%... The measure provides that persons convicted of three major felonies go to prison forever, no parole. 1995Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 5 Sept. A police force is reviving a 93-year-old law in an attempt to drive persistent drunks off the streets with a ‘three strikes and you're out’ policy..to make it an offence to sell alcohol to anyone convicted of drink-related offences three times in a year. 2000Independent 9 Mar. i. 1/1 The Chancellor will implement the ‘two strikes and out’ policy used by some states in the US, where fraudsters are stopped from receiving benefits for a set time.
▸ three strikes adj. (similarly one strike, two strikes etc.; also with strike) orig. and chiefly U.S. designating or relating to the punishment of a third (also first, second, etc.) offence by a severe penalty (spec. in U.S. Law). Also occas. as n.
1984M. Ivins in Nation 13 Oct. 345/1 We got a three-strikes law here—three felonies and it's life—so we got guys doing terminal stretches for passing two bad checks and aggravated mopery. 1994Time 7 Feb. 29/2 [He] knows that the true danger of feel-good bromides like ‘three strikes’ is that they create the illusion of problem solving. 1995Denver Post 5 Nov. a2/1 Ito faced..a three-strikes robbery case against a man who allegedly had stolen a handful of rings. 1997National Rev. (Electronic ed.) 1 Sept. 22 Miller's efforts in gaining passage of welfare reform and a ‘two strikes’ law made GOP voters more comfortable with him. 2000N.Y. Times 23 Sept. d8/1 The Romanian [weight-lifting] team was booted from the Olympics last week as part of a ‘three strikes rule’, which means automatic expulsion for an entire team if three of its athletes test positive for banned substances in one year.
▪ II. strike, v.|straɪk|
Pa. tense struck; pa. pple. struck; also arch. exc. U.S. (esp. in legal use) stricken. Forms: inf. and pres. stem. 1 strícan, 3–7 strik, 4–6 stryke, 4–7 stryk, 4 Sc. stirk(e, 5–7 stricke, 6 stryck(e, 6–8 strick, 7 Sc. streck, 3– strike. pa. tense sing. α. 1 strác, 2–3 strac, 3–5, 6–8 Sc. strak, 7 Sc. strack, 4–8 strake, 5 straak, 5–6 Sc. straik, 6 Sc. strayk; β. 4–7 strok, stroke, 5 strocke, 5–7 stroak(e, 5–9 strook, 6–7 strooke, 6 stroock, stroucke, Sc. struke, struik(e, 7 strucke, 7– struck; γ. 4 strek, 5 streke; δ. 7 stricke; ε. weak forms 4 striked, 4–6 stryked, 6 stryckt. pa. tense pl. 1 stricon, 2–3 striken. pa. pple. α. 1 stricen, 4 strikyn, 4–6 stryken, -yn, (4 -yne), 4–7 striken, 5 strikon, strynken (sic), strikyne, Sc. strikine, 5–6 strikin, strykin, 6 strykowen, stirkin, north. streikenne, Sc. strakin, 7 strake; β. 4 y-strike, 3–4 strike, 5 stryke; γ. 4 Sc. strekine, 4–6 streken, 5–6 strekyn(e, (5 stregun), 6 strek(k)in; δ. 5 strikkyn, stryckyn, 5–6 strikken, -in, 6 ystricken (arch.), strycken, strickin, -yn, 6– stricken; ε. 6 strycke, stricke; ζ. 5 Sc. strukkin, 6 Sc. struiken, stru(c)kne, strukin, strukned, strokin, 6–7 stroken, strooken, struken, strocken, (6 strockin), 7 stroaken, stroocken, 6–9 strucken, (6 -in); 6–7 stroke, strook(e, 6 strock, 7 stroake, strucke, 7– struck; η. 4–6 striked, 5 stryked.
[A Com. WGer. strong verb: OE. strícan, pa. tense strác, pl. stricon, pa. pple. stricen, corresponds to OFris. strîka, MLG. strîken, (M)Du. strijken, OHG. strîhhan (MHG. strîchen, mod.G. streichen str. vb.; the weak vb. streichen corresponds to stroke v.) to pass lightly over a surface, to go, rove, wander, to stroke, rub, beat, f. OTeut. *strīk- (:—*straik-: *strik-; for examples of these grades of the root see stroke n., streak n.1, strickle):—Indogermanic *streig- (:—*stroig-: *strig-) found in L. stringĕre to touch lightly, graze (radically distinct from stringĕre to bind, tighten), strigilis strigil, OSl. strigą I shear (Russ. strigu, inf. striči).
A distinct, but prob. ultimately connected root of similar meaning, OTeut. *streuk- (: *strauk-: *struk-):—Indogermanic *streug-: *stroug-: *strug-, is found in ON. striúka str. vb. (Sw. stryka, Da. stryge) to stroke, rub, OHG. strûhhôn, strûhhên (MHG. strûchen) to strike against something, stumble. It has been suggested by Hirt that the parallel roots may have arisen from ablaut modification of an original *streyeweg.]
I.
1. intr. To make one's way, go. In early use chiefly poet. In later use, chiefly with adv. (forth, forward, over) or phrase indicating the direction. Obs. exc. arch.
c1200Ormin 14804, & Godess follc strac inn anan Uppo þe driȝȝe sandess, To flen fra Faraon þe king. c1205Lay. 9318 Hamun him to strac. a1225Leg. Kath. 732 Comen alle strikinde, þe strengest te swiðest of eauer euch strete. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 67 Twei stokkes þer stondeþ but stunt þou not þere,..stryk forþ bi hem boþe. 1377Ibid. B. Prol. 183 A mous..Stroke forth sternly and stode biforn hem alle. a1400King & Hermit 83 Ȝyff i stryke into a pytte, Hors and man myȝht spylle. a1400–50Wars Alex. (Dubl.) 826* To poliponenses hase he passed..And so was strykyn or he styntyd in-to þe strange realm. c1440Sir Degrev. 1640 The stede stert over a fosse And strykys astray. c1460Vrbanitatis 49 in Babees Bk., To þe beste morselle þou may not stryke Thowȝ þou neuur so welle hit lyke. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 66 Neuertheles he..stryked forth thurgh alle the folke til he cam in to the place where the Kynge him self was. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) Luke viii. 22 And he went vp into a boate, and his disciples, and he said to them, Let vs strike ouer the lake. 1599George a Greene iv. iv. 951 George. But what are these come trasing here along? Bettris. Three men come striking through the corne, My loue. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. x. 13. 118 [It was extraordinary] for them [sc. locusts]..to come in the spring,..whereas they vsually do strike ouer into other countries in haruest. 1641Tatham Distracted State iv. i. (1651) 20 When you have done the Deed Strike towards the Back stairs. 1699Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1714) Journ. to Euphrates 4 Their way to cross is, by drawing up the Boat..and then with wretched Oars stricking over. 1883Stevenson Silverado Sq. (1886) 43 The Jews were not long of striking forward.
†b. of inanimate things. Also with up. Obs.
a1000Boeth. Metr. xx. 140 [Se rodor] striceð ymbutan [i.e. revolves round the earth] ufane & neoðane, efenneah ᵹehwæþer. a1225Juliana 59 Ha bigon to broken al as þat istelede irn strac hire in ouer al. 13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 125 Al songe to loue þat gay Iuelle, Þe steuen moȝt stryke þurȝ þe vrþe to helle. a1400–50Wars Alex. 1415 Strykis vp of þe stoure stanes of engynes. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 26 The reik that strake vp in the aire.
†c. Of a stream (of water, blood, tears): To run, flow. Also with down, adown. Obs.
a1225Leg. Kath. 2479, & strikeð a stream ut of þat stanene þruh þat ha in resteð. a1225St. Marher. 5 The let blod barst ut ant strac adun of hire bodi. a1240Ureisun in O.E. Hom. I. 189 Þe ilke fif wallen þet of þi blisfulle bodi sprungen and strike dun strondes of blod. c1320Castel of Love 729 A welle..Wiþ foure stremes þat strikeþ wel, And erneþ vppon þe grauel. c1386Chaucer Prioress' T. 222 (Corpus MS.) His salte teeres stryked doun as reyn. a1450Octavian (Camb. MS.) 426 A welle feyre welle there they sye Come strykyng ouyr a stone.
†d. In immaterial sense: To go, pass (into a condition). Obs.
to be stricken in years: see stricken pa. pple. and ppl. a.
c1350Will Palerne 2981 Þere þat semli ladi..strek in-to a styf studie of hire sterne sweuen. Ibid. 4038.
2. To proceed in a new direction; to make an excursion; to turn in one's journey across, down, over, into, to, etc. Also with aside, in, off, out.
1615G. Sandys Trav. 202 To avoid them, we strucke out of the way. 1669N. Morton New Eng. Mem. (1910) 32 They recovered themselves, and having the flood with them, struck into the harbour. 1681R. Knox Hist. Ceylon 162 We left the Road, and struck into the Woods. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 3 Here we began to drop the rest of our Company, some striking East for the Streights. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 230 A French Privateer came up the English Road, and passed by our Fleet, narrowly viewing it, and struck in to Sea again. 1709Mrs. Manley Secret Mem. I. 20 Let us strike down that Walk, and it brings us to the Palace. 1711Swift Jrnl. Stella 7 July, It began raining, and I struck into Mrs. Vanhomrigh's, and dined. 1785S. Fielding Ophelia II. xvii, I should..go..into Oxfordshire, and then strike into the western road. 1845Darwin Voy. Nat. xiv. (1879) 294 At Chonchi we struck across the island, following intricate winding paths. 1872Jenkinson Guide Eng. Lakes (1879) 106 When the wall begins to descend, strike to the right along a green path. 1872Black Adv. Phaeton x. 144 Instead of going by Pershore, we had struck away northward. 1877A. B. Edwards Up Nile x. 279 Leaving the tombs, we now strike off towards the quarries.
fig.1575Gascoigne Philomene Ep. Ded., I changed my copy, and stroke ouer into the Deprofundis which is placed amongst my other Poesies. 1618in Foster Eng. Factories India (1906) 9 He stricks into another course and embargues all the hearbe into his hands. 1748W. Melmoth Fitzosborne Lett. lvi. (1749) II. 78 A strange disposition..to tread the same paths that have been traversed by others, or to strike out into the most devious extravagancies. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. i. viii, The hapless course they struck into. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. iii. 66 He even strikes off into a wild levity and startling humour at times.
b. of inanimate things, esp. of a road, or stream.
1584B. R. tr. Herodotus ii. 94 b, Albeit there be another way also tendinge to the same place, strykinge ouer by the Neb of Delta. 1815Kidd Geol. Ess. xxii. 218 The Gulph Stream..strikes off to the E. and S.E. towards Africa. 1883‘Holme Lee’ Loving & Serving II. vii. 118 A bridle road..struck into the fields. 1894Speaker 2 June 610/1 Other roads striking off on every side into the forest.
fig.1850Tait's Mag. XVII. 78/1 Their hostility strikes out into many ramifications, but it is not difficult to trace all these to the parent root.
c. Of a boundary, path, mountain-range, etc.: To take a (specified) direction, esp. with reference to the points of the compass.
1456Regist. de Aberbrothoc (Bannatyne Club) II. 89 The boundis..syne strikand north our betwen the proper landis of Arbroth and the commoun. 1585Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 415/1 Passand..linallie thairfra as the commoun gait strikis ewin eist to the calsay and brig of the Bow. 1833J. Davidson Brit. & Rom. Rem. Axminster 73 That branch of the Fosse-way which, striking off at Watergrove, advances in a south-westerly direction. 1839Murchison Silur. Syst. i. xxxvi. 493 A narrow quartzose ride..extends..in a line striking from 15° W. of N., to 15° E. of S. 1881Proc. R. Geog. Soc. (N.S.) III. 31 To the west of the Town, a range of hills strikes southerly.
d. trans. to strike a line or path, to take a direction or course of movement.
1867Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Ser. ii. III. ii. 666 They struck a line across the estuary of the Wash. 1890A. Gissing Village Hampden II. x. 213 They struck their path across the fields. 1892Field 26 Nov. 805/3 We decide to strike a bee line across country.
II. To stroke, rub lightly, smooth, level.
3. trans. To go over lightly with an instrument, the hand, etc.; to stroke, smooth; to make level. Also with down, out, over. Also absol. Now dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.).
c1000Sax. Leechd. III. 30 Mid wætere ne þwea ac strice hy mid claðe clæne. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11192 Þenne come chaumberleyns & squiers, Wiþ riche robes..To folde, to presse, & to pyke, & somme to hange, & som to strike. c1380Sir Ferumb. 244 Þat gode hors blessede he þo & louely strek ys mane. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 280 Youre hed ne bak ye claw.., ne youre heere ye stryke. 1481Caxton Reynard (Arb.) 38 Where his footspore stood, there stryked he with his tayl and make it smothe with his mouth that noman shold espye it. 14..in Archæologia IV. 312 The warderoper to delyver the second sheete unto two yomen, they to crosse it over theyr arme, and to stryke the bedde as the ussher shall more playnly shewe unto theym. 1494in Househ. Ord. (1790) 122 And the esquires to gather the sheete round together in their hand on eyther side the bedd, and goe to the bedd's head and strike downe the same twice or thrice as they come downe. 15..in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 308 Sum strykis down a threid bair cheik For luve. 1525tr. Brunswyke's Handywork Surg. lxv. O iij, Take hede that y⊇..foote stande vp ryght, and you with your flat hande ouer the fracture stryke so that ye about nor vnder fele none vneuen place. 1530Palsgr. 739/2, I stryke, I make smothe, japlanis. Stryke over this paper. Ibid., I stryke ones heed, as we do a chyldes whan he dothe well. 1548Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 226 b, He hauyng a great gray beard, striked out his beard and sayd to the hangman [etc.]. 1558T. Phaer æneid viii. (1562) Cc j b, A she wolfe..them swetely lyckt reforming soft their limmes, & soft wt tong them smothly stryckt. 1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 81 More stroken and made of when ought it doo aile, More gentle ye make it, for yoke or the paile. 1579Rice Invect. agst. Vices I ij b, He shall strike your heades, and make very muche of you.
†b. To shave. Obs.
c1205Lay. 20303 Baldulf lette striken [c 1275 strike] to þan bare lichen his bærd and his chinne.
c. To rub gently, stroke (a diseased part), by way of charm, or with the application of a salve. Obs. exc. dial. (see Eng. Dial. Dict.). Also, † to strike one's hand over (a part).
1400Brut 229 And a drope of dry bloode and smal sande cleued on his honde, and þerwiþ he striked his eyne. 1611Bible 2 Kings v. 11 He will..strike [1885 (Revised) wave] his hand ouer the place, and recouer the leper. 1886W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v., The ordinary specific for a stye in the eye is ‘to strike it three times with a wedding-ring’. 1892Cornhill Mag. Sept. 236 People came to her to have their swellings struck.
†d. To scrape or skim off. Also, ? to skim (a liquid). Obs.
c1430Two Cookery-bks. i. 27 Take þan a clene canvas, & caste þe mylke vppe-on, & with a platere stryke it of þe cloþe. 1587Harrison England ii. vi. 169/2 in Holinshed, She returneth the middle woort vnto the furnace, where it is striken ouer. Ibid. 170/1 She..seetheth againe with a pound and an halfe of new hops,..& when it hath sodden..she striketh it also.
†4. To smear (soap, blood, etc.) on a surface; also to spread (a surface) with (something); to coat (a surface) over with oil, a wash, etc. Obs.
14..in Rel. Ant. I. 108 To make murrour bryȝt. Stryke wel theron blak sope. 1525tr. Brunswyke's Handywork Surg. lxi. O j, Take powder as hereafter foloweth medled with y⊇ whyte of an egge, and stryke it vpon a clothe lyke a plaster. Ibid. lxv. O ij b, The clothe must be wel stryken on the one syde with the salue. 1530Palsgr. 739/1, I hade as lefe stryke my breed with butter as with hony. 1535Coverdale Exod. xii. 7 And they shal take of his bloude, and stryke it on both the syde postes of the dore. [So 1611; Heb., LXX, and Vulgate have simply ‘put’; Luther bestreichen, which Coverdale prob. followed.] 1577Harrison England ii. x. 84 b/2 in Holinshed, Whyte lime..wher⁓with we stricke ouer our clay workes & stone walles, in Citties. 1596Thomasius Dict. (1606), Moretum, A kinde of pudding; also any thing that may be striked, as butter. 1640T. Brugis Marrow of Physicke ii. 141 Take it [your Marmalade] from the fire, and fill your Boxes, and with a feather strike it over with Rosewater. 1687J. Smith Art Painting xix. (ed. 2) 89 With a Pencil dipt in clear Wallnut-Oyl..let the printed Paper be struck clean over on both sides. 1793Smeaton Edystone L. §328 A couple of men with brushes, struck over the surface..with raw Linseed oil. 1799G. Smith Laboratory I. 265 Take smooth-planed pear⁓tree wood, strike it over with aqua fortis.
5. To make (grain, etc.) level with the rim of the measure by passing a strickle over it. Also with object the measure. Also to strike off.
14..Tretyce in Walter of Henley's Husb. (1890) 50 Se þt yor corne be mesured withe..a trewe bushell & þat euery bushell be strekyn. 1474[see strike n. 3]. 1543tr. Act 25 Edw. III Stat. 4 c. 10, 32 And euery measure of corne shalbe stryked without hepe. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 104 When wee sende our corne to mill, wee allwayes strike all cleane of; yett the use is in most places to handwave it..; but the millers will say that they had as leave have corn stricken, as soe handwaved. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 68 Strike off the heaped Powder. 1697View Penal Laws 338 If Head Officers of Cities..wilfully suffer any to sell Corn..by other Measure, or Strucken in other manner. 1878Act 41 & 42 Vict. c. 49 §17 In using an imperial measure of capacity, the same shall not be heaped but either shall be stricken with a round stick,..or [etc.]. 1892Field 2 Apr. 469/3 The somewhat delicate operation of gently filling the bushel measure, striking it, and then weighing the oats.
b. To level (sand) in moulding. Also with up.
1779Ann. Reg., Projects 103/1 The sand should be struck smooth with an hollow rule. 1885[Horner] Pattern Making 40 The moulder..stikes over a bed of hard rammed sand representing the top of the boss. Ibid. 67 Being plastic when in the wet state it [foundry loam] can be ‘struck up’, or made to assume any shape that may be required.
†6. To mould (wax, a taper, candle, etc.). Obs.
1485Churchw. Acc. St. Dunstan's, Canterb., For strykyng of the pascall and the font taper ijs. iij d. For strykyng of x li of olde torche waxe x d. 1492–3Rec. St. Mary at Hill 188 Payd to Roger Mydylton for strekyng of xiijxxll and xvj of waxe. 1526Churchw. Acc. Dunmow (MS.) fol. 4 b, Item, for strykynge of the lyght..att the hy alter. 1527Ibid. 6 b, Item, for strekynge of the Rode lyght, xiiid. 1546in Archæol. Cant. (1874) IX. 225 Payd to Holnesse for strekyng of the crosse lygth & the paschall & for strekyng of ij li. of small candles, iij s. iiij d. 1547Ibid. 226 Item payd for strycking of the olde & new waxe at Ester, xv d. Ibid., Item payd for strykynge of ij li. of small candyll that wase of the passkoll, ij d. 1555Ibid. 231 Item ffor strikinge of the same waxe, iiij d.
7. To mould (a brick or tile).
1683J. Houghton Collect. Lett. Improv. Husb. II. vi. 188 With the Earth he forms a Brick, strikes it, and lays it upon the Pallat. 1736Neve Build. Dict. (ed. 3) s.v. Brick G 2 b/2 The mould [of a stock-brick] is put on a Stock, after the Manner of moulding, or strikeing of Tiles. Ibid., And so they continue to strike and place them on the Stage.
8. Bricklaying. To level up (a joint) with mortar; to spread (mortar) along a joint. (Cf. 4.)
1668Leybourn Build. Guide ii. 109 And here note, That the Barge Courses in any Building must be struck with Lime and hair Mortar. 1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 169 Pointing, (which is striking Mortar under the lower ends). 1833Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1596 Strike the joints inside of the schoolrooms flush and fair for lime-whiting.
b. To cut off the superfluous mortar from the edges of (tiling).
1693Moxon Mech. Exerc. (1703) 248 A piece of Lath..with which they strike, or cut off the Morter at the britches of the Tiles. Ibid., A Broome, to sweep the Tyling after 'tis strooke. 1842Gwilt Encycl. Archit. §1908.
9. Tanning. To smooth and expand (skins). Also to strike out.
1764Museum Rust. III. 54 Mr. Brookfield, tanner, reported, the specimens exhibited were well tanned, and thoroughly struck. 1845Dodd Brit. Manuf. Ser. v. 193 The goat-skins, after being thoroughly washed, are..‘struck’, that is scraped and rubbed out as smooth as possible. Ibid., The drying in the loft has had the effect of shrivelling the skins..to obviate which, the skins are wetted, and ‘struck out’, or smoothed again. 1897C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather xxiii. (ed. 2) 364 The skins..are next ‘struck out’ on mahogany tables... A steel ‘slicker’ is used for this operation.
10. Carpentry. To fashion (moulding) with a plane: = stick v.1 18 c. [So Du. strijken.]
1842Gwilt Archit. Gloss., Striking... Another application of the word occurs in the practice of joinery, to denote the act of running a moulding with a plane. 1854Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. ii. 456 A beaded moulding to be struck on each of the angles of the under sides of rafters.
III. To mark with lines, draw a line.
Cf. OE. bestrícan ‘to make a stroke round’ (B.-T. Suppl.).
†11. To mark (a surface) with a line or lines. Also to strike out, strike through. Obs.
1539Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VII. 218 Item, for calk to strik the treis witht. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 122 They new washe and plaister their houses wth in and without wch they strike out in squares like free stone. 1656Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. ii. xxiii. (1674) 171 An exquisite Card whereby to sail..struck through with lines on all parts.
†b. fig. To mark, stigmatize. Obs.
1594J. King On Jonas xiii. (1599) 177 Sylla: whose name shall bee striked with the blackest cole of infamie in all the ages of the worlde.
12. To draw (a straight line) esp. by mechanical means; to draw (a circle, an arc) with compasses. In wider sense, † to make (a stroke, written mark).
1611Hopton Speculum Topogr. xxvii. 71 Placing the one foote of your compasse in g,..with the other strike the portion of the circle h i k l. 1614T. Bedwell tr. Schoner's De Num. Geom. 33 First with the iage, I strike two parallel lines. 1662W. Faithorne Graving & Etching xiv. 15 Accustome your self to strike your strokes firm and bold. 1687P. Ayres Lyric Poems (1906) 272 Since my dull pen trembles to strike a line. 1688Holme Armoury iii. 413/2 Dashes..which serve for the cutting off or shortning of words,..which all of them are strucken downwards to the foot of the Letter. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 268 The nearer the Line struck from the Perpendicular approaches to a right Angle. 1770Luckombe Hist. Printing 229 None can strike two letters of the same signification, so as..to have the same likeness. 1856R. Ferguson Northmen Cumbld. & Westmld. 199 Strike, to make a straight line by means of a string. 1875Seaton Fret Cutting 65 Take your compasses, put on a pencil point, and with it strike the semicircle as above directed. 1881Chilton-Young Ev. Man his own Mech. §375 By aid of the chalk line and reel, a perfectly straight line could be struck from E to F. 1885[Horner] Patternmaking 7 In striking special pairs of wheels, of course it is not necessary to use the same describing circle throughout.
