stroke
IPA: strˈoʊk
noun
- An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
- An act of striking with a weapon; a blow.
- A single movement with a tool; also, an impact of a tool on an object.
- An act, or the sound, of the clapper or hammer of a clock hitting a bell or other striking mechanism; hence, the time when such a strike occurs.
- (ball games) An act of hitting or trying to hit a ball; also, the manner in which this is done.
- (cricket) The action of hitting the ball with the bat; a shot.
- (golf) A single act of striking at the ball with a club; also, at matchplay, a shot deducted from a player's score at a hole as a result of a handicapping system.
- (squash) A point awarded to a player in case of interference or obstruction by the opponent.
- (tennis) The hitting of a ball with a racket; also, the movement of the racket and arm that produces that impact.
- A movement similar to that of hitting.
- One of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished.
- (rowing)
- The movement of an oar or paddle through water, either the pull which actually propels the boat, or a single entire cycle of movement including the pull; also, the manner in which such movements are made; a rowing style.
- (by extension) The rower who is nearest the stern of the boat, the movement of whose oar sets the rowing rhythm for the other rowers; also, the position in the boat occupied by this rower.
- (swimming) A specific combination of movements of the arms and legs which, when repeated, causes the swimmer to advance through the water; also, the manner in which such movements are made; a swimming style.
- A beat or throb, as of the heart or pulse.
- (technology) A single movement or thrust of a part (such as a piston) of a machine that moves back and forth; also, the length of this movement.
- (by extension) A thrust of the penis during sexual intercourse.
- (figuratively)
- An act causing hurt or death, especially when seen as divine punishment.
- A damaging occurrence, especially if sudden; a blow, a calamity.
- An amount of work; specifically, a large amount of business or work.
- A powerful or sudden effort by which something is done or produced; also, something accomplished by such an effort; an achievement, a feat.
- A movement of a brush in painting, of a chisel in carving, of a pen, pencil, or such implement in drawing or writing, etc., in one direction; hence, a line or mark made on a surface by such an implement.
- (linguistics) A line making up a written character; specifically, a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean character.
- (typography)
- (computing) In Unicode: the formal name of the individual horizontal strikethroughs (as in "A̶").
- (Britain) The oblique, slash, or virgule ("/").
- A distinctive expression in a written composition; a touch.
- (chiefly archaic) Influence; power.
- (professional wrestling) Backstage influence.
- (turn-based games) A masterful or effective action.
- (medicine) The loss of brain function arising when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly interrupted.
- (sciences) An individual discharge of lightning, particularly if causing damage.
- An individual social interaction whereby one gives another attention or recognition.
- (obsolete)
- The effect or result of a striking; affliction or injury; a bruise or wound; soreness.
- Chiefly in to have a good stroke: appetite.
- (medicine) A sudden attack of any illness, especially if causing loss of consciousness or movement, or when fatal.
- (music) A bow or pluck of a string or strings of a stringed instrument; also, the manner in which a musical instrument is played; hence, a melody, a tune.
- An act of moving one's hand or an object along a surface in one direction, touching it lightly; a caress.
- A gesture of assurance given as encouragement; specifically (psychoanalysis) in transactional analysis: a (generally positive) reaction expressed to a person which fulfils their desires or needs.
- (chiefly US) A flattering or friendly act, comment, etc., done or made to a person to influence them.
verb
- (transitive)
- To draw the horizontal line across the upright part (of the letter t).
- Followed by out or through: to draw a line or lines through (text) to indicate that it is deleted; to cancel, to strike or strike out.
- (poetic, rare) Of a bell or clock: to chime or sound to indicate (the hour, the time, etc.).
- (rare) To mark (something) with lines or stripes; to stripe.
- (ball games) To hit or kick (the ball) with a flowing or smooth motion; also, to score (a goal, a point, etc.) by doing so.
- (rowing)
- Of a rower or a crew: to row at (a rate of a certain number of strokes (“movements of the oar through water”) per minute).
- To act as the stroke (“rower who is nearest the stern of the boat, the movement of whose oar sets the rowing rhythm for the other rowers”) of (a boat or its crew).
- (swimming) To strike (the water) with one's arms and legs when swimming.
- (obsolete) To depict (something) with a paintbrush.
- (intransitive)
- (medicine) Chiefly followed by out: to suffer loss of brain function when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly interrupted; to have a stroke (noun sense 4).
- (swimming) To swim by making co-ordinated movements with the arms and legs.
- To move one's hand or an object (such as a broom or brush) along (a surface) in one direction, touching it lightly; to caress.
- (also figuratively) To bring (something) to a certain condition by stroking (sense 1).
- (figuratively)
- (especially psychoanalysis) To give assurance to (someone) through encouragement.
- (by extension, chiefly US, politics) To influence (someone) by convincing or flattering them.
- (agriculture) To milk (a cow or other animal); especially, to squeeze the teat of (a cow, etc.) to extract the last bit of milk from the udder; to strap (dialectal), to strip.
- (masonry) To give a finely fluted surface to (stone) by carving it with a tool.
- (obsolete)
- To sharpen (a knife or other cutting instrument) by honing or rubbing it against a surface.
- (figuratively) To soothe (someone); also, to flatter or indulge (someone).
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Examples of "stroke" in Sentences
- The brush strokes are merciless.
- Everyone has different writing strokes.
- He died suddenly of an apoplectic stroke.
- The stroke hit about the paddle of the Comet.
- The final stroke of the battle belonged to the British.
- The contacting stroke is effected in the needle adapter.
- The theme restaurant, as a pacifier, is a stroke of genius.
- A stroke is an interruption of the blood supply to the brain.
- The object responsible for generating the outline is the stroke.
- A stroke of genius and from there on the South Island was bedlam.
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