strike
Forms
- present (v1)
- strike
- past (v2)
- struck
- present participle
- striking
- 3rd person singular
- strikes
- Plural
- strikes
Definitions
1.To delete or cross out; to scratch or eliminate.
- Please strike the last sentence.
2.To have a sharp or sudden physical effect, as of a blow.
- We will strike a medal in your honour.
- A hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
- Who would be free themselves must strike the blow?
3.To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate.
- A tree strikes its roots deep.
4.To infest the flesh of a living vertebrate.
- The blowflies come in March, but if a man shears then the flies don’t bother much. The flies strike young lambs, but then the lambing could be regulated.
1.The act of knocking down all ten pins on the first roll of a frame.
2.A work stoppage (or otherwise concerted stoppage of an activity) as a form of protest.
3.A blow or application of physical force against something.
4.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.
- It was then I knew I had made my third mistake. Yes, three strikes right across the plate, and as I hollered "Honey, please wait" she was gone.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1285
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Etymology
From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”).
Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.