†b. ? To interline in a list. Obs.
1639Fuller Holy War v. xxi. (1647) 265 The Reader, as he lighteth on more, at his leisure may strike them into this catalogue [of Princes].
13. To cancel or expunge with or as with the stroke of a pen. Const. from, off, out (of), rarely † away; also (U.S.) without const., esp. in legal contexts, and colloq., in the imp., annulling or reversing what the speaker has just said. Also to strike (a name, a person) off or (now rarely) out of a list. Cf. strike off (82 a), strike out (83 a), strike through (84).
The pa. pple. form stricken is common in the legal examples of this sense.
to be struck off the rolls: see roll n.1 3 c.
c1386Chaucer Friar's T. 66 Thanne wolde he seye, freend, I shal for thy sake Do striken hire out of oure lettres blake. 1549Olde Erasm. Par. Eph. 6 Christ..stroke away al the difference of circumcised, and not circumcised. 1601Shakes. All's Well v. iii. 56 That thou didst loue her, strikes some scores away From the great compt. 1746H. Walpole Let. to Mann 15 Apr., Vernon is struck off the list of admirals. 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xlvii, O! could I strike from my memory all former scenes. 1829Rep. Supreme Court Tennessee (1832) IX. 229 That an attorney may be stricken from the roll for good cause, none can doubt. 1839Thackeray Fatal Boots Jan., He has struck Thomas out of his will. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. vi. II. 36 His name was struck out of the list of privy councillors. 1873P. V. Smith Hist. Eng. Inst. iii. viii. 214 A person tried for his life might..challenge and strike off the panel as many as thirty-five. 1883M. B. Betham-Edwards Disarmed ii, The first person who flouts her shall be struck off my visiting list. 1891Field 7 Nov. 701/3 [List of] Horses struck out of their engagements. 1906Federal Reporter (1907) CXLVII. 451 All of the testimony given by the witness..is withdrawn and stricken out of this case. 1915Southwestern Reporter CLXXV. 661/1 No further steps..were taken in the case until the February term, 1904, of the Magoffin circuit court, when it was stricken from the docket. 1938Congress Rec. 24 May 7405/2 That the Committee do..report the bill back to the House with the recommendation that the enacting clause be stricken out. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 19 July 4/2 The Convention..voted 132 to 49, to strike that section from the Constitution.
1957Reports Supreme Court Kansas (1958) CLXXXI. 623 In our opinion the reply was erroneously stricken. 1965Pacific Reporter CCCCIV. 230/2 Where..a second clause appears which expresses a different intent and declares a life estate plus a remainder which is void under the rule, the qualifying clause will be stricken. 1973N.Y. Law Jrnl. 31 Aug. 19/2 Motion to strike the statement of readiness is granted. 1978N.Y. Times 29 Mar. b3/4 Over strong objections from the prosecutor, Sybil R. Moses, Judge William J. Arnold ordered the question stricken.
1963R. I. McDavid Mencken's Amer. Lang. xi. 754 In television we might note mark it and strike it, directions to stage hands to chalk out the position for scenery and then rub out the mark for the next set. 1976R. M. Stern Will i. ii. 17 Do you..believe that the crash was not an accident? Strike that. We will look into it with an open mind. 1977H. Greene FSO-1 ii. 16, I don't give a damn what the congressman says. Strike that: I do give a damn.
b. Phr. to strike (a medical practitioner, etc.) off the register: to remove (that person's name) from the register of qualified practitioners and thereby forbid him or her to practise. Usu. pass.
1911G. B. Shaw Doctor's Dilemma p. xciii, Execute the doctor, if necessary, as a doctor, by striking him off the register. 1936A. Christie Cards on Table xvi. 157, I heard him say he'd get Dr. Roberts struck off the—Medical Register, would it be? 1951‘E. Crispin’ Long Divorce xvi. 199 We can and shall get him struck off the register.
14. To form (a jury) by cancelling a certain number of names from the list of persons nominated to serve; similarly, to form (a committee), to make (a new register of voters).
1715Lond. Gaz. No. 5389/2 The Clerk of the Crown was required to strike a Jury for his Tryal. 1768Blackstone Comm. III. vi. 83 That twelve freeholders of that hundred, qualified to serve on juries, and struck by the sheriff, shall be summoned to appear at such court by rotation. 1821Examiner 321/1 Let us suppose the Jury to be struck with perfect fairness and impartiality. [1823Ibid. 323/1 Out of the 48 persons first nominated, each party, after due inquiry, strike twelve—leaving 24, of whom the first 12 called (who attend) form the actual jury.] 1877Cox Cases Crim. Law (1878) XIII. 646 The case was tried by a special jury of the city of Dublin, struck under the old system. 1892Graphic 9 Apr. 455/2 If the General Election fell at any date after the 31st of July, when the new Register is struck. 1896Daily News 17 Dec. 4/7 The Committee was struck late in the summer, and did not meet till the 15th of August.
15. To make or cut (a tally). See tally n.1 1 b.
1626[see tally n.1 1 b]. 1634B. Jonson Loves Welcome Bolsover Wks. 1640 II. 284 We ha' cleft the bough, And struck a tallie of our loves, too, now. 1644Docq. Lett. Patent at Oxf. (1837) 392 To deliuer back the Tallies strucken for the same as aforesaid vncancelled. c1645Howell Lett. vi. xxxii. (1650) I. 220, I reconcile my self to my Creator, and strike a tally in the Exchequer of Heaven for my quietus est, ere I close my eyes. 1695–6Act 7 & 8 Will. III, c. 30 §38 Several Tallies..have been also levied or stricken att the Receipt of the Exchequer upon His Majesties said Revenue ariseing in the General Letter-Office.
16. Agric. To mark off (land, a ridge) by ploughing once up and down the field (also with down, up); to make (furrows) in this manner (also with out); also absol.
1573–80Tusser Husb. (1878) 128 Thry fallow once ended, go strike by and by. 1707Mortimer Husb. 45 You must not let it lie long before you strick, size, or plow it up into small Ridges. 1789Trans. Soc. Arts. I. 123 To striking said fields, seventeen acres. 1834D. Low Elem. Pract. Agric. 146 The first operation in the forming of ridges is striking the furrows. 1844H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 465 The first process in ridging up land from the flat surface is called feering or striking the ridges. 1844Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 5 These [ridges]..are..struck down with two furrows. 1845Ibid. VI. ii. 287 Cost of cultivation [of hops]..Striking up and furrowing, 0 5 0. 1846Ibid. VII. i. 41 This land..is again ploughed across..in the manner we term striking, or back-bouting. This is done by turning one furrow to the land, and in returning to turn over this furrow, and the furrow or earth on which it was laid.
b. To make (a row of holes) with a dibble.
1797A. Young Agric. Suffolk (ed. 2) 48 A man, walking backwards on the flag,..with a dibber of iron..in each hand, strikes two rows of holes..on each flag. 1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 475 A one-horse roll then follows to level the flag, or furrow, for the dibblers, who strike only one row upon each.
IV. To lower (sails, masts), and derived senses.[Sense 17 is in (M)LG. and (M)Du. and in mod.G.; it therefore cannot be a derivative from branch V, which is specially English. The actual development is uncertain; possibly the sense may be pre-Teut.: cf. L. stringĕre to strip off (leaves, etc.).] 17. Naut. To lower or take down (a sail, mast, yard, etc.); esp. to lower (the topsail) as a salute and (more rarely) as a sign of surrender in an engagement. Phrase, to strike sail. to strike a hull (see a-hull 1867). Also to strike down.
a1300K. Horn 1013 (Camb.) Hi strike seil & maste & Ankere gunne caste. 1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iv. 80 For ne had þei striked a strake and sterid hem þe better, And abated a bonet or þe blast come. c1440Bone Flor. 1864 Then beganne the storme to ryse,..They stroke the sayle. 1524Inform. Pilgr. Holy Land (Roxb.) c iv b, So they saylled forth..& neuer stryked saylle tyll they came to port Iaffe. 1590Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 42 Now strike your sailes ye iolly Mariners, For we be come vnto a quiet rode. c1594Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 13 By that they had some 3 peeces bestowed on them they stroke saile, yealdinge themselves unto the mercie of our Generall. 1601Weever Mirr. Mart. B vj b, They vaile their bonnet low, And strike their top-saile in submissiue dutie. 1611Bible Acts xxvii. 17 They vsed helps,..and fearing lest they should fall into the quicke-sands, strake saile, and so were driuen. 1626Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 28 Strike your top masts to the cap. 1627― Sea Gram. xii. 56 He must..strike a Hull that you may not descry him by his sailes. 1630Wadsworth Pilgr. ii. 8 The Marriners stroke Saile and submitted. 1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 104 So when we take downe the top-masts, they say, Strike them downe. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 296 Both Ships struck their Yards and Top masts. 1762–9Falconer Shipwr. ii. 257 Now some, to strike top-gallant-yards attend. 1768Ann. Reg. 92 A body of sailors..proceeded..to Sunderland.., and at the cross there read a paper, setting forth their grievances... After this they went on board the several ships in that harbour, and struck (lowered down) their yards, in order to prevent them from proceeding to sea. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xii, Fain to strike the galley's yard, And take them to the oar. 1840R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxii, The royal-yards were then struck. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. II. xxi. 181 His maintopmast was struck, that is, sent down on deck. 1894C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 179 The custom of ‘striking’ or lowering a sail [as a salute] has almost died out.
in figurative phrases.1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 117 Nowe would I of my boke haue made an ende, And with my ship drawen to some hauen or port, Striken my sayle. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iii. iii. 5 Now Margaret Must strike her sayle, and learne a while to serue, Where Kings command. 1680–90Temple Ess. Pop. Discont. Wks. 1731 I. 270 To this, all differing Opinions, Passions and Interests should strike Sail. 1733Pope Sat. Donne iv. 231 He boarding her, she striking sail to him.
b. To haul down (a flag), esp. as a salute or as a sign of surrender. Chiefly in the phrases to strike (the) flag, to strike one's colours. Also to strike one's flag (said of an admiral): see flag n.4 2.
1628Digby Voy. Mediterr. (Camden) 42 Because I did not strike flag nor do other ceremonies of dutie. 1666–7Pepys Diary 4 Mar., He hears that the Dutch..will have a promise of not being obliged to strike the flag to us before they will treat with us. 1676Lond. Gaz. No. 1077/4 Three Ostend Privateers..fired several Guns at him,..to make him strike his Colours. 1692Capt. Smith's Seaman's Gram. i. xvi. 77 To lower or strike the Flag, is to pull it down upon the Cap, and in Fight is a token of yielding; but otherwise of great respect. 1747J. Lind Lett. Navy (1757) I. 31 If an admiral be killed, the instructions forbid his flag to be struck, for fear of discouraging the fleet. 1799Hull Advertiser 6 July 1/4 Admiral Lord Bridport struck his flag last evening. 1802C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., To strike the colours. This is properly a naval term, but it may be applied to military matters on some occasions. 1867J. T. Headley Farragut & Nav. Commanders 492 He..on the 12th of next month struck his flag as admiral of the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
fig.1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Good for N. xiii. I. 162, I thought he seemed very much smitten with the young lady. You know he is not very susceptible, so when he does strike his flag, it is all the greater compliment. 1875F. T. Buckland Log-Book 141 The mouse..would have to fight and not strike his colours to a scorpion as he would to a cat.
c. absol. To lower sail, haul down one's flag; esp. to lower the topsails or haul down the flag or colours as a sign of surrender or as a salute.
1390Gower Conf. III. 338 Thei hadden wynd at wille tho, With topseilcole and forth they go, And striken nevere, til thei come To Tyr. 1449Paston Lett. I. 85, I cam abord the Admirall, and bade them stryke in the Kyngys name of Englond. a1578Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 185 The day befoir the schip strak in the raid of Leyth. 1617in J. S. Corbett Fighting Instr. (1905) 39 If you give chase and being near a ship you shall shoot to make her strike. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine s.v. Sail (1780) K k 2 b, All foreign vessels strike to an English man of war in the British seas. 1814Niles' Weekly Reg. 19 Nov. 174/2 The Avon had not struck, but was reported to have had her colors nailed to the mast. 1836Marryat Midsh. Easy xxx, The second lieutenant was deputed to pull alongside of the frigate to ascertain if she had struck. 1886Henty Yarns on Beach 84 Captain Ball..reported that the fort with which he was engaged had struck.
fig.1593Shakes. Rich. II, ii. i. 266 We see the winde sit sore vpon our sailes, And yet we strike not, but securely perish. 1601B. Jonson Poetaster iii. iv, What, will he saile by, and not once strike, or vaile to a Man of warre? ha? 1749Smollett Gil Blas v. i. (1782) II. 161, I thought myself the first man in the world, but truely I strike to you. 1886Stevenson Dr. Jekyll i, He would have clearly liked to stick out; but there was something about the lot of us that meant mischief, and at last he struck.
18. trans.
a. Naut. To lower (a thing) into the hold by means of a rope and tackle. Chiefly to strike down (also absol.). Also, to strike out, to hoist out from the hold and lower to the dock.
1644H. Manwayring Seamans Dict. 104 When we lower any thing into the howld with the tackles or any other roape, we call it Striking-down into Howld. 1748Anson's Voy. i. v. 56 Each Captain had orders..to strike down some of their great guns into the hold. 1850H. Melville White Jacket I. xxxvii. 242 To the..consternation of the sailors, an order now came from the quarter-deck to ‘strike the strangers down into the main-hold!’ c1860H. Stuart Seaman's Catech. 71 The fore hatchway, for striking down or hoisting up stores in the fore part of the ship. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Strike down! the order to lower casks, &c., into the hold. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. II. xxi. 181 He had struck the long gun forward down below.
†b. gen. To lower, let down with a rope.
1547in J. R. Boyle Hedon (1875) App. 135 Item, for strykyng the greatte stee, ij. d. 1595Strange Things R. Hasleton in Arber Garner VIII. 380 And by it [sc. the rope] did I strike myself over the wall into the town ditch.
†c. To let down the rope or chain of (a crane). Also to strike down (see quot. 1778). Obs.
1530Palsgr. 739/2, I stryke, I let downe the crane, je lache... Stryke lowe. 1778Pryce Min. Cornub. Expl. Terms 329/1 Strîk, to strîk or streeck down, or strike down; is to let a man down in a Shaft by the windlass.
19. Building.
a. To remove (scaffolding); in trench-work, to remove (the timbers with which the sides have been secured).
b. To remove (the centre or centering of an arch).
a.1694Evelyn Diary 5 Oct., The choir, now finish'd as to the stone work, and the scaffolds struck both without and within, in that part. 1768–74Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 107 If we consider religion only as the scaffolding of reason;..any one..may see that it is much too early to strike the scaffolding yet. 1821Corr. W. Fowler (1907) 406 The angels..will want painting..that may be done at any time with a ladder if you must strike the scaffold before they are ready. 1868Milman St. Paul's xiv. 347 On striking the scaffolding, part of the south transept..came down.
b.1739C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 43 The..Arches..would have been in..Danger of falling the Moment the Centers that supported them..should be struck. Ibid. 45 They attempted to strike down the Centers, on which they had turned the Arches. 1838Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 127/1 Upon striking the centering the arches followed from 1 inch and 3/4 to 2 inches and 3/4. 1883Specif. Alnwick & Cornhill Rlwy. 4 The string courses..are not to be put on until the centres are struck.
20. Shipbuilding. To cause (a vessel) to slide down, off (the slipway); to release (a boat from the cradle).
a1647in Archæologia XII. 259 Being ready to have the ship strucken down upon her ways, I caused twelve of the choice master carpenters..to be sent for from Chatham. 1892Field 26 Nov. 825/2 She is hauled up on their large patent slipway and struck off the cradle.
21. To discharge (a load); to empty (a vessel) of its load.
1627Capt. Smith Sea Gram. vii. 33 When you let any thing downe into the Howle, lowering it by degrees, they say, Amaine; and being downe, Strike. 1797J. Curr Coal Viewer 12 The modes I have invented of striking, or landing and emptying them [sc. corves]. 1901Law Jrnl. Rep. LXX. Chanc. Div. 680/2 The operation known as striking the casks—that is, discharging the vans with the load.
absol.1702Post Man 12–14 Mar. 2/2 Advt., Lost on the Key, or by error delivered a Pipe of..Wine..which is wanted out of a parcel of Wines taken up by Josiah Bishop,..who ordered the Carmen to strike in Cullumstreet near Ipswich Arms.
b. Sugar-boiling. To empty (the liquor, the tache).
1793B. Edwards Hist. Brit. Col. W. Indies v. ii. II. 235 This operation is usually called striking; i.e. lading the liquor, now exceedingly thick, into the cooler. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 1203 The thermometer.. can by no means be regarded as a sure guide, in determining the proper instant for striking the teache. 1882Spons' Encycl. Industr. Arts etc. v. 1891 If, after a moment's cooling, the sling can be formed into a ball which does not stick to the fingers,..the correct period has arrived for striking.
22. To let down (a tent) for removal; to remove the tents of (a camp or encampment).
1707Lond. Gaz. No. 4337/2 The Enemy..struck their Tents, and form'd in Line of Battle. 1825Scott Talism. xxii, The pavilion which they had left, was..struck with singular dispatch. 1829C. Rose Four Yrs. S. Africa 167 At the first dawn of day, all was in motion;..some striking the tent, yoking the oxen, and saddling the horses. 1854F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (ed. 6) 148 To strike the Encampment..at the word Strike Tents, and Pickets, the pickets are struck at once; the tents and marquees prepared for striking... At the word Down, the whole are lowered together. 1891Field 26 Dec. 973/2 Next morning we struck camp and turned homewards.
23. To unfix, put out of use.
1793Ann. Reg., Chron. 53 Bath. This day the whole body of chairmen..struck their poles, and proceeded in a mutinous manner to Guildhall, respecting the granting of their licenses. [1821–6: see 24 b.] 1840Dickens Old C. Shop xxvi, The steps [of the caravan] being struck by George and stowed under the carriage, away they went. 1851W. Bolland Cricket Notes iv. 67 Arrange, before your game commences, the hour for dinner, and striking wickets.
b. Theatr. To remove (a scene); to remove the scenery, etc. of (a play); to turn down (a light).
1889Daily Tribune (N.Y.) 14 July, in Cent. Dict. s.v. set1 9, An elaborate scene is ‘set’ when it is arranged upon the stage, and ‘struck’ when it is removed. 1891Pall Mall Gaz. 5 Dec. 1/3 It took twelve hours of work by a very large staff to ‘strike’ ‘Ivanhoe’ and mount ‘La Basoche’. 1893Black & White Christm. No. 7/1 Stage suddenly dark. Gas ballens and limes slowly up. Strike all gas lengths.
c. Hawking. (See quot.) Cf. unstrike v.
1891Harting Bibl. Accipitr. 230 Strike the hood, to half open it, so as to be in readiness to hood off the moment the hawk is to be flown.
24. intr. Of an employee: To refuse to continue work; esp. of a body of employees, to cease working by agreement among themselves or by order of their society or union.
For the origin of this sense cf. quot. 1768 in sense 17 and quot. 1793 in sense 23.
1768Ann. Reg. 107 [May 9th] This day the hatters struck, and refused to work till their wages are raised. 1793G. Dyer Compl. Poor People Eng. 74 The poor..seldom strike, as it is called, without good reason... The colliers had struck for more wages. 1801Times 3 Aug., A number of Journeymen Biscuit-bakers..struck from their work for an increase of wages. 1840Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl. III. 32/2 They ‘struck’, as it is termed, because their employer infringed, as they considered, upon their privileges. 1857Hughes Tom Brown i. viii, The fifth form would fag us, and I and some more struck. 1892Sat. Rev. 2 Jan. 10/1 The London omnibus men struck in a body.
b. More explicitly to strike work, † strike tools (cf. sense 23). Also with particular kind of work as obj.
1803Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) I. xi. 376, I never heard of authors striking work, as the mechanics call it, until their masters the booksellers should increase their pay. 1820Croker in C. Papers (1884) I. vi. 176 The regiment intended to strike work, as the tradesmen would say. 1821–6Chalmers Wks. (c 1840) XVI. 69 If..the artisans of any establishment should strike their tools. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. vi. i, Thus do Cabinet-ministers themselves, in extreme cases, strike work. 1878Trollope Is he Popenjoy? III. xix. 251 She had on one occasion threatened to strike lecturing. 1891Law Times' Rep. LXV. 580/1 The secretaries called off their respective union men, who in obedience to the call struck work.
transf.1806–7J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) x. lxi, The machinery of the window sash abruptly striking work. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 56 The liver can ‘strike work’ and refuse to secrete bile.
c. trans. Of a workmen's society or union: To order a strike of workmen against (a firm); to order (a body of workmen) to strike. Also in wider but analogous contexts. Now only N. Amer.
1891Daily News 31 Dec. 6/3 Pending the outcome, no fresh firms will be struck. 1892Bury Guardian 23 Apr. 5/5 The secretary of the Weavers' Association struck the mill on an entirely new question. 1930J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 117 She'd worry Mac about striking his boss for more pay. 1941Sun (Baltimore) 23 Sept. 12/2 Now the affected union, the Seafarers' International Union of the AFL, serves formal notice that it will strike every ship on which it has contracts. 1946Ibid. 16 Jan. 4–0/1 They [sc. students] held a mass meeting, staged a snake dance, struck their classes, and otherwise asserted themselves, in protest over the resignation of..a football coach at the university. 1950Patterson & Conrad Scottsboro Boy ii. vii. 137 Right here we struck the whole squad. No one would do any work till the question of slowing down the work was settled. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 1 Feb. b10/3 The union will strike company plants in five U.S. cities. 1978N.Y. Times 29 Mar. a20/4 Photoengravers voted 177 to 0 yesterday to strike The New York Times and The Daily News.
d. To leave off (work), e.g. at the close of the day, at meal-times. Also absol.
1890Conan Doyle Firm of Girdlestone xxx, The work went on until six, when all hands struck and went off to their homes. 1891M. E. Mann Winter's Tale II. 259 Another good hour's digging was due..before his day-labourer was justified in striking work and betaking himself homeward.
V. To deal a blow, to smite with the hand (occas. another limb), a weapon or tool.
The construction with cognate obj. (to strike a stroke, a blow) is common to most of the senses in this branch that admit of absolute or intransitive use. See blow n.1, stroke n.
25. trans. To deal (a person, an animal) a blow; to hit with some force either with the hand or with a weapon. Also with double obj. to strike (a person) a blow.
a1300Cursor M. 12429 Þe maister..Gaf iesu wit hand a strak; For he him strak wit na resun, Ded in þe place þar fell he dun. 1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 14 Al-þough þow stryke me with þi staffe with stikke or with ȝerde. 1432–50tr. Higden (Rolls) III. 283 Socrates walkenge in a cite, and strynken [sic; Trevisa evel i-smete on the heed; L. colapho percussus] of a symple felowe. 1556in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford (1880) 255 Thomas Cartwright..offered to stricke with the mase certen of the defendants. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) Matt. xxvi. 68 And other smote his face with the palmes of their hands, saying, Prophecie vnto vs O Christ: who is he that strooke thee? c1590Marlowe Faustus 896 (Brooke) Cursed be hee that strooke his holinesse a blowe on the face. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 140 Laying 'em flat on their Belly, and stricking them with a Rope across the Breech. 1725Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, 'Till he yowl'd sair she strak the poor dumb tyke. 1824Examiner 539/2 [He] struck the boy a violent blow. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xlix, You may strike me if you like, sir, or hit any cruel blow. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xxxviii, Glanydon..forgetting that he was a captive, had once struck in the face a Prætorian officer who insulted him.
b. absol. and intr. To deal or aim a blow with the fist, a stick, etc. Const. at. Also to strike back, strike out.
