Definition of "strike"

(transitive, sometimes with out or through) To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.  examples

(physical) To have a sharp or sudden effect.

1. (transitive) To hit.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • […] he at Philippi kept / His ſword e'ne like a dancer, while I ſtrooke / The leane and wrinkled Caſſius, […]

     c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene xi], page 356, column 1

   • The 0812 Huddersfield-Sheffield service struck the stabiliser leg of a lorry being used to take away portable toilets after local repair work.

     2021 December 29, “Network News: RAIB: tighten up supervision after 27mph train sideswipe incident”, in RAIL, number 947, page 8

2. (transitive) To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And they ſhall take of the blood and ſtrike it on the two ſide poſtes, […]

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Exodus 12:7, column 2

   • Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?

     1812, Lord Byron, “Canto II”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: Printed for John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], stanza LXXV, page 102

3. (intransitive) To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Nay when? ſtrike now, or elſe the Iron cooles.

     1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i], page 168, column 2

4. (transitive) To manufacture, as by stamping.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [I]n practice, small deformations will occur in the shell on striking the shuttering, or... alternatively, some small deformations are due to slightly imperfect placing of the original formwork.

     1977, Jaques Heyman, Equilibrium of Shell Structures, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 107

5. (intransitive, dated) To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; to run aground.  examples

6. (transitive) To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes. Of a clock, to announce (an hour of the day), usually by one or more sounds.  examples

7. (intransitive) To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!

     1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: Printed for John Murray, […], stanza XXI, page 13

8. (transitive) To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And waving wide her mirtle wand / She ſtrikes a univerſall Peace through Sea and Land.And waving wide her myrtle wand, / She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.

     1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, The Hymn, stanza III, page 3

9. (transitive) To cause to ignite by friction.  examples

(transitive) To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.  examples

(personal, social) To have a sharp or severe effect.

1. (transitive) To punish; to afflict; to smite.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Alſo to puniſh the iuſt is not good, nor to ſtrike princes for equitie.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Proverbs 17:26, column 2

2. (intransitive) To carry out a violent or illegal action.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.

     1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, “The Shadow of the Bat”, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, page 6

3. (intransitive) To act suddenly, especially in a violent or criminal way.  examples

4. (transitive, figurative) To impinge upon.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned. But he had then none of the oddities and mannerisms which I hold to be inseparable from genius, and which struck my attention in after days when I came in contact with the Celebrity.

     1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., page 1

5. (transitive, dated) To quit (one's job).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • It appears that a compositor had been engaged for the Northem Territory Times, and for a considerable time the editor seems to have led a comparatively unruffled existence; till in an evil hour the compositor was smitten with gold fever, and struck work.

     1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 227

6. (transitive) To impress, seem or appear to (a person).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay, this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.

     1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Palace of Green Porcelain”, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, page 163

7. (transitive) To create an impression.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • The story struck the depressingly familiar note with which true stories ring in the tried ears of experienced policemen. No one queried it. It was in the classic pattern of human weakness, mean and embarrassing and sad.

     1963, Margery Allingham, “Eye Witness”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, page 249

8. (sports) To score a goal.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Defender Chris Baird struck twice early in the first half to help Fulham move out of the relegation zone and ease the pressure on manager Mark Hughes.

     2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0-2 Fulham”, in BBC

9. To make a sudden impression upon, as if by a blow; to affect with some strong emotion.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In like manner the writings of mere men […] strike and surprise us most upon our first perusal of them […].

     1734, Francis Atterbury, “A Sermon Preached at the Rolls, December 24, 1710: The Baptist's Message to Jesus, and Jesus's Answer Explained”, in Sermons on Several Occasions, new edition, volume I, published from the originals by Thomas Moore, London; reprinted in Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, volume II, London, 1820, page 25

   • Court-virtues bear, like gems, the highest rate, / Born where Heav'n's influence scarce can penetrate. / In life's low vale, the soil the virtues like, / They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.

     1734, Alexander Pope, An Epistle To The Right Honourable Richard Lord Viscount Cobham; reprinted in Henry W. Boynton, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of Alexander Pope (The Cambridge Edition of the Poets), Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1903, page 159, lines 141–144

10. To affect by a sudden impression or impulse.  examples

11. (intransitive, UK, obsolete, slang) To steal or rob; to take forcibly or fraudulently.  quotations

    Quotations

    • Now we haue well bousd, let vs strike some chete.Now we have well drunk, let us steal something.

      1567, Thomas Harman, “The vpright Coſe cateth to the Roge. [The Upright Man speaketh to the Rogue.]”, in 'A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors, vulgarly called vagabonds'; reprinted in Charles Hindley, editor, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursetors, Vulgarly called Vagabonds, London: Reeves and Turner, 1871, page 119

    • Hee being thus duſted with meale, intreated the meale man to wipe it out of his necke, and ſtoopte downe his head: the meale man laughing to ſee him ſo rayed and whited, was willing to ſhake off the meal, and the whilſt, while hee was buſie about that, the Nippe had ſtroken the purſe and done his feate, and both courteouſly thanked the meale man and cloſely / went away with his purchaſe.He being thus dusted with meal, entreated the meal-man to wipe it out of his neck, and stooped down his head, the meal-man laughing to see him so arrayed and whited, was willing to shake off the meal, and while he was busy about that, the nip had stroken the purse and done his feat, and both courteously thanked the meal-man and closely went away with his purchase.

