stroke

Etymology 1

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”). Sense 3.6.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy. The verb is derived from the noun. cognates * German Streich (“stroke”) * Middle Low German strēk (“stroke, trick, prank”) * Scots strak, strake, straik (“blow, stroke”)

noun

1. An act of hitting; a blow, a hit.
   1. An act of striking with a weapon; a blow.
   2. A single movement with a tool; also, an impact of a tool on an object.
   3. 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.
      on the stroke of midnight
      Already guarding a 1–0 lead from the first leg, Blackpool inched further ahead when Stephen Dobbie scored from an acute angle on the stroke of half-time. The game appeared to be completely beyond Birmingham's reach three minutes into the second period when Matt Phillips reacted quickly to bundle the ball past Colin Doyle and off a post. 9 May 2012, John Percy, “Birmingham City 2 Blackpool 2 (2–3 on agg[regate]): match report”, in Tony Gallagher, editor, The Daily Telegraph, London: Telegraph Media Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-07-23
   4. (ball games) An act of hitting or trying to hit a ball; also, the manner in which this is done.
      1. (cricket) The action of hitting the ball with the bat; a shot.
      2. (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.
      3. (squash) A point awarded to a player in case of interference or obstruction by the opponent.
      4. (tennis) The hitting of a ball with a racket; also, the movement of the racket and arm that produces that impact.
2. A movement similar to that of hitting.
   1. One of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished.
      1. (rowing)
         1. 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.
         2. (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.
      2. (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.
         butterfly stroke
   2. A beat or throb, as of the heart or pulse.
   3. (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.
      1. (by extension) A thrust of the penis during sexual intercourse.
3. (figurative)
   1. An act causing hurt or death, especially when seen as divine punishment.
      the stroke of death
   2. A damaging occurrence, especially if sudden; a blow, a calamity.
      T'encreaſe this load, ſome ſycophant-report / Deſtroy'd his int'reſt and good grace at court. / At this one ſtroke the man look'd dead in lavv: / His flatt'rers ſcamper, and his friends vvithdravv. 1767, [Walter Harte], “Eulogius: Or, The Charitable Mason”, in The Amaranth: Or, Religious Poems;[…], London: […] Mess. Robinson and Roberts,[…]; and W. Frederick,[…], →OCLC, page 200
   3. An amount of work; specifically, a large amount of business or work.
      a stroke of business
   4. A powerful or sudden effort by which something is done or produced; also, something accomplished by such an effort; an achievement, a feat.
      a stroke of genius
   5. 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.
      1. (linguistics) A line making up a written character; specifically, a Chinese, Japanese, or Korean character.
      2. (typography)
         1. (computing) In Unicode: the formal name of the individual horizontal strikethroughs (as in "A̶").
         2. (Britain) The oblique, slash, or virgule ("/").
            Subject: Fire. Dear Sir-stroke-Madam: I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of … No. That's too formal. 3 February 2006, Graham Linehan, “Calamity Jen”, in The IT Crowd, season 1, episode 2
   6. A distinctive expression in a written composition; a touch.
      to give some finishing strokes to an essay
   7. (chiefly archaic) Influence; power.
      Just somebody with a low lottery number, not enough stroke to get in the National Guard, and a distaste for tropical climates. 1993, Dana Stabenow, chapter 5, in A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Mystery), Hampton Falls, N.H.: Beeler Large Print, Thomas T. Beeler, published 2002, page 78
      1. (professional wrestling) Backstage influence.
   8. (turn-based games) A masterful or effective action.
      To enable any other piece to effect the decisive stroke, a greater number of facilities, arising either from the coöperation of partisans, or the obstruction of the adverse king by his own pieces, must conspire in proportion to the assailant's class. 1817, François-André Danican Philidor (translated), Studies of Chess, Samuel Bagster, page 106
      Black gives the opponent and opportunity for a beautiful combination stroke. But his game was anyhow very bad already, for in answer to QR—R sq., which was about his only other alternative, White would have replied Kt—R5 with an irresistible attack. 1889, Wilhelm Steinitz, The Modern Chess Instructor, G. P. Putnam's sons, page 29
4. (medicine) The loss of brain function arising when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly interrupted.
   suffer a stroke
5. (sciences) An individual discharge of lightning, particularly if causing damage.
   A flash of lightning may be made up of several strokes. If they are separated by enough time for the eye to distinguish them, the lightning will appear to flicker.
6. (obsolete)
   1. The effect or result of a striking; affliction or injury; a bruise or wound; soreness.
   2. Chiefly in to have a good stroke: appetite.
      Rooks are said to be fattest when food is scarcest, as they "owereat thorsels" when they have too much food. The same is said of lean children who have a good stroke (appetite). 1893–1894, Oliver Heslop, “OWEREAT”, in Northumberland Words: A Glossary of Words Used in the County of Northumberland and on the Tyneside, volume II, London: For the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press,[…], →OCLC, page 518
      It distressed him, Joe said, to see them feeding like animals, without delicacy. Joe had a good stroke himself, but naturally not as good an appetite as he would have if he was doing anything. a. 1968 (date written), Walter Macken, “The Dreamer”, in The Grass of the People, Dingle, Co. Kerry: Brandon, published 1998, page 212
      It was said of him that he had a good stroke which simply meant in the everyday idiom of the place that he was possessed of a healthy appetite. 1995, John B[rendan] Keane, “Something Drastic”, in The Voice of an Angel and Other Christmas Stories, Dublin: Mercier Press, page 88
   3. (medicine) A sudden attack of any illness, especially if causing loss of consciousness or movement, or when fatal.
      a stroke of apoplexy
   4. (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.