1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxv. (Percy Soc.) 182 He stroke at me with many strokes rude. 1530Palsgr. 739/1, I stryke at the gaynest, or at all adventures, as one dothe that is in afraye and taketh no hede where or howe he stryketh. 1579–80North Plutarch, Themistocles (1595) 129 Strike and thou wilt, said he, so thou wilt heare me. 1644–66J. Caryl Expos. Job xii. 5, 6 (1676) I. 1118 Many are striking at thy heels, but they cannot strike them up, while God holds thee up. 1678Sir G. Mackenzie Crim. Laws Scot. i. xi. §xv. (1699) 66 If by our Law, he who stricks with his Fist, or a Batton..be punishable by death. 1798Wordsw. Peter Bell i. 195 And the blows fell with heavier weight As Peter struck—and struck again. 1859Tennyson Marr. Geraint 413 His dwarf..Struck at her with his whip. 1894E. A. Haggard Drummer Boy vii, [He] was hot-blooded enough, and quite ready to strike back if struck.
26. trans. To hit, smite (a material, an object) with an implement, esp. with one designed for the purpose. Also with cogn. obj.
† In early use also with phrase expressing the result, as to strike to powder.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7018 Þe devels..with hamers gyf swa gret dyntes, Þat alle to powdre moght stryke hard flyntes. 1572Sat. Poems Reform. xxx. 163 As Quheit is strukin for [read fro] the stra besyde. 1585Higins Junius' Nomencl. 297 Flagellum,.. a battledarre wherwith the ball is striken. 1602Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. iii. (1618) 732 Fire..is forced out of the flint being stroken with a gad of steele. 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 19 [Billiards.] Wooden Boxes for the hazards..are nothing near so commendable as the former [i.e. nets], because a Ball struck hard is more apt to flie out of them when struck in. Ibid., If the head [of the cue] happen to be loose, you will never strike a smart stroke. 1744in ‘Bat’ Cricketer's Man. (1851) 31 If a ball is nipped up and he Strike her again Wilfully..its out. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. v. (1842) 153 Substances should be made red hot, and struck in that state, until they are sufficiently cracked. 1866‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiard Bk. iv. 43 A ball struck moderately hard will traverse the table three or four times from end to end.
fig.1781Cowper Table-T. 663 Wit now and then, struck smartly, shows a spark, Sufficient to redeem the modern race From total night and absolute disgrace.
b. absol. and intr. To make a stroke with a hammer or other implement; spec. in Smithing.
Phr. to strike while the iron is hot: to make one's effort while opportunity serves. Also allusively.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7013 And als smyths strykes on þe yren fast. 1530Palsgr. 740/2 The poore smyth ryseth at foure of the clocke to stryke with his hammer upon his anvelde. a1566R. Edwards Damon & Pithias (1571) C iij b, I haue plied the Haruest, and stroke when the Yron was hotte. [1575Gascoigne Glasse Govt. Wks. 1910 II. 40 Play you now the wise man, and strike the Iron whiles it is hot.] 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. 122 b, Strike upon the head of euery nayle with the hammer. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. i. 49 Strike now, or else the Iron cooles. 1615Chapman Odyss. xii. 487 He..of my present absence tooke His fit aduantage, and their iron strooke At highest heate. 1744Love Cricket (1754) 20 The Champion strikes. When scarce arriving fair, The glancing ball mounts upwards in the air. a1841T. Hook Ned Musgrave i, Taking the poker in his right hand, and striking at a large coal placed on the summit of the grate, [etc.]. 1866‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiard Bk. iii. 27 Between the thumb and forefinger you place the Cue, in taking aim before you strike. 1890W. E. Norris Misadventure II. x. 138 She struck while the iron was hot.
c. trans. to strike (a prisoner) in the boots: to crush the limbs by driving wedges between them and the iron boots as a form of torture (cf. boot n.3 3). Obs. exc. Hist.
a1715Burnet Own Time iii. (1724) I. 583 When any are to be struck in the boots, it is done in the presence of the Council. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xiii. III. 291 They..directed the magistrates of Edinburgh to strike the prisoner in the boots.
27. With complementary adv. or phrase: To remove or drive (a thing) with a blow of an implement or the hand. Cf. strike down 79 a.
Now somewhat rare; formerly common in contexts where some other vb., as knock, would now be used.
1450Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869) I. 12 The lede tane vp, and the bodome strukken owt. 1499Ibid. 75 It is statute that na persoun sell nor tap derrer beir than for xvj d. the galloun, vnder the payne of strikken furth of the heid of the barrell. a1533Ld. Berners Huon lv. 188 He..strake out braynes with the pomell of his swerd. 1567Harman Caveat 64 After halfe a dosen blowes, he strycks his staffe out of his hande. 1601Bp. W. Barlow Defence 217 After his sole and onely eie was stroken out. 1612Peacham Minerva Brit. 113 The Tennis-ball, when strucken to the ground, With Racket,..doth back againe rebound. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 357 Hee commanded my irons to bee strooke off. 1657N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. xiv. 45 Then were his teeth struck out. 1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. iii. 51 You may strike a nail in at the hole. 1678Ibid. v. 90 You may stiffen it by striking a wooden wedge between the Mortess and the Staff. 1680Reg. Privy Counc. Scot. Ser. iii. VI. 389 Udney..caused strick two old pewes out of their hinges. 1744in ‘Bat’ Cricketer's Man. (1851) 31 If in running a Notch y⊇ Wicket is struck down by a Throw..its out. Ibid., He that catches y⊇ Ball must strike a Stump out of y⊇ Ground Ball in Hand. 1797Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Old Woman's T. (1799) I. 392 [They] now prepared to strike the weapon from his hand. 1855Kingsley Westw. Ho! ix, Strike their swords down, Raleigh, Mackworth! 1910J. McCabe Prehist. Man iii. 40 The..knife (a long flake of flint, struck off the core at one blow).
In figurative context.c1520Skelton Magnyf. 1933 Adversyte... Of some of theyr chyldren I stryke out the eye. 1706T. Boston Mem. viii. (1899) 177 The Lord struck the bottom out of my discouragement. 1814Scott Let. in Lockhart (1837) III. iii. 118 The huge bulk of his power..was obviously to sink when its main props were struck away. 1853Lynch Self-Improv. vi. 154 The tasted cup is stricken from us ere we have done more than taste.
b. fig. To remove suddenly as with a blow, to dash.
1599T. Storer Life & D. Wolsey F 3 b, No strokes of Musickes sound could strike away, High thoughts by night, nor deepe conceits by day. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxviii, I shall love to see the sense of approaching death strike the colour from that ruddy cheek. 1891Strand Mag. II. 483/1, I began to laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his face.
28. To stamp with a stroke.
a. To impress (a piece of metal, coin), stamp (a medal) with a device by means of a die; to coin (money); † also absol. Also to strike off.
1449Sc. Acts Jas. II (1814) II. 37/1 Ande at nane tak one hande to strik in tym to cum bot þai þat has or sal haf commandment of the king vnder his grete sele. 1451Ibid. 39/1 Þai think it expedient..at þar be strikyn in þis realme new mone conformyt ewin in wecht to the mone of Inglande. 1463Stat. Irel. 3 Edw. IV, c. 32 To make and strike..iiij. peces of brasse or coper rennyng at j.d. of oure said siluer. c1520in Gutch Collect. Cur. (1781) II. 295 Item iij gilte Boolls withe a Cover strekin withe Martletts. 1526Ibid. 325. 1551 Sir J. Williams Accompte (Abbotsf. Club) 86 Grotes stricken withe harpes. 1609Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. David II, 44 Ane notable signe salbe vpon it, quhereby it may be evidently knawen fra all other money alreadie striken. 1687H. Slingesby Let. 11 Oct. in Pepys Diary (1879) VI. 157 The medalls made by Roettiers, of which I had an opportunity to chuse the best struck off. 1736T. Lediard Life Marlborough II. 42 A fine Medal was struck..on Occasion of the Victory. 1775Lond. Chron. 18–20 May 474/3 Giles Forrester, Dereham, and Williams were charged with striking half-pence. Ibid., They seized eight shillings and four-pence halfpenny, with the dies for striking. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 620 Till the reign of Charles the Second our coin had been struck by a process as old as the thirteenth century. 1879H. Phillips Notes Coins 3 This medal appears to have been chased by hand and not to have been struck from a die.
fig.1841D'Israeli Amen. Lit. II. 172 These scriptural plays..seem struck in the same mint.
b. To impress (a device) upon; also to impress (a die, etc.) with a device.
1551Sir J. Williams Accompte (Abbotsf. Club) 77 For..strickinge the kinges armes vpon the plates in the busholles of a paier of pottes parcell gilte. 1639in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 120 To Mr. Horsley for strikeing my Lord Deputyes coate on the organs, 4 s. 1820T. Hodgson Ess. Stereotype Printing 102 The page..composed with these types..would become..one complete matrice, with which the plates, in relief and in reverse, could be struck. Ibid. 107 The operation of striking the matrices.
c. To impress or print by means of type, an engraving or the like; to print. Obs. exc. in to strike off.
1759Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 217 The assembly..finding both to be such as required an extension of their paper currency..unanimously resolved to strike an additional sum of twenty thousand pounds. 1776Pennsylvania Even. Post 13 Mar. 142 Since a few of this day's papers were struck off, we hear the above ship is a man of war. 1790Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) II. 108 They can make use of that gentle means of striking paper to satisfy their demands. 1838Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 105 New title-pages can be struck off at a trifling expense. 1866J. P. Collier in Athenæum 3 Nov. 571/3 These few extra copies I have always had struck off by the printer. 1892Temple Bar Sept. 53 Send it to the printer to strike off a certain number of proofs.
d. To stamp (velvet, etc.).
1701Lond. Gaz. No. 3754/8 A Stuff Gown of Red and Blue Chequer-work, lined with a Norwich Stuff struck with Blue and dark-colour. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 30 Nothing..can compare with the beauty of these velvets, or with the art necessary to produce such an effect, while the wrong side is smooth, not struck through.
e. fig. To imprint on the mind. ? Obs.
1615J. Taylor (Water P.) Fair & Foul Weather A 4, I wish my Verse should such Impression strike, That what men Read off, they should thinke the like. 1651in M. Sellers Acts Eastland Co. (Camden) Introd. 47 If there were but a motion of this remotion, I doubt not but it would strike a sad impression into their minds. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. x. §5 There seems to be a constant decay of all our Ideas, even of those which are struck deepest. 1709Shaftesbury Charac. (1733) II. 395 Those Beautys which strike a sort of Melancholy.
f. Cinemat. To make (another print) from a motion picture film.
1970A. Fowles Dupe Negative xiv. 192 I've got four hundred feet of 35 mm. ECO original here... How long will it take to strike a master positive? Ibid. 196 The piece of film that actually runs through the camera is called the original..from which all subsequent prints are struck.
29. Without the notion of great force: To tap, rap, knock. Also with cognate or double object, and intr. with on, upon.
c1470Henry Wallace vi. 237 Wallace..Straik at the dure with his fute hardely. a1577Sir T. Smith Commw. Eng. (1633) 49 When any man is made a Knight, hee kneeling downe is strooken of the Prince with his sword naked. 1596Spenser F.Q. v. v. 18 Tho with her sword on him she flatling strooke, In signe of true subiection to her powre. 1605Shakes. Macb. ii. i. 32 Goe bid thy Mistresse, when my drinke is ready She strike vpon the Bell. 1613― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 117 He..Strikes his brest hard, and anon, he casts His eye against the Moone. 1699W. Dampier Voy. II. i. 75 There is one that strikes on a small Gong, or a wooden Instrument, before every stroke of the Oar. 1732Pope Epit. Gay 12 The Worthy and the Good shall say, Striking their pensive bosoms—Here lies Gay. 1754Erskine Princ. Sc. Law (1809) 169 If he get not access to the house, he must strike six knocks at the gate. 1843Penny Cycl. XXV. 446/1 Tutenag..is very sonorous when struck. 1844E. M. Sewell Amy Herbert I. xii. 214, I do think if I had but a fairy's wand, I should strike them all as they came into the house, and change them into boys. 1889A. E. Barr Feet of Clay ix. 159 He struck the table a blow. 1897Pall Mall Mag. XIII. 40, I struck sharply upon the glass of the window.
indirect passive.1653H. Cogan tr. Hist. Diod. Sic. v. ii. 177 A huge brazen table, which being strucken upon, yeelded..a dreadfull sound.
†b. To beat (time). Obs. rare.
1663J. Spencer Prodigies (1665) 136 This harmony would not last long, did not the Chief Musician strike time and measure.
c. To beat or sound (a drum, etc.), esp. in order to ‘beat up’ for recruits or as a signal to march; to sound (an alarm) on a drum (said also of the drum). Also, to strike up. Also absol. Obs. exc. Hist.
1572Charters etc. Peebles (1872) 342 The counsale..Ordanis the haill inhabitantis..to be in ane reddynes, quhen the swische strykis..to pas with thair baillies quhair thai pleis. 1577Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 641 Licence to stryke drummis, display handsenzies, and lift and collect the saidis cumpaneis of futemen. 1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 16, I may seeme well ynough too strike vp the drumme, and bring all my power to a vaine skirmishe. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. vii. 50 Drummer strike vp, and let vs march away. 1598R. Bernard tr. Terence, Eunuch iv. vii. 167 From whence I will strike vp alarme to shew when you shall beginne. 1612R. Coverte True Rep. 24 They strooke vp their drums and were in Armes, taking vs to be Portugales. 1819Scott Leg. Montrose xiv, Neither did they strike kettle-drums again at the head of that famous regiment until they behaved themselves so notably at the field of Leipsic. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 661 The kettledrums struck up: the trumpets pealed.
d. To touch (a string, a key of an instrument) so as to produce a musical note; poet. to play upon (a harp, lyre, etc.). Also † intr. const. upon.
1565Cooper Thesaurus, s.v. Pulsus, Nerui in fidibus pulsi, stringes stroken. 1587Golding De Mornay xxv. 446 A passion that fadeth away like the sound of a Lute, when the player ceasseth to strike. 1594Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. iii. §3 He that striketh an instrument with skill, may cause notwithstanding a verie vnpleasant sound, if the string whereon he striketh chaunce to be vncapable of harmonie. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. iii. 98 Musick; awake her: Strike. a1650King Estmere lviii. in Child Ballads II. 54/2 He stroake upon his harpe againe. 1677F. North Philos. Ess. Mus. 18 A great string struck near the Bridge with a Bow..will whistle and break into chords above; which if it were struck by the thumb..would give the true Tone. 1708Pope Ode St. Cecilia's Day 63 But hark! he strikes the golden lyre! 1795Southey Joan of Arc iv. (1853) 41 Meantime the Trouveur struck the harp.
fig.1579J. Melvill Diary (Bannatyne Club) 60 They dwelt verie commodiuslie togidder,..all strak on a string and soundet a harmonie. 1599Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. (1602) E 3 b, I will warble to the delicious concaue of my Mistresse eare: and strike her thoughts with The pleasing touch of my voice. 1630Donne Serm. ix. (1640) 90 That soule, who, whatsoever string be strucken in her base or treble, her high or her low estate, is ever tun'd toward God. 1828Mirror V. 102/2 My muse shall strike a loftier string. 1831–3E. Burton Eccl. Hist. iii. (1845) 51 They struck upon a chord which vibrated to the heart of every Israelite.
30. To produce by percussion.
a. (a) To produce (fire, a spark) by percussion, esp. by the percussion of flint and steel. Chiefly in the phrase to strike fire. Also, to strike out.
c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 823 Þan of flynt fyre þai strake, And made a fyre. 1578–9in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 117 For an yron to stryke fyer with in the revestrie, 3 d. 1599Marston Antonio's Rev. ii. ii, Showers of dartes may darke Heavens ample browe, but not strike out a sparke. 1604E. G. tr. Acosta's Hist. Ind. iii. ii. 119 The manner to strike fire in rubbing two stones one against another, as some Indians vse. 1755Young Centaur (1757) I. i. 129, I must observe, that no man can strike fire with a feather. 1810Scott Lady of L. v. xviii, Blair-Drummond sees the hoofs strike fire. 1862Temple Bar VI. 169 The fire which is struck out of a flint. 1865Meredith R. Fleming xvii, Two flints strike fire.
absol.1604Shakes. Oth. i. i. 141 Strike on the Tinder, hoa: Giue me a Taper.
transf. and fig.1601Shakes. Jul. C. i. ii. 177, I am glad that my weake words Haue strucke but thus much shew of fire from Brutus. 1637R. Ashley tr. Malvezzi's David Persecuted 103 That light, which untill it be stricken out doth never appeare. 1687Dryden Hind & P. i. 75 My pride struck out new sparkles of her own. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 39, 40 O Thou! whose word from solid Darkness struck That spark, the sun; strike wisdom from my soul. 1891A. Gissing Moorland Idyll III. vi. 107 His words struck kindred sparks within herself. 1893Eng. Illustr. Mag. X. 277/1 Gleams of moonlight..struck a glitter from standing rain-pools.
(b) transf. (in recent use). To cause (a match) to ignite by friction. Also intr. of a match: To admit of being struck.
The corresponding use of G. streichen is an application of the sense ‘to rub’ (cf. 3 above), and only accidentally coincides with this use.
1880Spurgeon Serm. XXVI. 653 They may strike their matches and light their candles if they will. 1892Black & White 30 July 116/1 Matches that strike only on the box. 1957‘R. West’ Fountain Overflows i. 14 And I think the matches are wet, they won't strike. 1962J. Braine Life at Top ii. 31, I heard a match strike and smelled cigar smoke.
(c) Phr. to strike a light: to produce a flame with flint and steel or by the friction of a match. Also (chiefly Austral. and N.Z.) imp. as a mild imprecation (cf. sense 46 c).
1684Bunyan Pilgr. ii. 184 Wherefore he strook a Light (for he never goes also without his Tinder-box). 1794Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho l, A light being struck, a fire was kindled. 1820Scott Monast. xxviii, The means of striking light were at hand in the small apartment. 1892Temple Bar Apr. 471 He felt for his matches and struck a light.
fig.1704Norris Ideal World ii. viii. 381 If we were not to see but by striking a light to ourselves, we must for ever be in the dark.
imp.1936A. Russell Gone Nomad vi. 44 ‘Strike a light!’ he broke in suddenly. ‘See them?’ 1960I. Cross Backward Sex ii. 39 ‘Strike a light,’ he hissed... ‘Get over here, quick,’ he said. ‘Have a bloody look, man.’
b. To produce (music, a sound, note) by touching a string or playing upon an instrument; hence gen. to sound (a particular note). Also said of the instrument. Cf. strike up, 87 c.
1597Morley Introd. Mus. 95, I greatlie mislike..your causing the treble strike a sharpe eight to the base. 1599A. Hume Poems vii. 217 Nor famous lute of cunning Amphion, Struike neuer note so pleasant to the eir. 1610Dowland Var. Lute-lessons C 1 b, The Note following though it be measured with a new measure, must be strooke with the fore-finger. 1629Milton Hymn Nativ. 95 Such musick sweet..As never was by mortall finger strook. 1787Wolcot (P. Pindar) Ode upon Ode Wks. 1816 I. 310 Didst ever see this lady striking A Upon her harpsichord, with bending ears? 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay i, Her reply was to strike a few chords, and begin a sweet, wild, plaintive air. 1892Graphic 9 Apr. 468/2 With one hand we strike three or four notes simultaneously.
fig.1827Scott Chron. Canongate Introd. App., Whatever note he [Shakespeare] takes, he strikes it just and true, and awakens a corresponding chord in our own bosoms. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert iv. 30 What did, perhaps, strike an incongruous note was the presence of various implements of sport.
c. To make (a door through), to open out (a window) by knocking a hole through a wall. Sc.
1652Lamont Diary (Maitl. Club) 40 She caused also a doore to be struken throughe the wall of her chamber, for to goe to the wine cellar. 1827[see stone n. 16 g].
31. To pierce, stab, or cut (a person. etc.) with a sharp weapon. Also with double object. Also with compl. to strike dead, strike to (the) death. to strike through, to transfix. Also, † to cut (a gash).
Now rare exc. as a contextual variety of sense 25; the verb would now hardly be used with reference to a thrust or stab, unless inflicted by a downward movement.
a1300–1400Cursor M. 18018 (Gött.) Mine eldrin folk of iuen lede Haue I done rise againes him, To strike him wid a spere ful grim. a1375Joseph Arim. 567 A whit kniht..Baar him doun of his hors..strok him stark ded. c1400Destr. Troy 6258 If any stert vpon stray, strike hym to dethe! 1461Paston Lett. II. 42 It is talkyd here how that..on of Howard's men schuld a' strekyn yow twyess with a dagere. 1515Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1869) I. 156 He was adiugeit to be had to the trone and thair strikkin throw the hand. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 655 The Lorde Clyfforde,..putting of his Gorget, sodaynely wyth an arrowe..was striken into the throte. a1586Sidney Arcadia ii. xxi. (1912) 288 She ranne to her sonnes dagger, and..strake her selfe a mortall wound. 1622Callis Stat. Sewers (1647) 19 That is Lacyes Case, where one was stricken on the Seas, and dyed on the Land, that the Common Law could not try this murther. 1642Fuller Holy St. v. xvi. 423 He strook a deep gash into his own thigh. 1745R. James Med. Dict. III. s.v. Styptica, Trials were made..by stricking a Cock through the Head [etc.]. 1825Scott Talism. xxviii, The Templar struck him to the heart with a Turkish dagger. 1837Lockhart Scott I. iii. 105 The maid-servant, in a sudden access of insanity, struck her mistress to death with a coal-axe. 1893Longm. Mag. June 114 What is to prevent me striking you through where you stand?
b. fig. Of a feeling, etc.: To pierce (a person to the heart, to the quick).
c1400Apol. Loll. 2 Wan þe heldar gifiþ ensaumple to þe ȝong to deþ, þer is he to be stregun [St. Gregory feriendus est] wiþ scharp blamyng. 1534More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. iii. (1553) O ij, The sodayn dreade of euery bodely payne woundeth vs to the hearte and striketh our deuocion starke dead. a1540Barnes Wks. (1572) 328/2 The which thyng, when S. Gregory saw, stroke hym sore to the hart. 1599Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iv, Strike me quite through with the relentlesse edge Of raging furie. 1674Fox in Jrnl. Friends' Hist. Soc. (1914) July 100 When shee hard of my being stoped by ther impresen mee it strok her to the hart that shee died. 1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1703) 117 Humility disarms envy and strikes it dead. 1712R. F. tr. Du Bos' Hist. League Cambray ii. 111 The News of the loss of Bologna, struck Pope Julius the 2d to the Heart. 1833Tennyson Pal. Art 220 She fell, Like Herod, when the shout was in his ears, Struck thro' with pangs of hell.
c. With complementary adv. or phrase: To remove or separate with a cut. Now rare exc. in strike off (82 b).
c1320Sir Beues 637 And sum he strok of þe swire. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints i. (Petrus) 362 Þan Nero bad a man suld ga, and strik symonis nek intwa. c1420Liber Cocorum (1862) 44 And heke hedes þou take with stalk in fere, Þat is in peses þou stryke. c1440Generydes 6375 Downe by the cheke his ere away he strake. c1480Henryson Mor. Fab. ii. (Town & C. Mouse) xvi, Muttoun and beif strukkin [v.r. strikin] in tailyeis greit. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xix. 415 His brother richarde wolde have stryked the hede fro the body of hym. c1614Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas iii. 222 The anchore roape, With shyning sword vnsheath't, in twaine he stroake. 1646Drummond of Hawthornden Answ. Objections agst. Scots Wks. (1711) 213 That Nation, who stroke the Head from the Grandmother, may make small Reckoning to do the same to the Grandchild. 1831Examiner 711/2 The soldier..struck the head from the body. 1831Scott Cast. Dang. xvii, Turnbull..struck from a neighbouring oak-tree a branch.
