Strike | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Strīke, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. STRUCK; p. p. STRUCK, STRICKEN (STROOK, obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. STRIKING. Struck is more commonly used, in the p. p., than stricken.] [A.-S. strican, āstrican, O. Fries. strika, D. strijken, Icel. strikia, Sw. stryka, Dan. stryge, N. H. Ger. streichen.]

Sense 1. To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or an instrument; to give a blow to, either with the hand or any instrument or missile.

He at Philippi kept His sword e'en like a dancer, while I struck The lean and wrinkled Cassius. Shak.

Sense 2. To give, as a blow; to impel with a blow; to give force to; to impel, as with a blow.

They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts. Ex. xii. 7.

Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow. Byron.

Sense 3. To stamp or impress with a stroke; to coin; as, to strike coin at the mint; to strike dollars, or sovereigns, or copper coin.

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

Sense 5. To glance upon or graze in successive hits or touches.

The sunbeam strikes along the world. Tennyson.

Sense 6. To punish; to afflict; to smite.

To punish the just is not good nor to strike princes for equity. Prov. xvii. 26.

Sense 7. To cause to sound by one or more beats; to notify by sound; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march.

Sense 8. To lower; to let or take down; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or ensign; to strike a yard or a top-mast in a gale; to strike a tent.

Sense 9. To impress strongly; to affect sensibly with strong emotion; as, to strike the mind with surprise; to strike with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror.

Nice works of art strike and surprise us most on the first view. Atterbury.

There please as beauties, here as wonders strike. Pope.

Sense 10. To affect in some particular manner by a sudden impression or impulse; as, the plan proposed strikes me favorably; to strike one dead or blind.

How often has he stricken you dumb with his irony! Landor.

Sense 11. To produce by a sudden action.

Waving wide her myrtle wand, She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. Milton.

Sense 12. To make and ratify; as, to strike a bargain.

Sense 13. To take forcibly or fraudulently; as, to strike money. [Obs.]

Sense 14. To level, as a measure of grain, salt, or the like, by scraping off with a straight instrument what is above the level of the top.

Sense 15. To lade into a cooler, as a liquor. Edwards.

Sense 16. To run on; to ground upon, as a ship.

To strike a docket (Eng. Law), to make an entry, in behalf of a creditor, in a case of bankruptcy, of an affidavit of the debt due and of the bond, in the docket book, at the bankrupt office.—To strike a jury (Law), to constitute a special jury ordered by a court, by each party striking out a certain number of names from a prepared list of jurors, so as to reduce it to the number of persons required by law. Burrell.—To strike a ledger or an account, to balance it.—To strike hands with. (a.) To shake hands with. Halliwell. (b.) To make a compact or agreement with; to agree with.—To strike off. (a.) To erase from an account; to deduct; as, to strike off the interest of a debt. (b.) (Print.) To impress; to print; as, to strike off a thousand copies of a book. (c.) To separate by a blow or any sudden action; as, to strike off a man's head with a cimeter; to strike off what is superfluous or corrupt.—To strike out. (a.) To produce by collision; to force out; as, to strike out sparks with steel. (b.) To blot out; to efface; to erase. “To methodize is as necessary as to strike out.” Pope. (c.) To form by a quick effort; to devise; to invent; to contrive; as, to strike out a new plan of finance.—To strike sail, to take in sail; hence, to cease to advance; to make no further progress; to stop.—To strike up. (a.) To cause to sound; to begin to beat. “Strike up the drums.” Shak. (b.) To begin to sing or play; as, to strike up a tune.

Strike, v. i.

verbintransitive

1. To make a quick blow or thrust. It pleased the king To strike at me upon his misconstruction. Shak.

To hit; to collide; to dash; to clash; as, a hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
To sound by percussion, with blows, or as if with blows; to be struck.

A deep sound strikes like a rising knell. Byron. 4. To make an attack. A puny subject strikes At thy great glory. Shak. 5. To touch; to act by appulse. Hinder light from striking on it, and its colors vanish. Locke.

To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; as, the ship struck at twelve.
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. Dryden.

To quit work in order to compel an increase, or prevent a reduction, of wages. [Recent.]
To lower a flag or colors in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of the ship to an enemy. “That the English ships of war should not strike in the Danish seas.” Burnet.
To break forth; to commence suddenly; as, to strike into reputation; to strike into a run.

To strike for, to start suddenly on a course for.—To strike in. (a.) To enter suddenly. (b.) To recede from the surface, as an eruption; to disappear. (c.) To come in suddenly; to interpose; to interrupt. “I proposed the embassy of Constantinople for Mr. Henshaw, but my Lord Winchelsea struck in.” Evelyn.—To strike in with, to conform to; to suit itself to; to side with; to join with at once. “To assert this is to strike in with the known enemies of God’s grace.” South.—To strike out, to wander; to make a sudden excursion; as, to strike out into an irregular course of life.—To strike up, to commence to play, as a musician; to begin to sound, as an instrument. “Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up.” Shak.

Strike, n.

noun

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

Sense 2. A bushel; four pecks. [Prov. Eng.] Tusser.

Sense 3. An old measure of four bushels, or half a quarter. [Prov. Eng.]

Sense 4. Fullness of measure; hence, excellence of quality. “Three hogsheads of ale of the first strike.” W. Scott.

Sense 5. An iron stanchel in a gate or palisade. [Obs.]

Sense 6. The act of combining and demanding higher wages for work; cessation from labor, or neglect of duty, in a spirit of mutiny or revolt.

Sense 7. (Geol.) The horizontal direction of the outcropping edges of tilted rocks; or the direction of an horizontal line supposed drawn on the surface of a tilted stratum. It is at right angles to the dip. Dana.

Strike of flax, a handful that may be hackled at once. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]—Strike of sugar. (Sugar-making.) (a.) The act of emptying the teache, or last boiler, in which the cane-juice is exposed to heat, into the coolers. (b.) The quantity of the sirup thus emptied at once.