verb

1. (transitive)
   1. To draw the horizontal line across the upright part (of the letter t).
   2. 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.
   3. (poetic, rare) Of a bell or clock: to chime or sound to indicate (the hour, the time, etc.).
   4. (rare) To mark (something) with lines or stripes; to stripe.
   5. (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.
   6. (rowing)
      1. 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).
      2. 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).
         to stroke a boat
   7. (swimming">swimming) To strike (the water) with one's arms and legs when swimming">swimming.
   8. (obsolete) To depict (something) with a paintbrush.
2. (intransitive)
   1. (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).
   2. (swimming) To swim by making co-ordinated movements with the arms and legs.

Etymology 2

The verb is derived from Middle English stroken, straken (“to caress, fondle, pat, rub, smooth, stroke; to pass something over (someone or something); to brush or rub against;”) [and other forms], from Old English strācian (“to stroke”), from Proto-West Germanic *straikōn (“to caress, stroke”), from *straik (“a line, stroke; a dash”) (see further at etymology 1) + *-ōn (suffix forming verbs from nouns). The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * German streicheln (“to stroke, fondle”) * German Low German straken, strieken, strakeln, striekeln (“to stroke; caress; fondle”) * Middle Low German strēken, Middle Dutch strēken (modern Dutch streeken) * Old High German strīhhan, streihhōn, Middle High German strīchen (modern German streichen (“to stroke; to rub; to spread; to apply; to paint; to cancel; to cross out, strike out; to delete; to discard”)) * Saterland Frisian strookje (“to stroke; caress”) * West Frisian streakje (“to stroke; caress”)

verb

1. 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.
2. (also figurative) To bring (something) to a certain condition by stroking (sense 1).
3. (figurative)
   1. (especially psychoanalysis) To give assurance to (someone) through encouragement.
   2. (by extension, chiefly US, politics) To influence (someone) by convincing or flattering them.
4. (agriculture) To milk">milk (a cow or other animal); especially, to squeeze the teat of (a cow, etc.) to extract the last bit of milk">milk from the udder; to strap (dialectal), to strip.
5. (masonry) To give a finely fluted surface to (stone) by carving it with a tool.
6. (obsolete)
   1. To sharpen (a knife or other cutting instrument) by honing or rubbing it against a surface.
   2. (figurative) To soothe (someone); also, to flatter or indulge (someone).

noun

1. An act of moving one's hand or an object along a surface in one direction, touching it lightly; a caress.
   She gave the cat a stroke.
2. (figurative)
   1. 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.
      Not providing a stroke to a client can sometimes facilitate the client in becoming aware of their neediness or desire for approval. By not giving a stroke, the client's need is brought to the surface, where it is amenable to change, […] 2009, Mark Widdowson, Transactional Analysis: 100 Key Points and Techniques, page 246
   2. (chiefly US) A flattering or friendly act, comment, etc., done or made to a person to influence them.