32. absol. and intr. (also with cognate object). To deliver a cut or thrust with a sharp weapon. Also said of the weapon. Const. at, † to, † unto.
Phrase † without (a) stroke (or a blow) stricken (and variants), without any fighting. Cf. F. sans coup férir.
1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7346 Þe devils ay omang on þam salle stryke. 1375Barbour Bruce vi. 234 He smertly raiss, And, strikand, rowm about him mais. c1400Destr. Troy 8760 A meruelous ymage..with a noble sword..Vp holdand on high as he þat wold stryke. c1430Chev. Assigne 333 Thenne he stryketh a stroke..Euen his sholder in twoo. c1430Syr Tryam. 774 And sykurly can they stryke and threste. 1518Sel. Cases Star Chamber (Selden Soc.) II. 137 They met hym agen..and stroke at hym one of them wyth a knyffe. 1598R. Grenewey Tacitus, Ann. xii. x. (1622) 171 By the comming of the Parthians, the Hiberi were driuen out without stroke striking [L. sine acie]. 1607Shakes. Cor. iv. ii. 19 To banish him that strooke more blowes for Rome Then thou hast spoken words. 1611Chapman Iliad iii. 369 This said, he shooke, and threw his lance; which strooke through Paris shield. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea xlv. 113 Pillage..all winked at and vnpunished, although such prizes haue beene rendred without stroake stricken. 1632Sir T. Hawkins tr. Mathieu's Unhappy Prosperitie 222 The offer..had assured him of the whole Iland without a blow strucken. 1677Earl Castelhaven in Essex Papers (Camden) II. 92 With⁓out a stroke striking all the greate townes will submit unto him. 1700Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 245 Like Lightning flam'd their Fauchions..; so strong they strook, There seem'd less Force requir'd to fell an Oak. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. (Globe) 372 The Fellow..struck at the Spaniard with his Hatchet. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. ix. 125 Assaulting a judge, sitting in the court, by drawing a weapon, without any blow struck, is punishable with the loss of the right hand. 1843Macaulay Horatius xxxviii, Herminius struck at Seius, And clove him to the teeth. 1861Temple Bar II. 120 Shot down before I could strike a blow. 1891Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xlii, Even the soldier who had raised his hand to strike stood amazed, and delayed his blow.
in fig. context.1735Pope Prol. Sat. 203 Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.
b. fig., esp. in to strike at, to aim at the overthrow, destruction, or defeat of.
c1400Apol. Loll. 3 He ouercam hunger in desert,..he strak ageyn veyn glorie vp on þe temple. 1470–85Malory Arthur ii. viii. 84 Thou shalt stryke a stroke most dolorous that euer man stroke. a1500–20Dunbar Poems lxxii. 98 Methocht Compassioun, vode of feiris, Than straik at me with mony ane stound. 1513More Rich. III in Hall Chron. (1548) 28 b, It strake to her harte, like the sharpe darte of death. a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. xxii. (1912) 484 And hate, & spare not, for your worst blow is striken. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 6 Smile gentle heauen, or strike vngentle death. 1605― Lear ii. ii. 124 It pleas'd the King his Master very late To strike at me vpon his misconstruction. 1642Chas. I Answ. to Printed Bk. 29 The Regall Power was never before this time strucken at. 1645W. Jenkyn Stil-destroyer Ep. Ded. A 3, The sin I here strike at, is very improperly called self-seeking. a1700Evelyn Diary 22 Dec. 1680, Parliament which was now assembl'd, and which struck at the succession of the Duke of York. a1720Sewel Trans. Hist. Quakers (1795) I. iv. 283 This book struck chiefly against the Quakers. 1764Goldsm. Trav. 394 When first ambition struck at regal power. 1777Potter æschylus, Persians 474 Thy words strike deep, and wound the parent's breast. 1829Sir J. Mackintosh Sp. Ho. Comm. 1 June in Hansard 1601 A measure which would..strike the death-blow to whatever attempts might be made on the part of other states. 1845McCulloch Taxation iii. ii. (1852) 445 It obviously strikes at the very foundation of the principle of accumulation. 1892Sat. Rev. 14 May 581/2 The Revolution..began to strike at Church and King. 1908R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xxiii. 298 Every fresh proof of Anthony's love for her struck like a knife into her heart.
c. Phr. to strike at the root or foundation: to attempt or tend to the utter destruction or overthrow (of something).
1550Latimer Serm. B viij, So we Preachers..haue drawen our swerdes of Gods word, and stryken at the rootes of all euyll, to haue them cut downe. 1661W. Lowther in Extr. St. Papers rel. Friends Ser. ii. (1911) 118 To disowne all Magistracy, and soe by dangerous consequence strike att the foundation of his Majestyes power. 1793J. Bowles Ground War w. France (ed. 5) 71 Principles which strike at the root of all established Government.
d. to strike short, strike wide. (lit. and fig.)
1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 491 Anon he findes him, Striking too short at Greekes. Ibid. 494 Pyrrhus at Priam driues, in Rage strikes wide. 1745Wesley Answ. Church 39 You strike quite wide of me still. I never said so of what I do. 1820Examiner 414/1 It appears to us then that this excellent and able actor struck short of the higher and imaginative part of the character.
33. In various specific uses of sense 31.
a. trans. To prick (a horse) with the spur. Obs.
1375Barbour Bruce vi. 226 Than vith the spuris he strak his steide. 1813Scott Rokeby vi. xxxii, His charger with the spurs he strook.
b. To kill or wound (deer) with an arrow or spear, or with a gunshot. Said also of the weapon.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 1069 Þe stede þar þis stith man strikis þis hert, Sagittarius forsoth men gafe it to name. 1530Palsgr. 739/1, I stryke a dere or any other wylde beest, as a huntar dothe..je enferre. 1568in Archæologia XXXV. 206 A forreste..where my Lord strake iij. stagges with his gonne. 1590Spenser F.Q. ii. iii. 32 Didst not thou see a bleeding Hind, Whose right haunch earst my stedfast arrow strake? 1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 74 He that strikes The Venison first, shall be the Lord o' th' Feast. 1820Scott Monast. xix, The huntsman-like fashion in which you strike your game.
c. To spear (a turtle), harpoon (a whale, etc.).
1697W. Dampier Voy. I. 33 Our Moskito men went in their Canoa, and struck us some Manatee, or Sea-cow. 1827O. W. Roberts Voy. Centr. Amer. 94 The spear with which the Indians strike the turtle, is made of very hard wood.
†d. To lance or cut (a vein). Also absol. Obs.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 329 A white vaine beeing striken, if at the fyrst there springe out bloud, it argueth a good constitution of bodye. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 409 Hauing striken [1658 stricken] it with a fleame, thrust out the ielly with your finger. 1639T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. 350 The cure is eyther to stricke with your fleame [etc.].
†e. To broach (a cask). Obs.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. ii. vii. 103 Strike the Vessels hoa. Heere's to Cæsar. 1717Prior Alma iii. 426 L'Avare..Strikes not the present Tun, for fear The Vintage should be bad next Year.
f. Angling. To cause the hook to pierce the mouth of (a fish) by a jerk or sudden movement of the tackle; to hook. Also said of the hook or the rod. Also, to cause (a hook) to pierce the mouth. Also absol. In 16–17th c. often fig.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 333 Philautus, who euer as yet but played with the bait, was now stroke with the hooke. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. v. 168 That hooke of Wiuing, Faire⁓nesse, which strikes the eye. 1647Digges Unlawf. Taking Arms §4. 157 They are contented to give Him line enough, being confident they can strike Him when they please. 1651Jer. Taylor Serm. for Year Summer x. 129 The hook hath strook their nostrils and they shall never escape the ruine. 1660Dryden Astræa Redux 171 He like a patient Angler er'e he strooke, Would let them play a while upon the hook. 1662R. Venables Exper. Angler iv. 44 If you strike a large Trout, and she..break hook or line. 1688[see spring-hook s.v. spring n.1 25]. 1760Sir J. Hawkins Walton's Angler 171 note, You are to strike as soon as he has taken it [sc. the bait]. 1881Sportsman's Year-bk. 69 To try a roach rod's integrity to strike truly, place the rod on a table, and [etc.]. 1892Field 19 Mar. 402/1 The troutlings have to be struck sharply... High authorities say that salmon should not be struck at all.
34. To hit with a missile, a shot, etc. Also said of the missile. Also with adv. or phrase (expressing the result). Now somewhat rare.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 77 With stones men shulde hir stryke and stone hir to deth. a1400–50Wars Alex. 804 Many starand stanes strikis of þaire helmes. c1400Destr. Troy 12151 Scho..with stonys in þe strete strok hom to ground. 1557W. Towrson in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 114 We found 2 Elephants which we strooke diuers time with harquebusses. 1587T. Saunders Discr. Voy. Tripolie B ij b, And the second shot he strake vs vnder water. 1589Hakluyt Voy. 773 With one of our great shot their Master gonners shoolder was stroken away. 1662A. Cooper Stratologia vi. 118 A Cannon bullet stroke off Sandies head. 1822Examiner 215/1 Ali himself was struck down by a bullet. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vi. 210 P. fired, striking him in the centre of the chest and killing him. 1865Ruskin Sesame i. §41 A group of schoolboys have piled their little books upon a grave, to strike them off with stones.
fig.1592Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 462 Or like the deadly bullet of a gun: His meaning strucke her ere his words begun.
b. Curling. To hit (an opponent's stone) away, off with one's own. Also absol.
1811Acc. Game Curling 8 He attempts to strike away the stone of his antagonist. Ibid., To guard the stone of his partner..or to strike off that of his antagonist. a1870D. Thomson Musings among Heather (1881) 20 Keen curlers..draw, an' guard, an' wick, an' strike.
c. intr. Of a missile: To make a hit. ? Obs.
1589Bigges Summarie Drake's W. Ind. Voy. 43 The first shot..strake through the Ensigne. 1627May Lucan vi. K 5 b, In the left eye Of Scæua strucke the shaft. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 70 If the first Shot had struck under the Mark.
35. intr. To use one's weapons: to fight. Also with cognate obj. Const. for (a cause, one's king or country, etc.). Also, † to strike it out.
1579Gosson Sch. Abuse (Arb.) 58 The stoutest Souldier, when the Trumpet sounds, strikes fiercest. 1581A. Hall Iliad viii. 137 Both sides so soundly stroke it out, right doubtful was the fray. 1601Shakes. All's Well ii. iii. 308 His present gift Shall furnish me to those Italian fields Where noble fellowes strike. 1601R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 39 They were never known..to mutine or to strike stroke amongst themselves. 1825Scott Talism. ix, He despairs of the security of Palestine..since the arm of Richard of England hath ceased to strike for it. 1842W. C. Taylor Anc. Hist. xii. §1. (ed. 3) 312 [Cleomenes] followed by a few friends rushed through the streets of Alexandria, exhorting the multitude to strike for freedom. 1847Marryat Childr. N. Forest xxi, I should indeed like to strike one blow for the King, come what will. 1889S. Walpole Life Ld. J. Russell II. xxviii. 314 Austria, though too angry to be silent, was too timid to strike.
b. trans. To fight (a battle). Also, to strike up. Chiefly Sc. Cf. stricken ppl. a. 6.
1375Barbour Bruce xiii. 152 Thar wes the battell strikyn weill. c1470Henry Wallace x. 245 Quhen Bruce his battaill apon the Scottis straik. 1524Wolsey in St. Papers Hen. VIII, VI. 281 If bataile be not striken before the receipte of thies letters..ye shal [etc.]. 1535Coverdale 2 Macc. xv. 1 When Nicanor knewe that Iudas was in..Samaria, he thought with all his power to strike a felde with him vpon a Sabbath daye. 1544Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. VIII. 292 Item, to ane barbour in Glasqw, eftir the feild strikkin on the mure of the samyn. 1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 372 b/1 And so the battaile beyng strocken vp, the armyes began to ioyne. 1599Shakes. Hen. V, ii. iv. 54 When Cressy Battell fatally was strucke. 1606Holland Sueton. 88 Claudius Pulcher..thereupon strucke a battaile at Sea. 1710Sibbald Fife & Kinross i. vii. 28 This Battel was struck with great Art and Skill upon either side. 1821Scott Kenilw. xii, ‘The battle of Bosworth,’ said Master Mumblazen, ‘stricken between Richard Crookback and Henry Tudor.’ 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xi. (1857) 160 The day the battle of Killiecrankie was stricken.
c. intr. To engage together in combat.
a1400–50Wars Alex. 785 Now athire stoure on þar stedis strikis to-gedire. c1440Generydes 2793 Generides ther mette..The Kyng Ruben, Redy with spere and sheld, And ther they strake to geder in the feld. 1470–85Malory Arthur iii. vii. 107 [They] stroke to gyders myghtely.
d. Mil. To make an offensive blow, to attack. Const. with at. Also trans. to attack (in flank, etc.): cf. sense 68.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iii. viii. 3 Strike not by Land, Keepe whole, prouoke not Battaile Till we haue done at Sea. 1802C. James Milit. Dict. s.v., To strike at, to attack; to endeavour to destroy, directly or indirectly. 1839Marryat Diary Amer. Ser. i. II. 231 To strike means to attack. ‘The Indians have struck on the frontier.’ 1866T. Seaton Cadet to Colonel II. iii. 85 Lord Canning thought it advisable to strike a blow at Barrackpoor before the mutiny at Lucknow should become known. 1892Sat. Rev. 2 Jan. 10/2 [He] divided his forces, struck where there was no use in striking, failed to strike at the essential point. 1893Pall Mall Mag. II. 302 The French centre..was marching to strike it in flank.
36. trans. With transferred object.
a. To deliver a blow with (the hand or something held in the hand), to bang, slap (the fist, hand), to stamp (the foot) on, upon, against. Also, to strike a horse with (the spur). Const. to, against (cf. 50).
a1548Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 160 [He] entered into London,..strykyng his sworde on London stone, saiyng: now is Mortymer lorde of this citie. 1595Shakes. John iv. i. 2 When I strike my foot Vpon the bosome of the ground, rush forth. 1597― 2 Hen. IV, i. i. 44 (Qo. 1600) He..strooke his armed heeles Against the panting sides of his poore iade, Vp to the rowell head. 1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 76 If with often striking the Pricker against the Tongue [of the Square] it becomes ragged. 1820Scott Monast. xxv, The Baron, striking his hand against the table, as if impatient of the long unbroken silence. 1862Temple Bar V. 70 He struck the stock of his gun violently upon the ground. 1884Graphic 25 Oct. 438/3 ‘That's a thing I'll think about’, rejoined the Baronet, as he struck spurs to his hack.
†b. To drive or thrust (a weapon, a tool); to make a cut or thrust with. Const. into, through.
c1470Henry Wallace ii. 99 A felloun knyff fast till his hart straik he. 1556Rec. Inverness (New Spald. Club) I. 1 James Patyrson messenger strykis ane broch on Hendre Kar elder. 1590Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 33 And stricke their sworde into their flesh like vnto a Scabbard. c1614Sir W. Mure Dido & æneas iii. 387 The cursed blaide..Which in her breast vnto the hilts she strak. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 296 Unskilfully striking the Fleam into a Horse's Neck. 1748[see fleam n.1 2].
transf. and fig.1598Brandon Octavia iii. D 3, In these respects, perhaps I could be brought, To strike reuenge as deepe as any could. 1641J. Jackson True Evang. T. iii. 209 The Bitturn lying under, strikes his bill upward through the Hawkes gorge.
c. To cause (a tool, etc.) to make the required stroke. In Bookbinding, To cause (a hot tool) to make an impression in tooling (Webster 1911).
1600Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. i. xi. G 4 b, A Clocke, whose hammer was stricken by an Image like a man. 1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VI. ii. 255 The workman strikes the instrument towards the standing corn. 1877De Vinne Invent. Printing (ed. 2) 517 It required great force..to strike the punch truly.
†d. To thrust (something pointed) in, into (a surface). Obs.
1570–6Lambarde Peramb. Kent 282 Yet God (I say) styre vp some Edgar, to strike nayles in our cuppes. 1605Shakes. Lear ii. iii. 15 Bedlam beggers, who with roaring voices, Strike in their num'd and mortified Armes, Pins, Wodden-prickes, Nayles, Sprigs of Rosemarie. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 345 Hee strake his staffe into the dry ground. 1660F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 10 Pegs struck into the ground.
†e. pass. To be struck full of (nails). Obs.
1610Healey St. Aug. Citie of God i. xiv. 24 Shutting him in a narrow barrell, strucken all full of sharpe nayles.
** Said of an animal.
37. Of a serpent or other venomous animal: To wound (a person) with its fangs or sting. Also absol. † Of a basilisk: To kill or injure (a person), dart out (venom) by its glance.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints x. (Mathou) 67 Þai cuth, be þare enchawnment, ger serpentis strik men ful sare. 1539Taverner Erasm. Prov. (1552) 3 A certayne fysherman..chaunced to take up..a Scorpyon, which forthwith strake hym. 1592Greene Philomela Wks. (Grosart) XI. 152 He stood as mortified as if hee had beene strocken with the eye of a Baselisk. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 151 Would they were Basiliskes, to strike thee dead. 1608Topsell Serpents 44 If that anie person hath either been wounded or strooken of any venomous liuing thing. 1617Bp. Hall Quo Vadis? §15 How many haue wee knowne stroken with these aspes, which haue died sleeping! 1621Quarles Esther xii, Whose..visage sternly strikes Worse venime to mine eyes, than Basilisks. 1635–56Cowley Davideis iv. 601 If..either King Fall wounded down, strook with some fatal sting. 1837[Miss Maitland] Lett. fr. Madras (1843) 163 Their music seems to irritate the snakes and incite them to strike. 1893Eng. Illustr. Mag. X. 285/1 A hideous snake..had uplifted its triangular head to strike.
38. To wound or attack with the heels, horns, tusks, claws, or any natural weapon. Also absol. Now rare.
1538Elyot Dict., Recalcitro, to stryke with the heele, to kicke. 1600E. Blount tr. Conestaggio 307 Sanches d'Auila died, being stroke with a horse. 1621Burton Anat. Mel. i. iii. i. iii. (1624) 170 A wild boare, that by chance stroke him on the legge. 1705Dalton Country Justice cxlv. 344 If a man hath an Horse of that property, that he will strike such as come near him. 1716W. Hawkins Pleas of Crown i. xxix. §12. 74 He..who kills another..by going deliberately with a Horse used to strike..among a Multitude of People. 1722Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) VII. 386 Having lost his Life by being struck by a Cow. 1883Fenn Middy & Ensign lvi, The tiger had struck the Malay down. 1892M. C. F. Morris Yorksh. Folk-Talk 382 Cu' by, or else t'hoss'll mebbe strike tha.
b. intr. To aim a blow with a natural weapon; to lash out (with the feet, etc.).
1565Cooper Thesaurus, Calcitro, a horse that flingeth or striketh. 1667Dk. Newcastle New Method to dress Horses 184 Or when..he offers to Bite or Strike, then the Spurrs will Divert him. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VI. 378 They strike with their claws, they bite each other. 1803Shaw Zool. IV. i. 128 If accidentally trodden on, it strikes backwards..and endeavours to wound the aggressor with the spines of its first dorsal fin. 1822D. Johnson Ind. Field Sports 107 Not long before this, he [the tiger] must have struck at a porcupine, as several of the quills were still remaining between the joints of one of his fore feet. 1893Pall Mall Mag. II. 88 The giraffe has, too, a nasty habit..of striking out with its fore feet.
39. trans.
†a. Of a bird of prey, esp. a falcon: To dart at and seize (its quarry or prey). Also intr., to dart at.
a1500–20Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 99 The egill strong at him did stryke. 1632Holland Cyrupædia 53 An ægle.. having espied the Hare running, made wing, strake her, caught her up, and away. 1687Norris Misc. 101 So th' eager Hawk makes sure of's prize, Strikes with full might, but overshoots himself and dyes. 1736Hale Pleas of Crown I. 432 As laying an infant in an orchard,..whereby a kite strikes it. 1738E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds III. 1 The Vulture..is a fierce bold Bird, and will strike at any thing that comes near him. 1879C. M. Yonge Cameos IV. vii. 83 His hawk was striking the quarry.
b. Of a greyhound: To seize (the hare) in coursing. Cf. striker 2 f.
1861H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xiii, But Ruin! you should see him lie behind the other dog all the run, and strike the hare at last.
c. intr. Of a fish: To seize the bait.
1891Field 21 Nov. 774/2 Then another fish struck, but only to graze and kill the bait. 1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xviii, He whipped the fly lightly within six inches of a little suction hole; a fish at once rose and struck.
*** Said of mechanism or the like.
40. intr. Of a piece of mechanism: To make a stroke, hit or beat something.
1610Shakes. Temp. i. ii. 281 Where thou didst vent thy groanes As fast as Mill-wheeles strike. 1725T. Thomas in Portland Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) VI. 103 A very large fire engine for draining the coal pits..strikes (as they term it) or makes a discharge fourteen times in one minute. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 883 These..finish the grooving..at a single blow, by striking against each other, with the head of the needle between them. 1892J. Wilkins Autobiog. Gamekeeper 330 Particular attention should be paid to the striking of the trap, which ought to strike high, and strike quickly. 1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo viii. 87 On extracting the unexploded cartridge, I found that the needle had not struck home.
b. trans.
1787Burns Death & Dr. Hornbook xxxi, The auld kirk⁓hammer strak the bell Some wee, short hour ayont the twal.
41. intr. and trans. with cognate obj. Of a clock: To make one or more strokes on its sounding part. Hence trans. to indicate (the hour of day) by a stroke or strokes; also with object a numeral designating the hour. Rarely with out.
