strike
pronunciation
How to pronounce strike in British English:
UK [straɪk]
How to pronounce strike in American English:
US [straɪk]
-
- Noun:
- a group's refusal to work in protest against low pay or bad work conditions
- an attack that is intended to seize or inflict damage on or destroy an objective
- a pitch that is in the strike zone and that the batter does not hit
- a gentle blow
- a score in tenpins: knocking down all ten with the first ball
- a conspicuous success
-
- Verb:
- hit against; come into sudden contact with
- deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon
- have an emotional or cognitive impact upon
- make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target
- indicate (a certain time) by striking
- affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely
- stop work in order to press demands
- touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly
- attain
- produce by manipulating keys or strings of musical instruments, also metaphorically
- cause to form between electrodes of an arc lamp
- find unexpectedly
- produce by ignition or a blow
- remove by erasing or crossing out
- cause to experience suddenly
- drive something violently into a location
- occupy or take on
- form by stamping, punching, or printing
- smooth with a strickle
- pierce with force
- arrive at after reckoning, deliberating, and weighing
Word Origin
- strike
- strike: [OE] Strike comes from a prehistoric Germanic base which denoted ‘touch lightly’ – a sense which survived into English (‘That good horse blessed he then, and lovingly struck its mane’, Sir Ferumbras 1380). The more violent modern sense ‘hit hard’ did not begin to encroach until the 13th century. The related stroke retains the original meaning, but another relative, streak, has also lost it.All three go back to West Germanic *strīk-, *straik-, which in turn were descended from the Indo-European base *strig-, *streig-, *stroig-, source of Latin strigilis ‘tool for scraping the skin after a bath’ (acquired by English as strigil [16]). The use of strike for ‘withdraw labour’ developed in the mid-18th century (it is first recorded in the Annual Register 1768: ‘This day the hatters struck, and refused to work till their wages are raised’).It probably comes from the notion of ‘downing’ one’s tools, as in strike a sail ‘lower a sail’.=> streak, strigil, stroke
- strike (v.)
- Old English strican (past tense strac, past participle stricen) "pass lightly over, stroke, smooth, rub," also "go, move, proceed," from Proto-Germanic *strikan- (cognates: Old Norse strykva "to stroke," Old Frisian strika, Middle Dutch streken, Dutch strijken "to smooth, stroke, rub," Old High German strihhan, German streichen), from PIE root *streig- "to stroke, rub, press" (see strigil). Related to streak and stroke, and perhaps influenced in sense development by cognate Old Norse striuka. Sense of "to deal a blow" developed by early 14c.; meaning "to collide" is from mid-14c.; that of "to hit with a missile" is from late 14c. Meaning "to cancel or expunge" (as with the stroke of a pen) is attested from late 14c. A Middle English sense is preserved in strike for "go toward." Sense of "come upon, find" is from 1835 (especially in mining, well-digging, etc., hence strike it rich, 1854). Baseball sense is from 1853. To strike a balance is from the sense "balance accounts" (1530s). Meaning "refuse to work to force an employer to meet demands" is from 1768, perhaps from notion of striking or "downing" one's tools, or from sailors' practice of striking (lowering) a ship's sails as a symbol of refusal to go to sea (1768), which preserves the verb's original sense of "make level, smooth."
- strike (n.)
- 1580s, "act of striking," from strike (v.). Meaning "concentrated cessation of work by a body of employees" is from 1810. Baseball sense is first recorded 1841, originally meaning any contact with the ball; modern sense developed by 1890s, apparently from foul strike, which counted against the batter, and as hit came to be used for "contact with the ball" this word was left for "a swing and a miss" that counts against the batter; figurative sense of have two strikes against (of a possible three) is from 1938. Bowling sense attested from 1859. Meaning "sudden military attack" is attested from 1942.
Example
- 1. Help octo find the right answer before the missiles strike .
- 2. Murmurs of a strike are being heard again .
- 3. It was the second recent strike against police .
- 4. The cuts ahead may strike deepest at military contractors .
- 5. The government hopes cities might strike public-private deals to build new high-speed lines .