strike

Meanings

Verb

• To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
• To have a sharp or sudden effect.
• To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.
• To have a sharp or severe effect.
• To touch; to act by appulse.
• To take down, especially in the following contexts.
• To set off on a walk or trip.
• To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
• To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into.
• To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.
• To make and ratify.
• To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.
• To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
• To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.
• To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.
• To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
• To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.
• To balance (a ledger or account).
• To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil.

Noun

• A status resulting from a batter swinging and missing a pitch, or not swinging at a pitch when the ball goes in the strike zone, or hitting a foul ball that is not caught.
• The act of knocking down all ten pins in on the first roll of a frame.
• A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.
• A blow or application of physical force against something.
• In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option.
• An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel.
• The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at.
• The primary face of a hammer, opposite the peen.
• The compass direction of the line of intersection between a rock layer and the surface of the Earth.
• An instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure of grain, salt, etc., scraping off what is above the level of the top; a strickle.
• Fullness of measure; hence, excellence of quality.
• An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.
• A puddler's stirrer.
• The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmail.
• The discovery of a source of something.
• The strike plate of a door.
• A nibble on the bait by a fish.

Origin

• From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg-.
• Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.