1417York Memor. Bk. (Surtees) I. 184 Efter xij of the clok be strekyn at the cathiderall church. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxix. (Percy Soc.) 140 Passyng the tyme..Tyll that the clocke did strike aleven. 1529Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) 7 Quhill xij houris be struikin. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 111 Thy tong should be a clocke.., For than would it strike but once in one hower. 1590Shakes. Com. Err. i. ii. 45 The clocke hath strucken twelue vpon the bell. 1617Bacon Sp. Resusc. (1657) 86 Every Tuesday..after nine a Clock strucken. 1629Wadsworth Pilgr. iii. 18 Till the clocke and our stomackes strike supper time. 1675J. S[mith] Horol. Dial. i. ii. 10 A moving wheel..indented..according to the number of strokes at each time to be strucken. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 54 The bell strikes One. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. vii, Four of the afternoon is struck. 1860Sala Baddington Peerage I. v. 100 The neighbouring church clock struck out twelve slowly. 1864Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 234 A clock made to strike fourteen every hour. 1878Bye-gones Dec. 147/1 Striking the day of the month. This practice, according to the Gents: Mag: for Sep. 1816, was in vogue in Pembroke at that period. 1892Argosy Mar. 180 It struck four. 1902R. Bagot Donna Diana xxvi. 331 Counting the hours as the clocks struck in the different quarters of the city.
b. intr. in passive sense. Of the hour: To be indicated by the striking of the clock.
a1417York Memor. Bk. (Surtees) I. 224 Fra evynsang ryng..on to the morne that prime stryke at the mynster. 1613Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. i. 1 Gard. It's one a clocke Boy, is't not. Boy. It hath strooke. 1787E. Inchbald Midnt. Hour iii. i. (1788) 28, I will sit up 'till twelve strikes. 1850H. Melville White Jacket I. xxiii. 146 Two bells struck; and soon after, all who could be spared from their stations hurried to the half-deck.
c. fig.
Phrase. to strike twelve the first time or all at once (see twelve 2 b).
1589Pasquil's Ret. B iiij, The Preachers of England begin to strike and agree like the Clockes of England. 16051st Pt. Jeronimo i. i, This day my years strike fiftie. 1606Heywood 2nd Pt. Know not me i. i, A merchants tongue Should not strike false. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 13 Looke, hee's winding vp the watch of his wit, By and by it will strike. 1628Earle Microcosm., Stayed Man K 3 b, One whose Tongue is strung vp like a Clocke till the time, and the strikes, and sayes much when hee talkes little. 1684Norris Poems 5 That Hour is come, The unerring Clock of Fate has struck. 1893Pall Mall Mag. II. 201 He would have his time of danger after striking sixty. 1912G. W. E. Russell Politics & Pers. iii. i. (1917) 201 Princess Victoria had now struck sixteen.
d. intr. Of a bell: To sound its note.
1677Stedman Campanalogia 32 By delaying its [sc. the treble's] striking untill the Second Bell has struck, it may by that means strike next after it. 1901H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Techn. Terms Ch. Bells 36 When two or more bells are ‘striking’ in succession.
e. causatively. To cause (a clock, a repeating watch) to sound the time; to cause (bells) to sound together.
1675J. S[mith] Horol. Dial. ii. v. 55 To do this strike your Clock gradually from eight to nine, and then from nine to ten, [etc.]. 1748Chesterfield Let. to Son 22 Feb., Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket; and do not pull it out, and strike it, merely to show that you have one. 1854Surtees Handley Cr. xxxix. (1901) II. 19 ‘Wants twenty minutes to six,’ observed Mr. Marmaduke, striking the repeater. 1893National Observer 18 Nov. 17/1, I struck my repeater again, and found that midnight was past by two hours. 1901H. E. Bulwer Gloss. Techn. Terms Ch. Bells etc. 37 Firing, striking all the bells together at successive pulls. Ibid., The bells were ‘clammed’ or struck together by successive pairs.
42. intr. Of the pulse, heart: To beat, pulsate, throb. rare.
1590P. Barrough Meth. Physick i. xv. (1639) 24 Their pulse is great and striketh seldome. 1666G. Harvey Morbus Angl. ix. (1672) 20 And the mind all that while so disturbed..that the heart strikes five hundred sorts of Pulses in an hour. 1891Meredith One of our Conq. III. xiv. 295 His heart struck heavily when the house was visible.
**** Of natural or supernatural agencies.
43. trans. Of lightning, thunder, a thunderbolt: To descend violently upon and blast (a person or thing). Freq. in pass, constr. by, with, rarely of. Also to strike down.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xli. (Agnes) 312 He gert thonnir & fire-slacht stirk done þe payanis þar stracht. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxi. 140 We ware oft tymes striken doune to þe erthe with grete hidous blastez. 1563Fulke Goodly Gallery Meteors (1571) 28 The thonder bolt..stryketh downe steples, and hyghe buildynges. 1586Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 122 Bodies that are strucken with Lightening do remain uncorrupt. 1605B. Jonson Volpone iii. vii. (1607) H 2, Some serene blast me, or dire lightning strike This my offending face. 1663Bayfield Treat. De Morb. Capitis 67 Cardanus reports of eight Mowers, which supping under an Oak were struck with thunder. a1718Prior Engraven on a Column Poems (1905) 206 Tho' Lightning strike the Dome again. 1808Med. Jrnl. XIX. 121 The house had been struck with lightning. 1865Swinburne Poems & Ball., Satia te Sanguine 37, I wish you were stricken of thunder.
fig.1588Greene Metam. Wks. (Grosart) IX. 102 Till I be strooken to death with loues thundering bolt.
b. with compl. to strike dead, strike blind.
1598Yong Diana 261 Stroken dead with a fearefull thunderclap. 1750Franklin Wks. (1840) V. 237 Lightning has often been known to strike people blind. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. III. xxxiii. 205 That flash..had struck me blind.
c. absol. and intr.
1750Franklin Wks. (1840) V. 236 Electrified clouds passing over hills or high buildings at too great a height to strike, may be attracted lower. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 231 Which may result from the lightning striking upon a house not properly secured. 1884Science 4 Jan. 3/1 There are no data for determining the..violence of lightning..or for discovering its possible preference for one or another..geological district when it ‘strikes’.
44. trans. Of God: To visit with lightning, esp. as a punishment. Also, to strike dead.
1577Hanmer Anc. Eccl. Hist., Euseb. vii. xvii. 133 There⁓fore God strooke Iulianus image from heauen with lightening and rent it in peeces. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. ii. 64 Either Heau'n with Lightning strike the murth'rer dead: Or Earth gape open wide, and eate him quicke. 1647R. Stapylton Juvenal 188 Then for his crown th' old trembling souldier took An helmet, and at great Jove's altar strook, Fell like an ox. 1697Dryden æneis vi. 804 But he, the King of Heav'n,..launching from the Sky His writhen Bolt,..Down to the deep Abyss the flaming Felon strook.
b. Of a storm, earthquake, etc.: To ‘visit’ (a district, crop).
1570Satir. Poems Reform. xvii. 172 Swa mony stormes at onis Struke neuer land sa sair. 1613Spelman De non Temer. Eccl. (1646) 30 When thy fruit and thy vineyard are strucken with haile. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 438 The island of St. George was struck by an earthquake. 1904Sun (N.Y.) 23 Aug. 1 The storm twister struck Willow Lakes about 9 o'clock. 1976Daily Mirror 16 July 13/3 Earthquakes killed 275 people and injured 2,000 early yesterday as they struck Indonesia's tropical holiday island of Bali.
45. To bring suffering or death upon (a person, etc.) as with a blow; to afflict suddenly (with, by sickness, infirmity, death), esp. as a punishment. Also, to strike down. (Said chiefly of God or a deity.)
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Justin) 287 [The master devil said] sic lustful het sal be hir in, & eftyr hyr stirke sal I nere wodnes & frenesy. 1530Palsgr. 739/1 You shall se God stryke them when he seys hys tyme. 1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. lxxviii. 66 With Emrods in the hinder parts he strake his enimies all. 1563Winȝet Four Scoir Thre Quest. Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 127 Ananias and Saphira wes strukin be ane word of Petir to the deth. 1580Tusser Husb. (1878) 83 For lamb, pig and calfe..tithe so as thy cattle the Lord doo not strike. a1591H. Smith Serm. (1594) 333 When God stroke Zacharias, he made him dumbe, but not deafe. c1610Women Saints 82 God in defence of his spouse [St. Frideswide] stroke them with blyndnes. 1611Shakes. Cymb. v. i. 10 Gods,..so had you saued The noble Imogen, to repent, and strooke Me (wretch) more worth your Vengeance. 1711in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 123 He strikes..where the sinner least dreames to be strucken. J. Bruce Gideon iii. 59 Heavily the hand of the Lord had stricken him.
absol.a1500–20Dunbar Poems lxx. 33 Lord! hald thy hand, that strikken hes so soir. 1604Shakes. Oth. v. ii. 22 This sorrow's heauenly, It strikes, where it doth loue. a1605Montgomerie Sonn. vii. 7 Quhen ȝe sulde stryk, I wald ȝe vnderstude; Quhen ȝe suld spair, I wish ȝe were bening.
b. Of a disease, etc.: To attack or afflict (a person) suddenly; to make infirm, lay low. Chiefly pass. To be attacked by, with (a disease). Also, to strike down.
1530Palsgr. 739/2 He was stryken with the plage as he stode in his dore. 1601W. Leigh Soules Solace (1617) 21 It may be some goe to bed who neuer rise, strooken with a deadly sleepe or lethargie. 1607Shakes. Cor. iv. i, 13 Now the Red Pestilence strike al Trades in Rome. 1653H. More Antid. Ath. iii. vii. §9 (1712) 107 She was so struck in her fits that six men or more could not hold her. 1789New Lond. Mag. Oct. 510/2 The Earl was struck with death while drinking his coffee. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. v, Hot old Marquis Mirabeau lies stricken down, at Argenteuil. 1860Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XXI. ii. 554 About 60 out of 280, chiefly shearlings, were struck with a chill. 1878R. H. Hutton Scott xvii. 174 The climate struck him down, and he died at Teheran. 1891E. Peacock N. Brendon II. 199 The Duke had been stricken by paralysis.
c. transf.
1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 236 And though thou now be stricke with couetise That vice shall slake in thee if thou arise, [etc.]. 1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 66 They are strucken with that pleasant folly of the Athenian who imagined all the riches..to be his. 1875Manning Mission H. Ghost viii. 212 Such, in the sight of God, is a soul which is struck by sin. 1891Speaker 11 July 36/2 The fear is..that public life may be stricken with sterility in consequence of this veto.
d. In pass. Of a crop, of cattle: To be tainted or infected with a disease.
1750W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. IV. i. 45 Wheat mildewed, blighted, or what we, in Hertfordshire, call struck. Ibid. IV. ii. 124 (E.D.S.) What we call striking, or, in plainer terms, the glutinizing of the green ears [of wheat], by the fall of..honey-dew. 1784Young's Annals Agric. II. 65 (E.D.D.) [On theWeald of Kent] They have a distemper [in sheep] which they call struck with the blood. 1840Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. I. iii. 327 They [lambs] have been struck with the fly late in the season. 1842Ibid. III. ii. 199 In a bad case of mildew I have seen a large field of these early swedes struck in July. 1877E. Leigh Gloss. Chesh., Struck with iron, an apoplectic seizure to which sheep and cows (gen. previous to their calving) are liable. They turn black.
46. To deprive (a person) suddenly of life, or of one of the faculties, as if by a physical blow. Often with compl., as to strike dead, strike blind, strike deaf, strike dumb. Said of God, † of a planet (obs.: cf. planet-stricken, -struck), of witchcraft, etc., and of physical agencies, e.g. the sun, blinding light, or deafening noise. Also in pass., without implication of any definite agency: To become suddenly blind, dumb, etc.
1534More Comf. agst. Trib. i. iv. (1553) A viij, Sainct Paule was himselfe sore agaynst Chryst, tyll Christ..strake him starke blynde. 1595Problems of Aristotle etc. M 2, Why are children strooken with a planet in the summer? 1595T. Edwards Narcissus (Roxb.) 51 So was I gazing on this Orient Sunne Stroke blinde. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iv. vii, Sure I was strooke with a Plannet then, for I had no power to touch my weapon. 1600W. Watson Decacordon (1602) 356 He [Peter] stricke them both [Ananias and Sapphira] dead at his feet. 1626Bacon Sylva §276 It is an old Tradition, that those that dwell near the Cataract of Nilus are strucken deaf. a1628Daborne Poor-man's Comf. i. (1655) B 3, Osw. Some dismall planet strike you ever mute. Ibid. iii. E 1 b, Luc. Some Planet strike him dead. 1636H. Burton Div. Tragedie 18 And before he had done ringing, he was strucke sicke, and a while after dyed. 1667Milton P.L. ix. 1064 Confounded long they sate, as struck'n mute. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull iii. x, He'd got a great cold that had struck him deaf of one ear. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 144 A young Fellow..was struck blind all of a sudden.
absol.1602Shakes. Ham. i. i. 162 The nights are wholsome, then no Planets strike,..nor Witch hath power to Charme.
fig.1592Nashe P. Penilesse Wks. 1904 I. 190 They, being but lightly sprinckled with the iuyce of the Hop, become sencelesse, and haue their reason strooken blind. 1600Marston etc. Jack Drum's Entert. ii. C 4, Yet calme husht sleepe Strikes dumbe the snoring world. 1638Junius Paint. Ancients 209 The rule of eloquence being once corrupted was strooke dumbe. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. i. viii, Let the concentrated flash of your Patriotism strike stealthy Scoundrelism blind, paralytic, as with a coup de soleil.
b. hyperbolically, expressing the temporary effect of fear, amazement, etc., to strike † dead, strike dumb, etc.
1533Bellenden Livy i. v. (S.T.S.) I. 36 Þis wncouth sicht movit..baith þe armes with sa petuus commiseratioun, þat baith þe hostis wer strikin dvm. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. ii. ii. 21 Alas, this parting strikes poore Louers dumbe. 1598Greenwey Tacitus' Ann. xiv. ii. (1622) 201 Nero stroken dead with feare [L. pavore exanimis]. 1607Chapman Bussy D'Ambois iv. i, Mons. Sweet heart: come hither, what if one should make Horns at Mountsurry? would it strike him iealous Through all the proofes of his chaste Ladies vertues? 1775Sheridan Duenna ii. ii, Her beauty will certainly strike me dumb. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. ii. iv, Next day marching it back again, through streets all struck silent. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. iv, Fascination Fledgeby and Georgiana..struck each other speechless.
c. Vulgarly used in jocular forms of imprecation, as strike me blind, dumb, lucky (if, but —), and various nonce-phrases. strike me pink: see pink a. 8. Also (Austral. and N.Z.) ellipt. as strike!
1696Vanbrugh Relapse i. iii, Well, 'tis an unspeakable Pleasure to be a man of Quality—Strike me dumb. 1704Cibber Careless Husb. ii. i. 19 Right, Charles: And strike me Blind, but the Women of Virtue are now grown such Ideots in Love..that [etc.]. 1835Dickens Sk. Boz., Charac. ix, Whereupon the two gentlemen swore, ‘strike 'em wulgar if they'd stand that’. Ibid., Tales x, Strike me bountiful if you ain't one of the modest sort! 1849Cupples Green Hand i. (1856) 9 Well, strike me lucky, mates all, if the whole affair warn't a complete trap! 1861G. J. Whyte-Melville Market Harb. i, The very place!.. Strike me ugly, if I won't go to Market Harborough! 1896Punch 25 Apr. 197/1 The caddie nearest me said ‘Strike me’, under his breath, and another caddie said ‘S'elp me’. 1915C. J. Dennis Songs of Sentimental Bloke (1916) 43 ‘Ah, strike!’ she sez. ‘I wish that I could die!’ 1960B. Crump Good Keen Man 116 Strike, he went crook! Who the hell was responsible? Had we been blasting fish?
d. To turn as by enchantment into.
1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. i. ii, Strooke into stone, almost, I am here, with tales o' thine vncle! 1641Brome Joviall Crew iii. Wks. 1873 III. 396 O let us not Acteon-like be strook..into the shape of Stags. 1853Mrs. Gore Dean's Dau. xlii. III. 300 She looked stricken into stone.
e. In pa. pple. Bewitched; affected by the evil eye. Also struck so, suddenly rendered motionless (as if by enchantment) in a particular attitude or grimace. dial. and vulgar.
1839J. Keegan Leg. & Poems (1907) 165 Whenever a child is suspected to be ‘struck’, it is thought useless to apply to a medical person. 1851–61Mayhew Lond. Labour III. 65/2 Keeping their toes turned out, as if they had been ‘struck so’, while taking their first dancing-lesson. 1862T. C. Croker Fairy Leg. S. Irel. (ed. 2) 39 Just then she got a pain in the small of her back, and out through her heart, as if she was struck. 1881W. S. Gilbert Patience ii, Maj. I can't help thinking we're a little stiff at it. It would be extremely awkward if we were to be ‘struck’ so. 1891Farmer Slang II. 163 To be Struck Comical (popular), to be astonished. 1912Chesterton Manalive 234 Dr. Cyrus Pym had remained for an unprecedented time with his eyes closed and his thumb and finger in the air. It almost seemed as if he had been ‘struck so’, as the nurses say.
47. To prostrate mentally; in weaker sense, to shock, depress. Obs. exc. in to strike all of († on) a heap (colloq.): see heap n. 5 e.
1598T. Bastard Chrestol. iii. vi. 56 The newes of Spanish wars, how wondrously, It strooke our heartes. 1628Earle Microcosm. (Arb.) 26 Anotomies and other spectacles of Mortalitie haue hardened him, and hee's no more struck with a Funerall then a Grauemaker. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 144 Being strucken and fearfully affrighted at this strange..spectacle. a1715Burnet Own Time i. ii. (1897) I. 45 This struck many of the enthusiasts of the king's side as much as it exalted the Scots. 1786Mrs. Delany Autob. & Corr. (1862) III. 392 He informed her of the whole affair. The Queen stood struck and motionless for some time. 1791W. Gilpin Forest Scenery II. 282 On running to him, he was struck with finding he had killed one of the best horses of his own team.
†b. To cause (a person) to fall suddenly in, into, on, to (grief, perplexity, anger, amazement, etc.). Also with compl. as to strike sad (freq. in Shakes.), to strike astound. Obs.
c1440Alphabet of Tales 166 A man of Egipte was stryken in-to a luste with his neghbur wyfe. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 282 b, He was stricken in fear of y⊇ courageous stomake of the freashe young manne. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. 37 But altogether stricken in a dumpe, you seke to be solitarye. 1563Foxe A. & M. 14/1 Which when Hildebrandus harde, he was stroken in suche a fury, that scharsly he could kepe his hands of him. 1582N. T. (Rhem.) Matt. xvii. 23 And they were stroken sadde exceedingly. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 262 Which strooke her sad,..Vntill her husbands welfare shee did heare. 1606N. B[axter] Sydney's Ourania M 3, Whose suddaine view, strook him to such amaze, As marueling a while did naught but gaze. 1640J. Gower Ovid's Festiv. iv. 82 The wonder strikes them all astound. 1682Bunyan Holy War (1905) 285 At this they were all of them struck into their dumps, and could not tell what to say. 1711in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 143 This loss of the artillery struck the Prince..into a great fury. 1853Lytton My Novel xii. xxvii, The brave man saw before him..that crime of a coward; and into cowardice he was stricken.
c. To cause (a person) to be overwhelmed or seized with (terror, amazement, grief; rarely delight, love). Also of the feeling: To seize.
In 16th c. sometimes of a deity (cf. 46); usually of incidents, things seen or heard.
1533Bellenden Livy i. xxi. (S.T.S.) I. 120 Throw quhilk þe king was strikin [v.r. stirkin] haistelie with na les fere þan hevy thocht. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 189 b, Alexander beeyng rauyshed with the sight of her, was soodainly striken with hotte burnyng loue. 1611Shakes. Cymb. i. vi. 118 O deerest Soule: Your Cause doth strike my hart With pitty, that doth make me sicke. 1616W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. v. 130 Amazement strucke the multitude. 1671Milton Samson 1644 Such other tryal I mean to shew you of my strength..As with amaze shall strike all who behold. 1726Swift Gulliver iii. x. 129, I freely own my self to have been struck with inexpressible Delight upon hearing this Account. 1774Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1842 I. 164 Any of these innumerable regulations, perhaps, would not have alarmed alone;..the multitude struck them with terrour. 1777Potter æschylus, Prometh. Chain'd 18 It is a sight that strikes my friends with pity. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxix, He was struck with shame at having given way to such a paroxysm. 1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxxi, Rebecca's appearance struck Amelia with terror.
d. To cause (a feeling, etc.) to fall or come suddenly. Const. into, † in, † to.
1583Stubbes Anat. Abus. C ij, The maiestrats also..may were..costlie ornaments..to dignifie their callings..therby to strike a terroure & feare into the harts of the people. 1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 24 It cannot be, this weake and writhled schrimpe Should strike such terror to his Enemies. 1594O. B. Quest. Profit. Concern. 18 b, This would haue stroken such a present ioy into his heart, to heare me give sentence on such impenitent castawaies. 1611Sec. Maiden's Trag. 2444 Her Constancy strikes so much firmnes in vs. 1651tr. Wotton's Panegyr. K. Chas. Reliq. W. 142 Afterwards at a solemn Tilting, I became uncertain whether you strook into the beholders more Ioy or Apprehension. 1659W. Chamberlayne Pharonnida v. v. (1820) 92 Which..through the sad spectator's eye Struck such a terror. 1736T. Lediard Life Marlborough I. 199 [He] struck Terror and Amazement, throughout the whole Empire. 1859Geo. Eliot A. Bede ii, He..might at any moment show himself to them in some way that would strike anguish and penitence into their hearts. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 83 His appearance will strike terror into his enemies.
VI. To make a vigorous movement (as if striking a blow).
48. intr. To make a stroke with the limbs in swimming. Also to strike forward, strike out. Also trans. in to strike a stroke.
1660R. Wild Iter Bor. 9 [He] Flings out his arms and strikes some strokes to swim. 1719De Foe Crusoe i. (Globe) 45 Finding the Water had spent it self,..I strook forward against the Return of the Waves. 1745Pococke Descr. East II. i. ix. 36 It bore me up in such a manner, that when I struck in swimming, my legs were above the water. 1851Mrs. Browning Casa Guidi Wind. i. x. 80 Through the blue Immense, Strike out all swimmers! 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. ii, His first impulse on rising to the surface..was to strike out for the shore. 1888‘Sarah Tytler’ Blackhall Ghosts II. xxi. 183 He..struck out, and swam for a few yards.
fig.1880Goldw. Smith Pessimism in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 210 Good men striking out against the everflowing current of evil and indifference.
b. To make a stroke with one's oar. † Also trans.
1725Pope Odyss. xiii. 95 At once they bend, and strike their equal oars. 1789New Lond. Mag. Sept. 462/2 The boatmen..struck their oars and pushed on. 1892Sporting Life 26 Mar. 7/5 At this point a spurt of 8 strokes was indulged in, the rate of striking being 37 to the minute.
49. Of a horse: To put down his fore feet short, close, etc.
1683Lond. Gaz. No. 1844/8 [He] strikes but little on a pace, but trots and gallops well. 1691Ibid. No. 2727/4 Lost.., a dark-brown Gelding,..strikes close before apt to cut. 1850‘H. Hieover’ Pract. Horsemanship 51 He will find his horse occasionally ‘strike short’, i.e. put down his fore-feet perhaps a yard short of his usual stroke or stride.
b. trans. Of a horse: To alter his pace into (a faster movement). Also intr. To quicken his pace into. Also causatively to put (a horse) into a quicker pace.
1816Scott Old Mort. iii, No sooner had the horses struck a canter than [etc.]. 1823Examiner 416/1 He struck his horses into a gallop. 1861Temple Bar II. 71 The horses had struck into a quick sharp trot.
50. trans. To thrust (the hand, etc.) with a sudden movement; to impel as with a blow. Cf. 36 a. Also to strike out, strike together. Also intr.
