stroke

Meanings

Noun

• An act of stroking .
• A blow or hit.
• A single movement with a tool.
• One of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished.
• A powerful or sudden effort by which something is done, produced, or accomplished; also, something done or accomplished by such an effort.
• A line drawn with a pen or other writing implement, particularly:
• A streak made with a brush.
• The time when a clock strikes.
• A style, a single movement within a style.
• The loss of brain function arising when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly interrupted.
• A sudden attack of any disease, especially when fatal; any sudden, severe affliction or calamity.
• The oar nearest the stern of a boat, by which the other oars are guided.
• The rower who is nearest the stern of the boat.
• Backstage influence.
• A point awarded to a player in case of interference or obstruction by the opponent.
• An individual discharge of lightning.
• The result or effect of a striking; injury or affliction; soreness.
• An addition or amendment to a written composition; a touch.
• A throb or beat, as of the heart.
• Power; influence.
• Appetite.
• In transactional analysis, a (generally positive) reaction to a person, fulfilling their needs or desires.

Verb

• To move one's hand or an object (such as a broom) along (a surface) in one direction.
• To hit the ball with the bat in a flowing motion.
• To give a finely fluted surface to.
• To row the stroke oar of.

Related

Similar words

• caress
• blow, hit, beat
• stroke of the pen
• hour
• cerebrovascular accident, CVA

Origin

• From Middle English stroke, strok, strak, from Old English strāc ("stroke"), from Proto-West Germanic *straik ("stroke"), from Proto-Germanic *straikaz ("stroke"), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- ("stroke; to strike"). Cognate with Scots strak, strake, straik, Middle Low German strēk ("stroke, trick, prank"), German Streich ("stroke"). In its British sense as a name for the slash , a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique originally employed in telegraphy.
• From Middle English stroken, straken, from Old English strācian ("to stroke"), from Proto-West Germanic *straikōn ("to stroke, caress").
• Cognate with Saterland Frisian strookje ("to stroke; caress"), West Frisian streakje ("to stroke; caress"), German Low German straken, strieken, strakeln, striekeln, German streicheln ("to stroke, fondle").