Definition of "streak"

streak

/stɹiːk/

noun
plural streaks
1. An irregular line left from smearing or motion.
  Quotations
  'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
  1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. A continuous series of like events.
3. A consistent facet of somebody's personality.
4. The color of the powder of a mineral. So called, because a simple field test for a mineral is to streak it against unglazed white porcelain.
5. A moth of the family Geometridae, Chesias legatella.
6. A tendency or characteristic, but not a dominant or pervasive one.
  Quotations
  Rashford showed the fearless streak Southgate so admires with his constant willingness to run at Brazil's defence with pace, even demonstrating on occasion footwork that would not have been out of place from members of England's illustrious opposition.
  2017 November 14, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Brazil”, in BBC News‎
  Coinbase’s government work has proved highly controversial to many crypto fans, owing perhaps to the long-running libertarian streak in that community.
  2022 June 29, Sam Biddle, “Cryptocurrency Titan Coinbase Providing "Geo Tracking Data" to ICE”, in The Intercept‎
7. (shipbuilding) A strake.
8. A rung or round of a ladder.
9. The act of streaking, or running naked through a public area.
verb
third-person singular simple present streaks, present participle streaking, simple past and past participle streaked
1. (intransitive) To have or obtain streaks.
2. (intransitive) To run quickly.
  Quotations
  "As it was I came a hell of a crack against a Dam' rustic arbour in the garden. Dam' near stunned me. But I never stopped a second. Up and over the back fence and streaked for the common."
  1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, page 82
3. (intransitive) To run naked in public.
  Quotations
  The fad began with a lone male running naked across the Florida State University campus several weeks ago. Students on other campuses began streaking in pairs, then groups, and were joined by some coeds.
  1974 March 4, Hendrick O'Neil, “Streaking runs its course”, in UPIs 20th Century Top Stories (wire feed)
4. (intransitive) To move very swiftly.
  Quotations
  But when we streaked through Doncaster at all but a mile-a-minute, with a miraculously clear road, in no more than 37 min. 18 sec. from the York start, I began to sit up and take notice.
  1949 November and December, Cecil J. Allen, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 365
5. (transitive) To create streaks upon.
  Quotations
  Though his entire back down to his side fins is of a deep sable, yet a boundary line, distinct as the mark in a ship’s hull, called the “bright waist,” that line streaks him from stem to stern, with two separate colours, black above and white below.
  1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 157
6. (obsolete, UK, Scotland) To stretch; to extend; hence, to lay out, as a dead body.

Definition of "streak"

streak

noun

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verb

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