1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts 478 [The lion] laying downe his eares, and striking his taile betwixt his legges, like a curre-dogge. 1827Scott Surg. Dau. i, So saying, he struck the forefinger of his right hand against a paper which he held. 1865Meredith Rhoda Fleming xxxii, He struck out his right arm deprecatingly. 1885E. F. Byrrne Entangled I. i. viii. 128 The colonel struck his fingers together. 1892Temple Bar Mar. 314 He struck a quick hand through a thick bundle of papers.
51. intr. To move quickly, dart, shoot. Also fig.
1639S. Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 175 Hee doubted no more of that truth which strooke into his eyes. 1719Young Busiris iv. i, A sudden pain..struck across my heart. 1789Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 307 Some un⁓accountable sparks of fire seemed to strike up and down the hedges. 1855Lynch Rivulet xv. iii, Upward the growing twilight strikes, The morning has begun.
†b. To pass suddenly, ‘burst’, into (a condition). Obs.
1674Govt. Tongue iii. 14 Atheism..has struck on a sudden into such reputation, that it scorns any longer to sculk.
c. To start suddenly into (a song, tune).
1819Scott Ivanhoe xl, The Jester next struck into another carol. 1892Stevenson & L. Osbourne Wrecker vii. 109 The musicians..struck into a skittish polka.
d. To thrust oneself suddenly or vigorously into (a quarrel, debate, a joint action).
1828Scott F.M. Perth ii, He sees no brawl but he must strike into the midst of it. 1850Carlyle Latter-d. Pamph. i. (1872) 39 Here is work for you; strike into it with man⁓like, soldierlike obedience. 1879McCarthy Own Time III. xxxix. 190 He could not strike into a debate actually going on. 1883F. M. Peard Contrad. xvii, Atherton..struck into the conversation again.
e. trans. (= strike into) in certain phrases. to strike an attitude: see attitude 2. † to strike a bustle: to make a commotion.
1825Cobbett Rur. Rides 187, I got up, struck a bustle, got up the ostler, set off, [etc.]. 1840Dickens Old C. Shop lvi, At the end of this quotation in dialogue, each gentleman struck an attitude.
52. intr.
a. Of light: To pierce through (a medium), break through (clouds, darkness). Also fig.
1563Fulke Goodly Gallery Meteors (1571) 36 Y⊇ sunn striking through a sixe pointed stoone, called Iris. 1641Milton Reform. i. 6 The bright and blissfull Reformation..strook through the black and settled Night of Ignorance and Anti-christian Tyranny. 1797Ht. Lee Canterb. T., Frenchm. T. (1799) I. 295 As moonlight struck through the breaks, she put her head out of the window. 1908[Miss E. Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 43 When a lowering sun strikes through the blooms, and enhances their glories.
b. Of cold: To go through, penetrate to. lit. and fig. Also of the wind, something damp or cold, to strike chill, strike damp, etc.; also trans.
1569W. Hubbard Ceyx & Alcione A iij, There strake: A chilnes straight vnto hir hart. 1656Cowley Misc. Pref., The cold of the Countrey had strucken through all his faculties. 1841Browning Pippa Passes i. Poems (1905) 168/2, I rather should account the plastered wall A piece of him, so chilly does it strike. 1844Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. V. i. 101 In frosty weather the cold strikes through the slates. 1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting vii. 279, I swam five rivers in pursuit, having on a pair of goatskin trousers, which struck me icy cold. 1887G. M. Robins False Position III. i. 9 May felt as if the cold were striking to her heart. Ibid. III. ix. 171 His cold voice struck miserably into her heart. 1889Rider Haggard Col. Quaritch xli, The..damp of the place struck to his marrow. 1894A. St. Aubyn Orchard Damerel III. ii. 44 [The rooms] struck damp and chilly like a vault.
c. Of a disease: To pass inwards (leaving the surface or extremities). Cf. strike in, 81 d.
1843R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. xxviii. 363 When ostitis occupies the external table of the cranium, it seldom strikes inwards. 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. ii. ix, But as long as they [the measles] strikes out'ards, sir..they ain't so much. It's their striking in'ards that's to be kep off.
53. trans.
a. To cause to penetrate, impart (life, warmth, dampness), to, into, through.
1611Shakes. Cymb. iii. iii. 97 The yonger Brother..Strikes life into my speech, and shewes much more His owne conceyuing. 1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 203 Vapours..strike a very great Dampness to the Walls of the Building. 1721Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 194 A Coat of Horse-Dung..for about six Weeks strikes a Warmth through the Boards. 1749Fielding Tom Jones xv. ii, You have struck a damp to my heart which has almost deprived me of being. 1890Mrs. H. Wood House of Halliwell II. ii. 24 The east wind had struck inflammation to the chest of a lovely child. 1890Conan Doyle Firm of Girdlestone xli, His voice..struck a chill into the girl's heart.
†b. ? To send out or forth (a beam of light); to cause to impinge on (cf. 62 b). lit. and fig. Obs.
1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 419 In this, four Windows are contriv'd, that strike To the four Winds oppos'd, their Beams oblique. 1697― æneis viii. 35 So when the Sun by Day, or Moon by Night, Strike, on the polish'd Brass, their trembling Light. 1704Norris Ideal World ii. iii. 246 To strike a through light into this whole matter at once.
c. To force (heat) into.
1677Moxon Mech. Exerc. i. 8 Wet the outside of the Fire to damp the outside, as well to save Coals, as to strike the force of the Fire into the inside.
54. Of a plant, cutting, etc.: To send down or out (its roots); to put forth (its root or roots).
1707Mortimer Husb. 133 The best experienced Planters prefer October..that then the Hops will settle and strike Root against Spring. 1733W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 87 The hollow Earth..will..receive, nourish, and cause the same [seed] to strike its Radicle into it. 1851Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 296 Grasses which strike their roots deep in the ground. 1859Jephson Brittany v. 57 The tree which strikes its roots and fibres most widely into the soil produces the most abundant fruit and foliage. 1886Encycl. Brit. XX. 174/1 The danthonia and sparobolus strike deep roots.
fig.1711Addison Spect. No. 261 ⁋5 The Passion should strike Root, and gather Strength before Marriage be grafted on it. 1893Traill Social Eng. Introd. 45 The art of painting..had all the tenderness of an exotic. It struck no roots into our chilly soil.
b. intr. Of a plant, seed, cutting, piping, layer, etc.: To put forth roots. Of a root: To penetrate the soil. Also with advs. in, down.
1682Grew Anat. Plants 59 Some [roots] run Level,..Some strike down, but a little way,..others grow deep. 1766Complete Farmer s.v. Saintfoin, There is some seed of which not one in ten will strike. 1800Trans. Soc. Arts XVIII. 372 The cuttings of jasmine..strike with wonderful facility. 1841Florist's Jrnl. (1846) II. 51 The pipings or layers..otherwise..will have become hard, and not strike quite so easily. 1841Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. II. i. 55 The roots..will strike down several feet. 1847Ibid. VIII. i. 210 The roots will strike in deeper in search of nutriment. 1892Cassell's Mag. Nov. 718/1 The chrysanthemum strikes so easily that, in order to get a dwarf plant, we merely take off the tops and strike them. Ibid. 718/2 In a very few days your young cuttings will have struck and commenced their growth.
fig.1769Junius Lett. xxxi, Believe me, sir, the precedent strikes deep. 1825New Monthly Mag. XIII. 94 The impression, if it takes root, strikes deep. 1892Sat. Rev. 30 Jan. 132/1 The taint strikes deeper.
c. transf. Of a young oyster: (see quot.).
1881Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 249 Strike, to become tenanted by living oysters; or when infant oysters attach themselves to any object they are said to ‘strike’. (Staten Island.)
d. trans. To cause (a cutting, etc.) to root; to propagate (a plant) by means of a cutting, etc.
1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 251 In the case of plants which are not difficult to strike, a portion of the young shoot is cut off. 1891New Rev. Oct. 384 She says she can strike one of the flowers and make it grow into a plant.
55. To change the colour of (a substance) by chemical action into (a specified colour); to produce or assume (a specified colour) by this means.
1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 74 If into the Infusion of Violets you put..the oyl of Tartar..it will presently strike it into a green Tincture. 1670W. Simpson Hydrol. Ess. 69 Artificial alom will not with galls strike a purple colour. 1682Grew Anat. Plants v. 277 There are very few Flowers that will strike into a Blew by any Liquor. 1686Plot Staffordsh. 106 The water of the Well..though it will not turn milk, or strike with Galls, yet it takes not Soap. 1765Morris Somersham Water in Phil. Trans. LVI. 23 The water..still preserved its property of striking a blue and purple with galls. 1826Art of Brewing (ed. 2) 87 Salt of steel..causes a fine mantling head to the porter, and strikes a fine nut-brown colour over the froth. 1857Miller Elem. Chem., Org. 280 A neutral solution of perchloride of iron strikes with morphia a very characteristic blue colour. 1862C. O'Neill Dict. Calico Printing & Dyeing 24/2 A..method of dyeing by means of bichromates..by which the logwood is ‘struck’ of an intense black and fixed. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 359 We have met with some [well-water] which struck a decided brown tinge after..contact with the nitrate.
b. transf. Of a young turkey: to strike the red (see quot.).
1867Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. Ser. ii. III. ii. 526 It is a critical time for young turkeys when the fleshy tubercles begin to appear on the head, generally termed striking the red.
56. a. trans. To cause (a colour, dye) to take or sink in. b. intr. Of a dye: To sink in; also, to spread, run.
a.1769Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1805) 40 Put a lump of butter in a cloth, and rub it [sc. a boiled lobster] over; it will strike the colour and make it look bright. 1839Ure Dict. Arts 642 [It] will enable the oxygen of the atmosphere to strike the dye more perfectly..into the materials.
b.c1790J. Imison Sch. Arts II. 88 To stain Wood Red. Take archal one pound, add 1–4th oil of vitriol,..to make it strike deeper, add a little more oil of vitriol. 1835J. Hannett Bibliopegia 91 Each colour should be allowed to properly strike into the leather before another is used. 1873Spon Workshop Rec. Ser. i. (1885) 321/2 Wash the shawl..in this [scouring] mixture... Next rinse it in salt and water, in order to prevent the colours striking.
57. trans. To cause (herrings) to become impregnated with salt or (pork) with saltpetre in curing.
1780Young Tour Irel. I. 230 Vessels for striking the herrings, that is, putting them in salt for 10 or 12 days. 1850Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XI. ii. 589 The latter..is sometimes found a formidable difficulty in the way of good curing, or, as it is technically termed, striking the meat and taking the salt, the former term applying to saltpetre, and the latter to the common salt used.
VII. To impinge upon.
58. intr. Of a moving body: To impinge upon or come into collision or contact with something else. Const. on, upon, against.
[c1340,c1375: see strike together, 85.] 1626Bacon Sylva §957 There would be Triall also made, of holding a Ring by a Threed in a Glasse, and telling him that holdeth it, before, that it shall strike so many times against the side of the Glasse, and no more. 1690Locke Hum. Und. iii. iv. §10 The Cartesians tell us, that Light is a great number of little Globules, striking briskly on the bottom of the Eye. 1737Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 88 Objects compress or strike upon the Extremities of the Nerves by their Motion. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. vi. (1842) 183 If, in passing through the funnel, some of the powder has struck against and adhered to the inside of the neck of the flask. 1858Lardner Hand-bk. Nat. Philos. 102 When a liquid strikes upon a solid surface in an oblique direction. 1891Emily & Dor. Gerard Sensitive Plant III. iii. xx. 204 The arm which had struck against the bridge was swollen. 1901Scotsman 10 Sept. 7/1 There is a close connection between lunar darkness and the number of birds killed striking [against the glass of a lighthouse].
fig.1846T. T. Lynch Lett. to Scattered (1872) 546 Cold words of argument strike upon the face, like a sleet shower.
†b. said of a moving shadow. Obs.
1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. ii. xvi. 93 Hold up the Center until the Shade of the Brass-Pin strikes on the Sight and Line of E.
†c. to strike upward: to rebound. Obs.—0
1530Palsgr. 740/2, I stryke upwarde, I rebounde... Whan a thyng falleth strayght out of the ayre, it wyll stryke upwarde whan it falleth to the yerthe.
59. trans. To come into forcible contact or collision with.
1626Bacon Sylva §9 All Liquors strucken make round Circles. 1636Cowley Sylva 411 As when soft westwinds strooke the garden Rose. 1697Dryden æneis v. 683 She [the dove] leaves her Life aloft, she strikes the Ground. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1824) I. xxx. 244 This air strikes and affects the auditory nerves, which carry the sound to the brain. 1866‘Capt. Crawley’ Billiard Bk. iv. 46 Here you will see how a ball may be made to strike all six cushions. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Struck by a Sea, said of a ship when a high rolling wave breaks on board of her. 1882Encycl. Brit. XIV. 385/2 The drum is made to revolve.., the blunt edges and external angles of the knives thereby striking the surface of the leather. 1892Longm. Mag. July 272 The wind striking the face of the mountain. 1899W. C. Morrow Bohem. Paris 49 His stool-legs were so loosened that when he sat down he struck the floor with a crash.
b. fig. (chiefly after Latin ferire cælum, sidera).
1605Shakes. Macb. iv. iii. 6 Each new Morne, New Widdowes howle, new Orphans cry, new sorowes Strike heauen on the face, that it resounds [etc.]. 1625T. H[awkins] Horace, Odes i. i. (1638) 2 But let me stand a Lyrick mongst the rest, I'le strike the starry vault with raised crest. 1712–14Pope Rape L. v. 42 Heroes' and Heroines' shouts confus'dly rise, And bass, and treble voices strike the skies. 1819J. H. Wiffen Aonian Hours 73 A loud shout thrice strikes the golden stars.
†c. With adv. or phrase expressing the result. Also, to make (a hole) by impact. Obs.
1530Palsgr. 739/2, I stryke ones foote out of joynt, je mets son pied hors du moulle. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, i. iv. 19 Me thought that Glouster stumbled, and in falling Strooke me (that thought to stay him) ouer-boord. 1601Strange Rep. Sixe Notorious Witches A iij, He had such a fal, that the huckle bone of his thigh was stroken out of ioynt. 1632Lithgow Trav. ii. 62 A great lake [= leak] was stricken into our Ship. 1751Affecting Narr. H.M.S. Wager 20 One of our Men..had the Misfortune to be struck over-Board in handing the Fore-Sail.
60. spec. Of a ship:
a. intr. To hit (on or upon a rock, etc.); to collide with a rock, run aground.
1518H. Watson Hist. Oliver of Castile (Roxb.) E 3 b, Vpon the thyrde daye theyr shyp stroke on grounde, by so grete force that it claue in two pyeces. 1612R. Coverte Voy. 23 And presently the ship strooke, which I presently went vp and told him of. 1669Dryden Tempest i. (1670) 4 Trinc... There's a Rock upon the Star-board Bow. Steph. She strikes, she strikes! 1743Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 17 The Ship struck abaft on a sunken Rock. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v., To Strike, to run ashore, or to beat upon the ground in passing over a bank or shallow. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. III. xxviii. 89 The yacht had struck bow on.
b. trans. To hit or run upon (a rock, the ground, a mine).
1587Janes in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 792 This day we stroke a rocke. 1870Morris Earthly Par. III. 512 My sight clears, and I see his black bows strike The hidden skerry. 1913Times 14 May 5/5 The Portuguese cruiser..struck a rock near Dumbell Island.
61. Naut. to strike ground, strike soundings: to reach the bottom with a sounding line. Also transf. of a swimmer: To touch (bottom).
1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 66, I stood right in, the greatest part of the day, with intent to strike ground upon them [i.e. the shoals]. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. vii. 214 We struck ground with sixty-five fathom of line. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 289 To strike soundings, is to find bottom with the deep-sea-lead on coming in from sea. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. III. xxxiv. 238 Scarce had we struck soundings,..when a whole gale of wind blew down upon us.
transf.1875Scribner's Monthly XXX. 735/1 Their steeds..now swimming, again striking bottom, and so until the hoofs of their leader struck the shore.
b. intr. Of water: To have (a specified depth) when sounded.
1858Merc. Marine Mag. V. 322 A..clear..channel appeared open, and..did not strike less than 6½ fathoms.
62. trans. Of a beam or ray of light or heat: To fall on, catch, touch.
a1586Sidney Arcadia iii. xxvi. (1912) 504 The beames thereof so strake his eyes..that [etc.]. 1598R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 154 By reason of the reflexion of the parte strooken with the light. 1789D. Davidson Thoughts on Seasons 69 In yon distant glade The Sun, refulgent, strikes the pearly stream. 1812Cary Dante, Parad. ix. 66 In splendour glowing, Like choicest ruby stricken by the sun. 1903G. H. Lorimer Lett. Self-made Merch. xiii. 184 So he leads the nag out into the middle of a ten-acre lot, where the light will strike him good and strong.
b. intr. Of light: To fall, impinge on.
1662Gerbier Princ. 34 The Lights of the Stable strikes on the Horse their backs. 1690Locke Hum. Und. ii. viii. §19. 58 Hinder light, but from striking on it, and its Colours vanish. 1808Scott Marm. iv. xxi, Full on his face the moonbeam strook. 1831Brewster Optics iii. 20 Having marked the point at which the ray from S strikes. 1892H. R. Mill Realm of Nature vii. 110 Light from the Sun..strikes on the upper atmosphere.
63. trans. Of a sound, report, etc.: To fall on, reach, or catch (the ear). † Also (? nonce-use) of an odour: To affect (the nostrils).
1596Drayton Legends, Matilda 122 Hauing his Eare oft strooke with this Report. 1603Florio Montaigne i. xii. 22 If the cracke of a musket do sodainly streeke mine eares, in a place where I least looke for it. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. i. ii. 421 Turne then my freshest Reputation to A sauour, that may strike the dullest Nosthrill Where I arriue. 1650Sir H. Newton in Verney Mem. (1904) I. 464 The sound of your sadnesse first struck my eares at Flushing, but heere it strikes my heart to know the truth of it. 1741Watts Improv. Mind i. i. 25 So that the glance of an eye, or a word striking the ear..shall conduct you to a train of happy sentiments. 1805Wordsw. Fidelity 15 Nor shout, nor whistle strikes his ear. 1891Strand Mag. II. 512/1 [A] scraping sound struck his quick ear.
absol.1816Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxi, But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!
b. intr. with on, upon.
1848Dickens Dombey lvi, The words..will strike upon my ears like a knell. 1850Tait's Mag. XVII. 270/2 A sound struck on his ear.
64. trans. Of a thought, an idea: To come into the mind of, occur to (a person). Freq. in the phr. it strikes (or it struck) me that —.
1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. ii. 87 He was dispos'd to mirth, but on the sodaine A Romane thought hath strooke him. 1712–13Swift Jrnl. to Stella 14 Jan., I said something in his praise, when it struck me immediately that I had made a blunder in doing so. 1775Sheridan Duenna i. iv, Hold..a thought has struck me! 1827Scott Highl. Widow v, The first idea that struck him was, that the passenger belonged to his own corps. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 754 It strikes me that the scribe confounded these laws. 1891Murray's Mag. X. 732 A happy thought struck Lady Betty.
65. To impress or arrest (the eye, view, sight).
1700Dryden Fables Pref. *A 2 b, Words, indeed, like glaring Colours, are the first Beauties that arise, and strike the Sight. 1737Gentl. Mag. VII. 30/1 The first Thing intended to have struck the Eye, was to have been a grand and stately Statue. 1759Johnson Rasselas xxx, When the eye or the imagination is struck with any uncommon work. 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. ii. 12 Whose appearance always strikes the eye with delight. 1837P. Keith Bot. Lex. 196 Habit..is that sort of resemblance which strikes the eye of the beholder at first sight, without putting him to the trouble of enquiring in what it specifically consists. 1892Cornh. Mag. July 36 That is the only object that strikes our eyes.
66. Of something seen or heard: To impress strongly (a person); to appear remarkable to.
1672Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Rehearsal iv. ii. (Arb.) 109 [Volscius recites.] Bayes. Ah! I gad, that strikes me. 1711Addison Spect., No. 50 ⁋1 Being wonderfully struck with the Sight of everything that is new or uncommon. 1764Dodsley Leasowes in Shenstone's Wks. (1777) II. 318 On the entrance into this shrubbery, the first object that strikes us is a Venus de Medicis. 1802M. Edgeworth Moral T., Forester xvi, Those arguments..struck him..with all the force of conviction. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxvi, His attendant was struck by the unusual change in his deportment. 1839Card. Wiseman Anglican Claim Apostolic Succession (1905) 89 We have been struck how the Donatists, while they did not relish this name, had no objection to the national appellation of Africans. 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. x. 263 The absence in him of prejudice and partisanship..was what used to strike us most.
absol.1717Pope Ep. Jervas 44 Thence endless streams of fair Ideas flow, Strike in the sketch, or in the picture glow. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. iv. §15 Things which rarely happen strike; whereas frequency lessens the admiration of things. 1779Johnson L.P., Milton (1781) I. 204 The style [of his History of England] is harsh; but it has something of rough vigour, which perhaps may often strike, though it cannot please. 1830J. G. Strutt Sylva Brit. 6 A forest is more calculated to strike by the greatness of its aggregate. 1869J. Phillips Vesuvius i. 4 The first passage which strikes in Latin authors is that written by Pliny.
b. intr. To make an impression (on the mind, senses, observation).
1732Pope Ess. Man ii. 128 All spread their charms, but charm not all alike; On diff'rent senses, diff'rent objects strike. 1848Keble Serm. Pref. 23 A plain and palpable case, and would strike on pure minds with a force like mathematical demonstration. 1887E. F. Byrrne Heir without Heritage I. ix. 161 The obvious truth in her mother's sayings struck on her sense of the fitting.
c. trans. To impress in a specified way; to strike one as —, to appear to one as —, to give one the impression of being —. † Also absol. (obs.).
a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 137 That it strikes the Mind with an Air of Greatness. 1749Fielding Tom Jones viii. xiv, It has often struck me, as the most wonderful thing I ever read of. 1777Storer in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1844) III. 198, I know the same thing strikes different people in many ways, but thus he seemed to me. 1779Sheridan Critic i. i, Now, Mrs. Dangle, didn't you say it struck you in the same light? 1802W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. (1843) I. 410 The style of building [at Calais] strikes as being more roomy and gentlemanlike. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-bks. (1872) I. 6 The French cathedral strikes one as lofty. 1888Lady D. Hardy Dang. Experiment II. v. 82 Her beauty struck him in a new light. 1902Bridges To Burns xv. Poems (1912) 388 The good man's pleasure 'tis to do 't; That's how it strikes him.
d. To impress or catch (the senses, fancy, imagination, notice, curiosity, etc.).
1697Dryden æneis xi. 520 Such Truths, O king, said he, your Words contain, As strike the Sence, and all Replies are vain. 1698Collier Short View Eng. Stage 160 We ought not to..Fly out at every Thing that strikes the Fancy. 1728Pope Dunc. i. 65 There motly images her fancy strike, Figures ill pair'd, and Similes unlike. 1781C. Johnston Hist. J. Juniper II. 228, I could not help staring at her, in such a way, as struck her notice. 1781J. Moore Italy II. xlviii. (1790) 63 No ceremony can be better calculated for striking the senses. 1784Tyers in Gentl. Mag. LIV. ii. 908/1 He talked much of travelling into Poland, to observe the life of the Palatines, the account of which struck his curiosity very much. 1890Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip XXVI. 71 Any moss, which..may strike the finder's fancy should be lifted..and planted in a..pot.
e. To catch the admiration, fancy, or affection of (one of the opposite sex); in pass., to be favourably impressed by (an idea, suggestion, etc.). In pass., constr. by, with, also (vulgarly) to be struck on. Now colloq.
