strike

STRIKE, v.t. pret. struck; pp. struck and stricken; but struck is in the most common use. Strook is wholly obsolete. [G., to pass, move or ramble, to depart, to touch, to stroke, to glide or glance over, to lower or strike, as sails, to curry; L., to sweep together, to spread, as a plaster, to play on a violin, to card, as wool, to strike or whip, as with a rod; a stroke, stripe or lash.]

1. To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or an instrument; to give a blow to, either with the open hand, the fist, a stick, club or whip, or with a pointed instrument, or with a ball or an arrow discharged. An arrow struck the shield; a ball strikes a ship between wind and water.

He at Philippi kept his sword een like a dancer, while I struck the lean and wrinkled Cassius.

2. To dash; to throw with a quick motion.

They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts. Exodus 12.

3. To stamp; to impress; to coin; as, to strike coin at the mint; to strike dollars or sovereigns; also, to print; as, to strike five hundred copies of a book.

4. To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; as, a tree strikes its root deep.

5. To punish; to afflict; as smite is also used.

To punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. Proverbs 17.

6. To cause to sound; to notify by sound; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march.

7. To run upon; to be stranded. The ship struck at twelve, and remained fast.

8. To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.

Now and then a beam of wit or passion strikes through the obscurity of the poem.

9. To lower a flag or colors in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of the ship to an enemy.

10. To break forth; as, to strike into reputation. [Not in use.]

To strike in, to enter suddenly; also, to recede from the surface, as an eruption; to disappear.

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

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

To strike, among workmen in manufactories, in England, is to quit work I a body or by combination, in order to compel their employers to raise their wages.

STRIKE, n.

1. An instrument with a straight edge for leveling a measure of grain, salt and the like, for scraping off what is above the level of the top.

2. A bushel; four pecks. [Local.]

3. A measure of four bushels or half a quarter. [Local.]

Strike of flax, a handful that may be hackled at once. [Local.]