strake
/streɪk
/noun
1A continuous line of planking or plates from the stem to the stern of a ship or boat.Moreover ship strakes were apparently used as funerary biers, and animals and weapons were sacrificed....
- These had rounded hulls and strakes gathered into the upper end of the latter and not, as in a cog, ending at the stem and stern posts.
- The townsmen had the bright idea of rejuvenating an older ship to save on costs, by adding ash upper strakes, creating a ‘new’ warship.
2A protruding ridge fitted to an aircraft or other structure to improve aerodynamic stability.The aircraft structure incorporates larger strakes below the rear section of the fuselage below the position of the tail fin....
- The strakes provide an aerodynamic balance to offset the effect of the radome on the upper surface of the fuselage.
- The aircraft manufacturer claims that it offers best-in-class aerodynamics, partly due to the use of underbody strakes.
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Latin stracus, straca; probably from the Germanic base of the verb stretch.
Rhymes
- stay stitching
- stay the course (or distance)
- stay up
- stay well
- stay with
- Staël, Mme de
- St Bartholomew's Day Massacre
- St Barts
- St. Basil's Cathedral
- stbd.
- St Bernard
- St Bernard dog
- St Bernard Pass
- St Bridget
- St Christopher and Nevis, Federation of
- St Clements
- St Croix
- STD
- std.
- St David's
- Ste.
- stead
- steadfast
- steadfastly
- steadfastness