1599Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. (1602) E 4, I haue put on good cloathes, and smugd my face, Strook a faire wench, with a smart speaking eye. 1638Cowley Love's Riddle iii. i. 37 You'd aske how many shepheards she hath strooken? 1796–7Jane Austen Pride & Prej. iii. (1813) 10 He seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. 1838Dickens Nich. Nick. xxiii, Miss Ledrook..joked Miss Snevellicci about being struck with Nicholas. 1893Fam. Herald 131/1 ‘I'm glad you're struck on her’, said Bob. 1899J. K. Jerome Three Men in Boat i. 17 The only one who was not struck with the suggestion was Montmorency. 1938C. P. Conigrave Walk-About ix. 50, I don't think he's too struck on my going back to Rosewood. 1940‘N. Shute’ Old Captivity iv. 110, I don't know that I'm so struck on this, sir.
67. intr. To hit or light on, upon.
1616J. Healey tr. Cebes 166 You strike on truth in all things, sir. 1839Longfellow Hyperion i. vii. (1852) 44 [These literary men] often strike upon trains of thought, which stand written in good authors some century or so back... But they know it not; and imagine [etc.].
68. trans. To come upon, reach (a hill, river, path, etc.) in travelling; to come to (a place) in the course of one's wanderings. Also of a line: To hit, come upon (a specified point). orig. chiefly U.S. and Colonial.
1798Mass. Mercury 30 Oct. (Thornton Amer. Gloss.) Thence south, such a course as will strike William Negro's house. 1808Pike Sources Mississ. (1810) ii. 134 In about five miles we struck a beautiful hill, which bears south on the prairie. 1824Excurs. U.S. & Canada 182 My host..put me into the proper direction for ‘striking’ the path leading to Cat's Ferry. 1830Lyell Princ. Geol. I. 324 A line drawn through the Grecian archipelago,..Southern Italy, Sicily, Southern Spain, and Portugal, will, if prolonged westward through the ocean, strike the volcanic group of the Azores. 1879S. C. Bartlett Egypt to Pal. x. 221 We continued the sharp ascent, and struck a path winding..round the hill. 1890‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer xxiii, They struck the river within a day's ride of Rainbar. 1896Baden-Powell Matabele Campaign vi, At length we successfully struck the spoor. 1901T. J. Alldridge Sherbro xxvi. 293 At 10.50 we struck the boundary line of the Limba Sehla country. 1915Nation 30 Oct. 175 Born of pioneer parents, who struck Iowa just before the Civil War.
b. to strike town: to go into town from camp. Chiefly N. Amer.
1902S. E. White Blazed Trail xxvi, When the boys struck town, the proprietors and waitresses [of the saloons] stood in their doorways to welcome them. 1910G. H. Lorimer Old Gorgon Graham ii, Binder got a pretty warm welcome when he struck town.
c. To come across, meet with, encounter (a person or thing) unexpectedly; also, to hit upon (the object of one's search). Chiefly U.S.
1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxx, The third day I struck a town o' sand-rats. 1877J. F. Rusling Great West 39 On Wild-Cat Creek..we struck a Mr. Silvers. 1892Harper's Mag. Aug. 404/1 That's an introduction to the editor,..and you'll strike him at the office just now, if you'd like to see him. 1893Black & White 25 Feb. 234/1 He calculated upon getting across the Bay of Biscay and striking warm, safe weather in June. 1890F. R. Stockton The ‘Merry Chanter’ xii. 114, ‘I did 'nt strike the stairs at first,’ whispered the butcher, ‘and I went too far along that upper hall.’
d. To come upon, find (a pocket, vein, or seam of mineral, a stratum of water, oil, etc.) in prospecting, boring, etc. to strike a bonanza (cf. bonanza 1). to strike it rich: to find a rich mineral deposit. Also in similar fig. phrases. to strike oil: see oil n.1 3 f.
1835C. F. Hoffman Winter in West II. 47, I hear that he has lately struck a lead. 1852L. Clappe Shirley Lett. Calif. Mines 216 When a company wish to reach the bedrock as quickly as possible, they sink a shaft..until they ‘strike it’. 1854California Daily Chron. 19 May 3/7 Messrs. Emory & Bacon, just above the claim of Messrs. Meredith & Co., have also struck it rich. 1862‘Mark Twain’ Let. (1917) I. iii. 76 Well, if you haven't ‘struck it rich—’ that is, if the piece of rock you sent me came from a bona fide ledge—and it looks as if it did. c1863T. Taylor Ticket-of-Leave Man iii. 47 He..had to bolt to Australia—struck an awfully full pocket at the diggings, and is paying off his old ticks like an emperor. a1864Gesner Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865) 33 He [the oil-well borer] cannot tell to a certainty that he will ‘strike oil’. 1872‘Mark Twain’ Innoc. at Home xvi. (1882) 361 At the end of two months we had never ‘struck’ a pocket. 1875Eagle Mag. (St. John's Coll. Camb.) IX. 340 He started ‘prospecting’, struck gold, entered his claim. 1885Manch. Exam. 22 Sept. 4/7 A seam of coal 6 ft. thick has been struck at depths of 441 and 444 yards. 1885Harper's Mag. Apr. 698/1 Courage and hope are kept up by the expectation of ‘striking it rich’. 1887F. Francis Jun. Saddle & Mocassin 56 He said..that as soon as he ‘struck a Bonanza’, he meant to sit around..on week-days too. 1892Harper's Mag. May 906/2 Water is struck at from 600 to 1200 feet.
transf. and fig.1884‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxi. 208 We struck it mighty lucky. 1884Milnor (Dakota) Teller 18 July, Mr. B. is very enthusiastic over his location, and thinks he has struck it rich. 1895Pall Mall Mag. Nov. 329 Ef I'd a smart pard..we might strike a lead of luck. 1953[see pay-dirt s.v. pay- 2]. 1975Sydney Morning Herald 15 Nov. 55 West Indies batsmen struck pay dirt aplenty in the SCG yesterday. 1977A. C. H. Smith Jericho Gun vi. 85 He didn't mind a penny. It was what he had always thought he would do when he struck it.
e. intr. Colloq. phr. to strike lucky, to hit a vein of good fortune.
1951Sport 6–12 Apr. 17/1 Birmingham struck lucky because several London clubs refused to give Graham Warren a trial. 1984Financial Times 31 Jan. 17/7 The Bush strikes lucky more often than any fringe theatre has a right to.
VIII. Senses of uncertain position.
69. to strike hands (said of two parties to a bargain): To take one another by the hand in confirmation of a bargain; hence, to ratify a bargain with (another). Hence † to strike one's truth, to pledge one's truth by ‘striking hands’; † to strike hearts (nonce-use).
c1440Sir Eglam. 246 ‘Ȝys,’ seyde the erle, ‘here myn honde!’ Hys trowthe to hym he strake. 1530Palsgr. 739/2, I stryke handes, as men do that agre apon a bargen or covenant, je touche la. 1560Bible (Geneva) Esther Apocr. xiv. 8 They haue stroken hands with their idoles, That thei wil abolish the thing that thou..hast ordained. 1606Bp. W. Barlow 1st Serm. Hampton Crt. (1607) D 2, The Apostle Paul receiued not his function by hands either imposed or strooken, but by especiall reuelation,..The hands imposed Acts 13. were commendatiue, the right handes strooken, Gal. 1 were stipulative. 1652Shirley Brothers i. i, I'l find a portion for her, if you strike Affectionate heartes. 1682Bunyan Holy War (1905) 210 This Son of Shaddai, I say, having stricken hands with his Father, and promised that he would be his servant to recover his Mansoul again, stood by his resolution. 1745De Foe's Eng. Tradesm. xi. (1841) I. 85 Three things every tradesman ought to consider before he ‘strikes hands with a stranger’, that is, before he is bound for another. 1823‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf 167 Bargains in Smithfield are confirmed by the striking of hands—the palms together. 1885Times 10 Mar. 4/1 The parties had ‘struck their hands together’ in the usual Yorkshire fashion, but before the delivery of the calves. 1915Nation (N.Y.) 10 June 642/1 Stories about McKinley or Roosevelt having struck hands in the dark with France and England.
†b. to strike (a person) luck: to give him a ‘luck-penny’ on making a bargain. Obs.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe F 1 b, The consistorians or setled standers of Yarmouth..gather about him as flocking to hansell him and strike him good luck. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Scornf. Lady ii. iii, Capt. Take it, h'as overbidden by the Sun: bind him on his bargain quickly. Young Lo. Come strike me luck with earnest, and draw the writings. 1664Butler Hud. ii. i. 540 But if that's all you stand upon; Here, strike me luck, it shall be done. 1677W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. viii. 128, I..dare not venture to make a Bargain, and strike them luck.
70. [Partly from sense 69; partly after L. ferire fœdus.] To settle, arrange the terms of, make and ratify (an agreement, a treaty, covenant, truce; † marriage, † peace); esp. in phrase to strike a bargain. See also strike up, 87 d.
1544Betham Precepts War i. lxxii. D vij b, Yet he denyed not to stryke truce wyth hym. 1581A. Hall Iliad viii. 143 A noble Nimphe, with hir good king in Thrace did mariage strike. 1600S. Nicholson Acolastus' After-witte H 3 b, While Leacherie and Lucar strike a match, Making a compound of two deadly sinnes. 1624Quarles Job Militant vii, The Beasts shall strike with thee eternall Peace. 1646Hammond in Copy of some Papers (1647) 96 The Gospel..or second Covenant, stricken with us in Christ. 1711in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 172 The Confederat Princes will be compelled..to strike a peace with France. 1749Fielding Tom Jones ix. iv, Between these two..a league was struck. 1766Blackstone Comm. II. xxx. 448 As soon as the bargain is struck, the property of the goods is transferred to the vendee. 1865Parkman France & Eng. in N. Amer. i. vii. (1876) 89 The compact struck, Menendez hastened to his native Asturias. 1883F. M. Crawford Mr. Isaacs i, I struck a bargain with an old marwarri over a small stone. 1892Good Words Oct. 658/2 We struck a truce.
b. To form (acquaintance) with. ? Obs. exc. in strike up: see 87 e.
1595W. W[arner] Plautus' Menæcmi ii. i. (1779) 124 If they can by any meanes strike acquaintance with him.
c. To fix (a price) by agreement.
to strike the (sheriff-) fiars, to strike the (fiar-) prices (Sc. 1723–1887): see fiars.
1526in Househ. Ord. (1790) 215 That to be done within six dayes after the striking of the said prices.
†d. intr. To agree (to articles or terms). Obs.
1706E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 14 Batter him with Gold once, and he shall strike instantly to the most scandalous Articles that Hell can offer.
71. trans. To balance (a book or sheet of accounts); to strike a balance: see balance n. 17 b. Also, to reach (a figure, loss, or profit) by balancing an account.
1539–40in Househ. Ord. (1790) 229 And the said..Bookes, to lye vpon the Green cloth dayly, to the intent the Accomptants..may take out the solutions.., whereby they may strike their Lydgers. 1855Poultry Chron. III. 284 In striking the balance sheet, [he] found himself in consequence of the experiment, minus over 1000 dollars. 1880Tax Cases I. 500 In striking their annual profits so as to fix the sum divisible as dividend, the Railway Company have gone upon actual expenditure, and not upon a mere estimate of probable wear and tear. 1932Economist 16 Jan. 127/2 For years past the banks have been building up contingency reserves by appropriations made before and after striking their net profits. 1955[see clearing-bank s.v. clearing vbl. n. 8]. 1980Daily Tel. 30 July 1/4 Last year's loss..was struck after allowing for depreciation of {pstlg}87 million and interest payments of {pstlg}188 million.
72. To determine, estimate (an average, a mean).
1729A. Dobbs Trade Irel. 37 The Number of Years upon which each Medium is struck. 1853Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XIV. i. 68 A difference in value of full 20 per cent. is often struck in the London market between the produce of contiguous dairies. 1862Temple Bar V. 269 When a sufficient number of records have been kept, the average is struck. 1884Manch. Exam. 30 Sept. 5/6 One has to strike a mean between the glowing accounts of fortunate settlers and the pessimistic views of its detractors. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. ciii. III. 480, I think, that so far as it is possible to strike an average, both the pecuniary and the social position of the American clergy must be pronounced slightly better.
73. to strike a docket: see docket n.1 6.
†74. To throw (a die) in some particular fraudulent manner. Obs.
1586T. Newton tr. Daneau's Dice-play F 4 b, If there bee any cogging Panion..that by sleight..goeth about to help the chaunce, or strike the Dyce [L. casum aleæ moderari, aut regere conetur.] 1680Cotton Compl. Gamester (ed. 2) 11 Fourthly by Knapping, that is, when you strike a Dye dead that it shall not stir.
75. slang.
†a. trans. To steal (goods), rob (a person); also absol. and with cognate object.
1567Harman Caveat (1869) 86 Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some chete. Nowe we haue well dronke, let us steale some thinge. 1591Greene Notable Discov. Coosnage Wks. (Grosart) X. 38 In Figging Law..The Act doing, striking. 1591― 2nd Pt. Conny-catching Ibid. X. 110 The young toward scholler although perhaps he had striken some few stroks before, yet seeing [etc.]. Ibid. X. 112 While hee was busie about that, the Nippe had stroken the purse. 1611Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl v. i. L 1 b, 1 Cut[purse]. Shall we venture to shuffle in amongst yon heap of Gallants and strike? 1622Fletcher Beggars' Bush iii. iii, To mand on the pad, and strike all the cheats. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew.
†b. intr. To borrow money. Obs.
c. To beg; also in phr. to strike it.
1618G. Mynshul Ess. Prison 47 To borrow money is called striking, but the blow can hardly or neuer be recouered. 1655Shirley Gent. Venice i. i, I must borrow money, And that some call a striking. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Strike, to Beg, to Rob; also to borrow Money. 1898M. Davitt Life & Progr. Australia xxxv. 192 To ‘strike it’ is to beg.
d. trans. To make a sudden and pressing demand upon (a person for a loan, etc.). Also absol. or intr.
1751Fielding Amelia viii. vi, The gentleman, who in the vulgar language, had struck, or taken him in for a guinea. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xx, The moment a nobleman returns from his travels..I strike for a subscription. 1893Scribner's Mag. Aug. 263/2 It would be vastly better for him to shelve his books and go down and strike his Uncle Munday for a job. 1899Jesse L. Williams Stolen Story etc. 291 There's Billy Woods..look out, let's hurry by or he'll strike us for the price of a drink.
e. U.S. Polit. slang. ‘To induce (a person) to pay money on the promise of getting him votes, legislative favors, etc.’ (D.A.E.).
1859G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 87 Strike, to get money from candidates before an election, under the pretense of getting votes for them. 1883M. de L. Landon Wit & Humor of Age 345 He had a way of striking the politicians who wanted a favor out of the Governor. 1894H. C. Merwin in Atlantic Monthly Feb. LXXIII. 248/2 A legislator ‘strikes’ a corporation, as I have indicated, when he introduces some bill calculated to injure it directly or indirectly; his purpose being, not to have the bill pass, but to compel the corporation to buy him off.
76. a. Electr. (See quot.18911.) Also, † of an electric charge, to pass as a spark (cf. sense 43 a); of an electric discharge, to come into being; also transf. of the tube containing it.
1777T. Cavallo Compl. Treat. Electr. iii. iii. 163 When the jar is charging, and the charge is become so high as to strike through half an inch of air. 1827Phil. Mag. I. 344 If the distance be greater than that over which the charge can strike in the form of a spark, or with explosion. 1891‘Electrician’ Primers (ed. W. R. Cooper), Gloss. (1906) 31 When the carbons of an arc lamp separate and form an arc the lamp is said to ‘strike’, or the arc to be ‘struck’. Ibid. No. 44. 1 In spite of this, arc lamps sometimes start or ‘strike’ violently and repeatedly..on first being switched on. 1929Phil. Mag. VIII. 1100 The uncertain delay which occurs between the instant at which the requisite voltage is applied to the lamp and that at which the discharge strikes. 1962J. H. & P. J. Reyner Radio Communication v. 237 Once the tube has struck, however, the current can be maintained with a somewhat lower anode potential.
b. Electroplating. To produce the beginning of (a deposit of metal).
1894J. W. Urquhart Electro-plating vi. (ed. 3) 160 For ‘striking’ the first deposit [of nickel] two or more [batteries] are usually employed.
c. trans. To bring (an arc) into being. Cf. sense 30 a.
1891[see sense 76 a]. 1930Engineering 7 Feb. 173/2 Oil..played an important part in quenching the arc which was struck when those contacts were separated. 1950Gill & Simons Mod. Welding Technique xi. 129 On occasion it may be found difficult to strike an arc. 1976C. Bradshaw Metall. for Schools xi. 143/1 An arc is struck between the electrode and the workpiece.
77. intr. In the United States army: To perform menial services for an officer; to act as an officer's servant. (Cent. Dict. 1891.) Cf. striker 6 b.
b. U.S. Naut. (See quot. 19521.)
1952J. V. Noel Naval Terms Dict. 212 Strike..to work for, as in..‘he is striking for chief’. Strike for..to learn the trade of. 1952MSTS Bull. May 9/1 Few and far between are those who don't ‘strike’ for a rating during their short or long Navy career.
IX. With adverbs.
†78. strike by. trans. To consign to oblivion. Sc. Obs.
1457Dunfermline Reg. (Bannatyne Club) 344 All thingis concernynge þe said mater o tyme bygane strekyn by and fullely remyttyt foreuermare.
79. strike down.
a. trans. To fell (a person or animal) to the ground with a blow.
1470–85Malory Arthur vii. xxiii. 249 With his grete force he stroke doune that knyghte. a1500Chevy Chase 62 (Ashm. MS.), Many sterne the strocke done streght. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 217 Or what fond begger, but to touch the crowne, Would with the scepter straight be stroken down? 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. 4 July (1815) 221, I was so exasperated by the pain of my ear..that, in the first transport, I struck him down. 1890Conan Doyle Firm of Girdlestone xxi, Burt..struck him down with a life-preserver. 1892Temple Bar Nov. 355 The Constitutionalists..saw the sword of a conqueror ready to strike them down.
fig.1593Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 28 Then is sin strucke downe like an Oxe. 1881Gardiner & Mullinger Study Eng. Hist. i. iv. 74 The hope of England seemed to be struck down with Earl Simon. 1976National Observer (U.S.) 9 Oct. 7/4 A new trend in comics has stricken down many of the old taboos.
†b. To precipitate (dregs). Obs. rare.
1594Plat Jewell-ho. i. 79 Dissolue some Sal Armoniacke, in some good Aquafortis, whose fæces..haue beene first striken down with some fine siluer.
†c. intr. To fall (on the knees). Obs. rare.
1616J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. v. 332 Th' whole armie veild their pikes, soldiers and officers on knees down strikes, while hee rode vp and downe.
d. Of the sun: To send down its heat oppressively.
1907J. H. Patterson Man-Eaters of Tsavo App. i. 321 The sun strikes down very fiercely towards midday.
e. trans. To hold invalid (chiefly in legal contexts). U.S.
1894Congress. Rec. 12 Dec. 267/1, I do not care who strikes down class legislation in this country. 1951Federal Reporter (1952) CXCIII. 250/2 The court's opinions make abundantly clear its intention to strike down the entire arrangement. 1964Mod. Law Rev. XXVIII. iii. 343 Their main agreement had been struck down by the Restrictive Practices Court. 1979Tucson (Arizona) Citizen 3 Oct. 4c/2 The decision..struck down a..Superior Court ruling.
80. strike home. (See home adv. 4, 5.) intr. To make an effective stroke or thrust with a weapon or tool. Said also of a weapon or stroke.
1590Cobler Canterb. 10 Because my wife is so idle and will not strike home [with a flail], I stand with my whip to whet hir on. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captaines 913 Courage (saith she) brave Souldiers,..Strike, & strike home, lay on with all your mights. a1628Daborne Poorman's Comf. iii. (1655) E 2, Who strikes a Lion must be sure strike home. 1695Fletcher's Bonduca iii. i, Britains, Strike Home: Revenge your Country's Wrongs. 1822Campbell Song of Greeks 39 Strike home! and the world shall revere us As heroes descended from heroes. 1891Black & White Christm. No. 20/2 The arrow struck home.
fig.1604Marston Malcontent iv. iii. F 3 b, For he that strikes a great man, let him strike home.
b. Of words, etc.: To tell powerfully; to produce a strong impression.
1694F. Bragge Disc. Parables vii. 234 Go and do thou likewise. Which words struck home upon his conscience. 1879Dowden Southey vi. 174 The title ‘Satanic School’ struck home. 1885Manch. Exam. 5 June 5/4 Mr. Bartley's letter asking the Conservative leaders to define a policy appears to have struck home.
81. strike in.
†a. intr. To join with (a person or party) as a co-worker, confederate, partisan, etc.; to fall in agreement with (an opinion, project, etc.). Obs.
a1637B. Jonson Underwoods, Execr. Vulcan 200 Would you had..Strooke in at Millan with the Cutlers there. 1668Dryden Dram. Poesie 18 A Servant or Slave, who has so much wit to strike in with him, and help him to dupe his Father. 1699Bentley Phalaris Introd. 22 A shifting Adversary, that to avoid a thing which presses him, will strike in with any opinion. 1710Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 36 Men that will strike in with all Governments purely for the sake of Preferment. a1732T. Boston Crook in Lot (1805) 117 Strike in with humbling providences, and fight not against them while ye have them. 1793R. Hall Apol. Freedom of Press 78 Ministers of that description..will be disposed on all occasions to strike in with the current of the court.
†b. Of a thing: To fit in (with), agree (with).
1704Norris Ideal World ii. xii. 490 These expressions..strike in no less surprisingly..with this Ideal Hipothisis. 1712Addison Spect. No. 415 ⁋6 Every thing that is Majestick imprints an Awfulness and Reverence on the Mind of the Beholder, and strikes in with the Natural Greatness of the Soul. 1714R. Fiddes Pract. Disc. ii. 9 Sin strikes early in with our tempers and inclinations.
†c. To enter a competition for. (Cf. go in, go v. 81.) Obs.
1632Brome North. Lass iii. ii, If he be mad, I will not be foolish, but strike in for a share. a1700Evelyn Diary 18 June 1660, I propos'd the Ambassy of Constantinople for Mr. Henshaw, but my Lord Winchelsea struck in. 1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 12 Sept., He advises me to strike in for some preferment now I have friends.
d. Of an eruption, disease: To disappear from the surface or the extremities with internal effects. † Also trans., to drive (a disease, sweat) inwards.