      1591, Robert Greene, “A discourse, or rather discovery of the Nip and the Foist, laying open the nature of the Cutpurse and Pick-pocket.”, in 'The Second Part of Conny-catching', London: John Wolfe; reprinted in Alexander B. Grosart, editor, 'The Life and Complete Works in Prose and Verse of Robert Greene', volume 10, London, Aylesbury: Hazell, Watson and Viney, 1881, page 112

12. (slang, archaic) To borrow money from; to make a demand upon.  quotations

    Quotations

    • I must borrow money, / And that some call a striking; [...]

      1655, James Shirley, 'The Gentleman of Venice'; reprinted in William Gifford, Alexander Dyce, editors, 'The Dramatic Works and Poems of James Shirley', volume 5, London: John Murray, 1833, page 6

To touch; to act by appulse.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To take down, especially in the following contexts.

1. (nautical) To haul down or lower (a flag, mast, etc.)  examples

2. (by extension) To capitulate; to signal a surrender by hauling down the colours.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • He [King Charles II] ſent him [the Earl of Essex] Embaſſador to Denmark, where his behaviour in the affair of the flag gained him much reputation: […] Lord Eſſex’s firſt buſineſs was to juſtify his behaviour in refuſing to ſtrike. […] And he found very good materials to juſtify his conduct; ſince by formal treaties it had been expreſſly ſtipulated, that the Engliſh ſhips of war ſhould not ſtrike in the Daniſh ſeas.

     1724, [Gilbert] Burnet, “Book III. Of the Rest of King Charles II’s Reign, from the Year 1673 to the Year 1685, in which He Died.”, in [Gilbert Burnet Jr.], editor, Bishop Burnet’s History of His Own Time. […], volume I, London: […] Thomas Ward […], pages 396–397

3. (intransitive, by extension) To stop working as a protest to achieve better working conditions.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Two men were put to work who could not set their looms; a third man was taken on who helped the inefficients to set the looms. The other weavers thought this was a breach of their union rules and 18 of them struck […]

     1889, New York (State). Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Statistics, Annual Report (part 2, page 127)

4. To dismantle and take away (a theater set; a tent; etc.).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “Strike the tent there!”—was the next order. As I hinted before, this whalebone marquee was never pitched except in port; and on board the Pequod, for thirty years, the order to strike the tent was well known to be the next thing to heaving up the anchor.

     1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Merry Christmas”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 113

   • The crew struck the set with a ferocity hitherto unseen, an army more valiant in retreat than advance.

     1979, Texas Monthly, volume 7, number 8, page 109

5. To unfasten, to loosen (chains, bonds, etc.).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • He struck my chains, and gently spake and smiled:As they were loosened by that Hermit old,Mine eyes were of their madness half beguiled,To answer those kind looks.

     1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, page 217

(intransitive) To set off on a walk or trip.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.  quotations  examples

(dated) To break forth; to commence suddenly; with into.  examples

(intransitive) To become attached to something; said of the spat of oysters.  examples

(transitive) To make and ratify; to reach; to find.  examples

To discover a source of something, often a buried raw material such as ore (especially gold) or crude oil.  quotations  examples

To level (a measure of grain, salt, etc.) with a straight instrument, scraping off what is above the level of the top.  examples

(masonry) To cut off (a mortar joint, etc.) even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.  examples

To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly.  examples

(sugar-making, obsolete) To lade thickened sugar cane juice from a teache into a cooler.  quotations

To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) To advance; to cause to go forward; used only in the past participle.  quotations

To balance (a ledger or account).  examples

(baseball) 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.  quotations  examples

(bowling) The act of knocking down all ten pins in on the first roll of a frame.  examples

A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.  examples

A blow or application of physical force against something.  quotations  examples

(finance) In an option contract, the price at which the holder buys or sells if they choose to exercise the option.  examples

(historical) An old English measure of corn equal to the bushel.  quotations

(cricket) The status of being the batsman that the bowler is bowling at.  examples

The primary face of a hammer, opposite the peen.  examples

(geology) 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.  examples

(obsolete) Fullness of measure; the whole amount produced at one time.

(obsolete, by extension) Excellence; quality.  quotations

An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.  examples

(ironworking) A puddler's stirrer.  examples

(obsolete) The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmail.

The discovery of a source of something.  quotations  examples

The strike plate of a door.  examples

(fishing) A nibble on the bait by a fish.  quotations  examples

(philately) A cancellation postmark.  examples