Strike — Defs

01 v. t. To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or with an instrument; to smite; to give a blow to, either with the hand or with any …

imp. Struck; p. p. Struck; p. pr. & vb. n. Striking

1.
To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or with an instrument; to smite; to give a blow to, either with the hand or with any instrument or missile.[Obs.]
“He at Philippi kept His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck The lean and wrinkled Cassius.” — Shak.
2.
To come in collision with; to strike against; as, a bullet struck him; the wave struck the boat amidships; the ship struck a reef.
3.
To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.
“They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two sideposts.” — Ex. xii. 7.

“Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.” — Byron.
4.
To stamp or impress with a stroke; to coin; as, to strike coin from metal: to strike dollars at the mint.
5.
To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; to set in the earth; as, a tree strikes its roots deep.
6.
To punish; to afflict; to smite.
“To punish the just is not good, nor strike princes for equity.” — Prov. xvii. 26.
7.
To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march.
8.
To lower; to let or take down; to remove; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or an ensign, as in token of surrender; to strike a yard or a topmast in a gale; to strike a tent; to strike the centering of an arch.
9.
To make a sudden impression upon, as by a blow; to affect sensibly with some strong emotion; as, to strike the mind, with surprise; to strike one with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror.
“Nice works of art strike and surprise us most on the first view.” — Atterbury.

“They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.” — Pope.
10.
To affect in some particular manner by a sudden impression or impulse; as, the plan proposed strikes me favorably; to strike one dead or blind.
“How often has stricken you dumb with his irony!” — Landor.
11.
To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke; as, to strike a light.
“Waving wide her myrtle wand, She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.” — Milton.
12.
To cause to ignite; as, to strike a match.
13.
To make and ratify; as, to strike a bargain.
14.
To take forcibly or fraudulently; as, to strike money.[Old Slang]
15.
To level, as a measure of grain, salt, or the like, by scraping off with a straight instrument what is above the level of the top.
16.
To cut off, as a mortar joint, even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.(Masonry)
17.
To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly; as, my eye struck a strange word; they soon struck the trail.
18.
To borrow money of; to make a demand upon; as, he struck a friend for five dollars.[Slang]
19.
To lade into a cooler, as a liquor.
20.
To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
“Behold, I thought, He will . . . strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.” — 2 Kings v. 11.
21.
To advance; to cause to go forward; -- used only in past participle.

Phrases & compounds

To strike an attitude — See under Attitude, and Balance.

To strike a jury — to constitute a special jury ordered by a court, by each party striking out a certain number of names from a prepared list of jurors, so as to reduce it to the number of persons required by law.

To strike a lead — To find a vein of ore.

To strike a ledger — to balance it.

To strike hands with — To shake hands with

To strike off — To erase from an account; to deduct; as, to strike off the interest of a debt

To strike oil — to find petroleum when boring for it; figuratively, to make a lucky hit financially.

To strike one luck — to shake hands with one and wish good luck.

To strike out — To produce by collision; to force out, as, to strike out sparks with steel.

To strike sail — See under Sail.

To strike up — To cause to sound; to begin to beat

To strike work — to quit work; to go on a strike.

02 v. i. To move; to advance; to proceed; to take a course; as, to strike into the fields.

1.
To move; to advance; to proceed; to take a course; as, to strike into the fields.
“A mouse . . . struck forth sternly [bodily].” — Piers Plowman.
2.
To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.
“And fiercely took his trenchant blade in hand, With which he stroke so furious and so fell.” — Spenser.

“Strike now, or else the iron cools.” — Shak.
3.
To hit; to collide; to dush; to clash; as, a hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
4.
To sound by percussion, with blows, or as with blows; to be struck; as, the clock strikes.
“A deep sound strikes like a rising knell.” — Byron.
5.
To make an attack; to aim a blow.
“A puny subject strikes At thy great glory.” — Shak.

“Struck for throne, and striking found his doom.” — Tennyson.
6.
To touch; to act by appulse.
“Hinder light but from striking on it [porphyry], and its colors vanish.” — Locke.
7.
To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; as, the ship struck in the night.
8.
To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
“Till a dart strike through his liver.” — Prov. vii. 23.

“Now and then a glittering beam of wit or passion strikes through the obscurity of the poem.” — Dryden.
9.
To break forth; to commence suddenly; -- with into; as, to strike into reputation; to strike into a run.
10.
To lower a flag, or colors, in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of a ship to an enemy.
“That the English ships of war should not strike in the Danish seas.” — Bp. Burnet.
11.
To quit work in order to compel an increase, or prevent a reduction, of wages.
12.
To become attached to something; -- said of the spat of oysters.
13.
To steal money.[Old Slang, Eng.]

Phrases & compounds

To strike at — to aim a blow at.

To strike for — to start suddenly on a course for.

To strike home — to give a blow which reaches its object, to strike with effect.

To strike in — To enter suddenly

To strike in with — to conform to; to suit itself to; to side with, to join with at once.

To strike out — To start; to wander; to make a sudden excursion; as, to strike out into an irregular course of life.

To strike up — to commence to play as a musician; to begin to sound, as an instrument.

03 n. The act of striking.

1.
The act of striking.
2.
An instrument with a straight edge for leveling a measure of grain, salt, and the like, scraping off what is above the level of the top; a strickle.
3.
A bushel; four pecks.[Prov. Eng.]
4.
An old measure of four bushels.[Prov. Eng.]
5.
Fullness of measure; hence, excellence of quality.
“Three hogsheads of ale of the first strike.” — Sir W. Scott.
6.
An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.[Obs.]
7.
The act of quitting work; specifically, such an act by a body of workmen, usually organized by a labor union, done as a means of enforcing compliance with demands made on their employer.
“Strikes are the insurrections of labor.” — F. A. Walker.
8.
A puddler's stirrer.(Iron Working)
9.
The horizontal direction of the outcropping edges of tilted rocks; or, the direction of a horizontal line supposed to be drawn on the surface of a tilted stratum. It is at right angles to the dip.(Geol.)
10.
The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmailing.
11.
A sudden finding of rich ore in mining; hence, any sudden success or good fortune, esp. financial.
12.
The act of leveling all the pins with the first bowl; also, the score thus made. Sometimes called double spare. Throwing a strike entitles the player to add to the score for that frame the total number of pins knocked down in the next two bowls.(Bowling, U. S.) Also: double spare
13.
Any actual or constructive striking at the pitched ball, three of which, if the ball is not hit fairly, cause the batter to be put out; hence, any of various acts or events which are ruled as equivalent to such a striking, as failing to strike at a ball so pitched that the batter should have struck at it.(Baseball)
14.
Same as Ten-strike.(Tenpins) See: Ten-strike

Phrases & compounds

Strike block — a plane shorter than a jointer, used for fitting a short joint.

Strike of flax — a handful that may be hackled at once.

Strike of sugar — The act of emptying the teache, or last boiler, in which the cane juice is exposed to heat, into the coolers