1584Cogan Haven Health, Sickn. Oxf. 280 If men did take cold outwardly, it stroke the sweate in, and immediately killed them. 1716Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) V. 280 The small Pox..being struck in upon him by wet & Carelessness, after they were come out. 1767Bickerstaffe Love in the City iii. vii. (ed. 2) 60 Miss M. These are vapours, I was once troubled with them myself on the striking-in of a rash. 1858O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf.-t. vi. (1891) 134 It is very bad to have thoughts and feelings, which were meant to come out in talk, strike in, as they say of some complaints which ought to show outwardly. 1887A. Birrell Obiter Dicta Ser. ii. 43 He lived on till Sunday..when the gout..struck in and he died.
e. To interpose actively in an affair, a contention, quarrel, etc.
a1715Burnet Own Time iii. viii. (1900) II. 154 Upon this the English struck in again: and the King talked so high as if he would engage anew into the war. 1823Scott Quentin D. vi, Lindesay—Guthrie—Tyrie, draw, and strike in! 1891Cornh. Mag. Dec. 644, I can see the pennons of..many others who struck in against us for Charles of Blois. 1892Leisure Hour June 525/1 Its editor has therefore been able to strike in in great problems..with an effect almost unexampled in journalism.
f. To interpose in a discussion or conversation with a remark, an expression of opinion, etc.
1791Boswell Johnson (1904) I. 41 He..sat silent, till upon something which occurred in the course of conversation, he suddenly struck in and quoted Macrobius. 1823Scott Quentin D. xxxiii, But ere he could proceed farther, Louis arose, and struck in with a tone of..dignity and authority. 1865Meredith R. Fleming xlvi, ‘Mark that’, Sedgett struck in. 1892Temple Bar Sept. 130 A hesitating voice..strikes in with a timid remark.
g. To thrust in the scythe in mowing. Also trans.
1845Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VI. ii. 256 The mower has a cradle fixed to a scythe, and strikes in towards the standing corn. 1893Scribner's Mag. Sept. 371 When will the reapers Strike in their sickles?
h. (See quot.)
1888Sci. American 9 June 352/2 A dispatch from Newfoundland says that the caplin have ‘struck in’. This means that the cod..has arrived on the banks.
82. strike off.
a. trans. To cancel by or as by a stroke of a pen; to remove from a list or record. Also fig., † to cancel, remit (an obligation). to strike off with a shilling (Sc.) = cut off (see cut v. 56 i).
1597Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxxvi. §10 To the end it might thereby appeare that we owe to the guides of our soules euen as much as our soules are worth, although the debt of our temporall blessings should bee stricken off. 1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 29 Her presence Shall quite strike off all service I have done. 1662Ir. Act 14 & 15 Chas. II, c. 2 §59 You are to strike off and deduct all fractions of odd acres, roods and pearches. 1690E. Gee Jesuit's Mem. 7 Striking off such Scandalous Writers out of the rank of Historian. 1732Pope Ep. Cobham 160 Strike off his Pension. 1822Examiner 628/1 Strike off nearly a third from the nine millions. 1848Arnould Mar. Insurance I. 127 The loss is then said to be settled or ‘struck off’. 1894A. Robertson Nuggets 98 If I thocht ye had ever been in a playhouse,..I'd strike ye off wi' a shillin'.
(b) spec. in pass., of a medical practitioner, solicitor, etc.: to be struck off the register (see sense 13 b above).
1937A. J. Cronin Citadel iv. xxi. 424 You remember the case of Jarvis, the manipulator, several years ago, when he got some cad of a doctor to anaesthetise for him. He was struck off, instanter. 1958J. Cannan And be Villain i. 20 He'd be struck off if he was the least bit naughty. 1965A. Christie At Bertram's Hotel xvi. 153 We still call him Dr. Stokes although he's been struck off. 1983Times 12 Oct. 3/4 Mr Parsons is asking Mr Justice Vinelott to order that Mr Davies be struck off.
b. To cut off with a stroke of a sword, axe, etc.
1375Barbour Bruce xvii. 870 [He] on the hill besyde the toune Strake of his hede but ransoune. 1456Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 110 Sanct Petir..strake of Malcus ere. 1583B. Melbancke Philotimus Bb j b, The adders tayle, whiche being stricke of will skippe vp and downe. 1626Bacon Sylva §400 An Emperor of Rome, did shoot a great Forked Arrow at an Estrich,..and strook off her head. 1839Lane Arab. Nts. I. 96 The King gave orders to strike off his head. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 139 The branch should not be larger than 1½ in. in diameter.., otherwise it cannot be so readily struck off at one blow.
c. To produce (a picture, literary composition, etc.) quickly or impromptu; also to delineate exactly, ‘hit off’.
1821Examiner 235/2 A scene of unsophisticated..nature..is struck off with an unusually bold and broad pencil. 1876Trevelyan Macaulay I. iii. 134 Striking off puns..which followed each other in showers like sparks from flint. 1879J. C. Shairp Burns v. 120 A burst of inspiration which came on him in the fall of 1790, and struck off at one heat the matchless Tale of Tam o' Shanter.
d. To mark off as enumerated.
1881J. Payn From Exile II. xxxiii. 251 She held up her plump little hand, and struck off the two items on her fingers.
e. intr. Of a peal of bells: To begin ringing.
a1843Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. (1851) IV. 391, 10s. 6d. to the ringers to ring one peal of grand bobs, which was to strike off while they were putting him into his grave.
f. To set off, contrast.
1884G. Gissing Unclassed II. iv. i. 109 She exaggerated the refinement of her utterance that it might all the more strike off against the local twang.
83. strike out.
a. trans. To cancel or erase by or as by a stroke of a pen; to remove from a record, text, list, etc.; also, † to erase, to rub or wipe out.
Cf. to strike out of: see 13.
1530Palsgr. 740/1, I stryke out, or blotte out with a penne..joblittere. 1535J. Mason in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. II. 59 The ignorant preist..wolde not suffer the name of Satanas in the Masbook, butt strake itt owte and putt God in the place of itt. 1693Dryden Persius i. Note 18 (1697) 421 Floors..were strew'd with Dust or Sand; in which the Numbers and Diagrams were made and drawn, which they might strike out again at Pleasure. 1830A. De Morgan Elem. Arith. 48 Strike out as many figures from the right of the dividend as there are ciphers at the right of the divisor. 1853Congr. Globe 15 Feb. 627/2 Its only effect will be to strike out the salary of the Superintendent. 1861Ibid. 18 Feb. 947/2, I will read the words to be stricken out. 1892Law Times XCIII. 414/2 The memorandum of association..should be altered by striking out certain paragraphs and substituting others therefor.
fig.1863Baily's Mag. Apr. 159 Sir Tatton had so repeatedly baulked the memoir men of the newspapers by his recoveries when he had been reported to be ‘struck out’. 1883Ch. Times 9 Nov. 813/2 Calvin did not strike out asceticism entirely from his system as Luther..did.
b. Mining. (See quot.)
1778Pryce Min. Cornub. Expl. Terms 329/1 When a Lode by any Flookan..[etc.] is interrupted or cut out, they say also, ‘She is struck out,’ or, ‘She is lost.’
c. To produce or elicit as by a blow or stroke. Also intr. for refl.
1720Steele Consc. Lovers iii. i, We must strike out some pretty Livelyhood for our selves, by closing their Affairs. 1741Richardson Pamela I. 143 He can't have thought of every thing! And something may strike out for me there. 1748J. Mason Elocution 26 Every Word is emphatical, and on which ever Word you lay the Emphasis,..it strikes out a different Sense. 1779J. Moore View Soc. Fr. (1789) I. viii. 53 Difficulties and dangers often strike out particles of genius. 1874Blackie Self-Cult. 11 The true magician's wand for striking out the most important results is induction.
d. To produce by a stroke of invention (a plan, scheme, fashion, etc.).
1735Ld. Harrington Let. 9 Oct. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. i. 261 But might not a third way be struck out founded upon your Idea of Security for the Succession of Tuscany? 1821Examiner 9/2 He..struck out a speculation in oil that in one year brought him an enormous sum. 1842Miall in Nonconf. II. 329 Plans hastily struck out by a little knot of individuals. 1859Lever Dav. Dunn ixxvi. 669 He'd strike out a new scheme, and say carelessly, ‘Call the capital one million.’ 1879Pattison Milton xiii. 170 Of this difference Wordsworth was conscious when he struck out the phrase, ‘In his hand the thing became a trumpet.’
e. To represent in a working drawing or plan. Also, to sketch rapidly.
1678Moxon Mech. Exerc. v. 82 So shall the bounds of your Mortess be struck out on the Quarter. 1753F. Price Brit. Carpenter (ed. 3) 45 Which not only shews the use of the pitch-board, in striking out the string-board, the newels, and rails, but [etc.]. 1860Ruskin Mod. Paint. V. ix. xi. 325 note, A hasty drawing throughout,..he has struck out the broken fence..with a few impetuous dashes of the hand. 1885[Horner] Pattern Making 28 For the working drawing we strike out a sectional view.
f. To open up, make for oneself (a path, course, line). Chiefly fig.
1712Hughes Spect. No. 554 ⁋3 He began to strike out new Tracks of Science. 1823Thomasina Ross Bouterwek's Hist. Sp. Lit. I. 229 Herrera..evinced undaunted resolution in pursuing the new path which he had struck out for himself. 1881Gardiner & Mullinger Study Eng. Hist. i. iii. 49 Thought..had no tendency to strike out new and untrodden paths. 1884Graphic 22 Nov. 554/1, I have struck out my own line, and made a reputation under another name. 1892Chamb. Jrnl. 2 July 426/2, I tried to strike out a course in the world for myself.
g. intr. To go energetically.
1847Marryat Childr. New Forest xi, He..struck out in the direction in which it [the pitfall] lay. 1890Clark Russell Ocean Trag. II. xvii. 78 He struck out as though walking for a wager.
h. To hit violently, to lay about one (with the fists, a weapon, etc.).
1859Habits of Gd. Society v. 191 Strike out, strike straight, strike suddenly; keep one arm to guard, and punish with the other. 1885E. F. Byrrne Entangled III. ii. xxi. 197 It was this..that prompted him to strike out murderously at her. 1891D. Russell Secret of River I. xi. 239 Striking out at the tall reeds by the river with his stick.
i. In various games. (See quots.) Also fig.
1853Oregonian (Portland) 2 July 1/5 No doubt they will find that strikers have struck out. 1866N.Y. Herald 28 Aug. 8/2 Pennington was third man at the bat, and struck out. 1874Chadwick Base Ball Man. 56 When the batsman strikes at a fair ball three times, and fails to hit it, and the ball be caught, or it be sent to first base in time to put the player out, he ‘strikes’ out. 1897Encycl. Sport I. 254/1 (Croquet) Strike out, to hit the winning post after passing through the hoops in order. 1937New Yorker 19 June 30 The senator had his hopes, but he struck out on three wide ‘ha's’. 1974Los Angeles Times 13 Oct. iii. 10/2 Garvey grounded to short. Ferguson struck out.
j. To draw out the scythe in mowing.
1840Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. I. iv. 444 In using the scythe..the great art is to leave a short..ridge of stubble,..which is done by setting in and striking out, about five inches from the soil.
k. trans. Of a pitcher in Baseball, to put (a batter) out by pitching three strikes to a batter. U.S.
1939E. J. Nichols Hist. Dict. Baseball Terminol. (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Pennsylvania College) 75 Strike-out king, a pitcher who is noted for the large number of times he strikes out opposing batters. 1968Washington Post 4 July c1/8 It was the third time in the game that he struck out the side. 1975New Yorker 14 Apr. 92/2 He struck out two of the first three Yankee batters, without really trying his fastball.
84. strike through. trans. To cancel (writing) by drawing a line through it.
1898Encycl. Laws Eng. VIII. 207 The initialling of the memorandum is struck through, and the loss is then ‘struck off’ or settled in account.
85. strike together.
a. intr. To come into collision.
b. trans. To bring into collision.
a.1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 7355 Þe noyse salle be swa hydus þare, Omang devels and þase þat salle com þider, Ryght als heven and erth strake togyder. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints xlii. (Agatha) 261 Þe erde steryt sa felloun[l]y, þat al þe cyte in til hy schuke & to-giddire strake.
b.1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. lvii. (1495) 173 Yf the bones of lyons ben strongly stryken togyders, fyre shall..come oute of theym. 1578H. Wotton Courtlie Controv. 155 As two flints striken togither disburse the fier hidden in their intrayles.
86. strike under. intr. To give in. Sc.
c1730Ramsay Daft Bargain 14 [He] lootna on till Rab strak under. 1812P. Forbes Poems 79 (E.D.D.) To match wi' you I maunna fa', Sae I maun just strike under.
87. strike up.
†a. trans. To break or burst open. Sc. Obs.
1467in Anc. Laws Burghs Scot. (1910) II. 31 Nor that na gudis be schorne nor strikin vp in na wise in to the maisteris defalt. 1529Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 8 That na..man nor woman that bringis ony meill to this merket..stryk vp the samyne quhill ix houris befor none. 1541Ibid. 109 With certificatioun to thame and thai failyie thairin thai will strik vp thair girnellis. 1579Ibid. (1882) IV. 134 Thatt the merchandis gudes to be laid to thair schippis be weill and discreitlie handlit and nocht strykin vp without speciall consent of the merchand.
†b. To draw or pull up, raise (a curtain, the hose, sleeves, etc.). Obs.
a1400–50Bk. Curtasye 451 in Babees Bk. 313 He strykes hom [the curtains] vp with forket wande. 1530Palsgr. 377 b, I stryke vp, as a man dothe his hosen, Ie amonte. c1563Jack Juggler (Roxb.) 13 Woll the horesoon fyght..See how he beginnith to strike vp his sleues.
c. (a) To begin to play or sing (a piece of music, a song); (b) intr. (or absol.) To begin playing or singing; (c) intr. Of music: To begin to be played. Cf. 29 c.
(a)1562–75Gammer Gurton Prol. 20 With a pot of good nale they stroake vp theyr plauditie. 1567Drant Horace, Art of Poetry A v, That when the Epilogue is done we may with franke intent, After the plaudite stryke vp our plausible assente. 1599Marston Antonio's Rev. i. ii, I spent three spur roials on the fidlers for striking up a fresh hornepipe. 1789New Lond. Mag. Nov. 560/2 The band struck up God save the King. 1856Mrs. Stowe Dred I. xxiii. 303 Come, father Bonnie, come forward, here, and strike up the hymn. 1890F. Barrett Betw. Life & Death II. xxvi. 157 The enthusiastic Greeks strike up a chant.
(b)1549–62Sternhold & H. Ps. lxxxi. 2 (1566) 202 Strike vp with harpe and lute so sweete. 1599Shakes. Much Ado v. iv. 130 Strike vp Pipers. 1769G. White Selborne, To Pennant 2 Jan., This bird..[begins] its song..so exactly, that I have known it strike up..just at the report of the Portsmouth evening gun. 1824Examiner 242/2 The band strikes up, the regiment presents arms. 1872Earl of Pembroke & G. H. Kingsley S. Sea Bubbles i. 16 Roaming from choir to choir as each struck up in turn.
(c)1829Examiner 454/1 ‘The Rogue's march’ presently struck up. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay v, The waltz for which Glynn had been longing struck up.
d. To conclude, to make and ratify (an agreement, a treaty, bargain, etc.): = sense 70. In recent use slightly disparaging.
1646Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civ. Warres vi. 12 This match was agreed upon..and Monsieur de Dammartin was sent into England to strike it up with Edward. 1658Whole Duty Man viii. §10 Bargains being most conveniently to be struck up at such meetings. 1661P'cess Cloria i. 75 And so the present bargain was struck up between them, which she thought commodious, in respect it procured her a reprieve. 1737Waterland Eucharist 438 God struck up a Covenant with the People of the Hebrews. 1760–72H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 120, I have just struck up a most advantageous bargain with our neighbour. 1885Manch. Exam. 5 June 5/4 The Fourth Party is endeavouring to strike up an alliance with the Irish members. 1889Spectator 14 Dec. 831 The reason being an alliance he had struck up with the Somalis.
e. To start, set afoot (a friendship, an acquaintance, a conversation, trade, etc. with another).
1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 4 May, We have struck up a mighty friendship. 1833Q. Rev. L. 156 M. d'Haussez was..unreasonable in expecting that Miss Scott should have struck up conversation with him. 1858Trollope Three Clerks viii, Undy Scott had struck-up an acquaintance with Alaric Tudor. 1882Stevenson Fam. Studies 48 We hear of his facility in striking up an acquaintance with women. 1891B. Harte First Fam. Tasajara I. i. 22 In the mornin' you may be able to strike up a trade with somebody else.
† f. intr. To associate or ally oneself (with others). Obs.
1714G. Lockhart Mem. Scot. (ed. 3) 383 Taking the Advantage of the Discords betwixt the Treasurer and the Whigs, [he] struck up with the latter. 1716[Darrell] Gentl. Instr. (ed. 6) 491 He spurr'd to London... Here he struck up with Sharpers, Scourers, and Alsatians.
g. to strike up the heels of: to overthrow.
1599Marston Ant. & Mel. i. Wks. 1856 I. 16 Now gustie flawes strook up the very heeles Of our maine mast. 1604[? Chettle] Wit of Woman E 2 b, Stage-dir., He leades him a Lauolta, and strikes vp his heeles, and there leaues him. 1696Vanbrugh Relapse iv. vi, I..strikes up his Heels, binds him Hand and Foot,.. and commits him Prisoner to the Dog-kennel.
†h. To cause to spring up (heat, light). Obs.
1596Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 139 Who strooke this heate vp after I was gone? 1620I. C. Two Merry Milk-maids iv. iii. N 2, Your bloud moues slow and cold, and all the fire That strikes vp any heat, is in desire. 1625Bacon Ess., Of Building (Arb.) 550 Let the Court not be paued, for that striketh vp a great Heat in Summer, and much Cold in Winter. 1627H. Lesly Serm. 25 The Lord strickes vp new lights in the minde.
i. intr. To rise up quickly, dart or spring up.
† to strike up into the head: ‘to fly to the head’, intoxicate.
1711Swift Jrnl. to Stella 30 Sept., Don't mind politics, young women..; they are not good after the waters;..they strike up into the head. 1837Carlyle Fr. Rev. II. iv. vii, The respected Travelling Party..will perhaps please to rest itself..till the dawn strike up! 1857J. Hamilton Less. fr. Gt. Biog. (1859) 157 Just then a squall struck up. 1861Temple Bar II. 261 An aromatic fragrance strikes up on my face from some passing boat. 1889G. M. Fenn Crown & Sceptre v, The faint grey light..seemed to strike up from below.
j. trans. To pitch (a tent).
1755T. Amory Mem. (1769) I. 155 We immediately landed, and the tents were struck up.
k. U.S. in pass. (a) To be bewildered. (b) To be fascinated with or ‘gone’ on (a person of the opposite sex).
1844‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life N. York I. 116, I couldn't have helped it, I was so struck up in a heap at seeing her in sich a fix. Ibid. 152, I was so struck up with the room and the table that it was more than a minit afore I found out [etc.]. 1885Howells Silas Lapham (1891) I. 49 Did..that young man..seem struck up on Irene? asked the Colonel.
l. (See quot.)
1875Knight Dict. Mech., Striking-up Press..A press for striking-up or raising sheet-metal in making dishes, pots, pans, cups, etc.
m. To cause (the lettering of a coin) to stand out.
1883P. Gardner Types Gr. Coins i. iii. 21 Sometimes the type is quite at the edge of the coin, sometimes it is confused and not fairly struck up.
X.
88. Comb. in phrases used as substantives or adjectives, as strike-a-light, a flint used for striking fire; strike-anywhere a., that may be struck on any surface; strike-back, used attrib. to designate the capacity of making a retaliatory nuclear strike; strike-fire slang, gin; strike me blind slang (see quots.); strike-me-dead (Naut. slang), small beer; strike-or-silent (see quot.); strike-out, an out in baseball, called when a batter has made three strikes; also attrib. and fig.; strike-over U.S., the typing of a character on a spot occupied by a character typed previously; strike through Printing (see quots.).
1870E. T. Stevens Flint Chips 588 Of the articles called ‘*strike-a-light’ there is a small quantity annually exported to the East. 1870Spectator 13 Aug. 976 Flakes..unfit for the manufacture of gun-flints are made into ‘strike-a-lights,’ for the use of the tinder-box. 1878Southall Epoch of Mammoth xv. 272 M. de Mortillet..took the ground that ordinarily the flints found in Merovingian graves were either ‘strike-a-lights’ (pierres à feu) or amulettes.
1898Daily News 4 June 7/2 Yellow phosphorus is absolutely necessary in the manufacture of ‘*strike anywhere’ matches.
1962Listener 29 Mar. 539/2 It was clear that we would soon..have a sufficiently invulnerable *strike-back nuclear capacity. 1966Schwarz & Hadik Strategic Terminology 44 Strike-back capability, nuclear forces which could survive an enemy first strike and then be used against him in a second strike.
1725G. Smith Compl. Body Distill. i. 49 Geneva hath..different names and titles..: as..Tittery, Collonia, *Strike-fire, &c.
1901S. H. King Dog-Watches at Sea 146 Rice was known as ‘*strike me blind’. 1936B. Adams Ships & Women viii. 180 The dish..called ‘strike-me-blind’. Boiled rice, with black-strap molasses.
1824in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1825) 285 He had a taste for every species of fluid, from inferior ‘*strike me dead,’ to the superlative grog.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Strike-or-silent (Horology), a piece in a clock which sets the striking parts in or out of action [etc.].
1911J. B. Foster How to Pitch 72 It happens to be a pitcher..of the *strike-out kind. 1922E. J. Lanigan Baseball Cycl. ii. 39/1 Another top-notcher joined them in the person of Thomas Ramsey, eminent strike-out king. 1937Philadelphia Rec. 23 Mar. 15/1 Mr. Roosevelt has..grown into the stature of a strike-out king. 1967Boston Sunday Herald 14 May ii. 3/3 Six of his strikeouts came in those innings. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xvi. 170 After Pfc. Hiller was recalled, his case would be evaluated by a Regular Army board. Another strikeout.
1950Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch 3 Oct. 1/8 A patent on typewriter type designed to permit *strikeovers on letters in about 11 per cent of common typing errors. 1978W. White W. Whitman's Daybooks & Notebooks I. p. xxii, Corrections, strike-overs, inserted words..I have transcribed exactly the way Whitman has left them.
1958T. Landau Encycl. Librarianship 290/2 *Strike through, penetration of the type impression from the verso to the recto of a page due to improper pressure or faulty makeready. 1979G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. (ed. 2) 464/1 Strike through, a fault caused when the oily medium in printing ink soaks into and through the paper, making it translucent.
Add:[V.] [35.] e. fig. To carry out an aggressive or injurious action. to strike back, to hit back, retaliate. orig. U.S.
1959Time 17 Aug. 60/3 The nation's mature citizens are merely striking back at rock'n'roll, buying the sing-alongs. 1960Time 4 July 51/3 Where will Edna Ferber strike next? 1968L. Rosten Joys of Yiddish 223 ‘The Herring Mavin Strikes Again!’ proclaimed the caption. The picture showed an empty jar. 1970J. Porter (title) Dover strikes again. 1975Daily Mirror 14 Apr. 5/4 The rapist who is terrorising a city's bed-sitter girls struck again yesterday. 1980(film-title) The Empire strikes back. 1989Mod. Painters Autumn 30/1 Jules Lubbock struck back against ascriptions of this sort a year ago.
▪ III. strike
see stirk, streak n.1, streek v.
▪ IV. [strike, n.
error for stike, stick n.2
1674S. Jeake Arith. (1696) 66. 1694 E. Chamberlayne St. Eng. iii. ii. (ed. 18) 385. 1891 Century Dict., Strike, n. 18, same as Stick3 10.] |