Adjacent Words

Stroke definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

STROKE, STROOK, for struck.
STROKE, n. [from strike.]
1. A blow; the striking of one body against another; applicable to a club or to any heavy body, or to a rod, whip or lash. A piece of timber falling may kill a man by its stroke; a man when whipped, can hardly fail to flinch or wince at every stroke.
Th oars were silver, which to the time of flutes kept stroke--
2. A hostile blow or attack.
He entered and won the whole kingdom of Naples without striking a stroke.
3. A sudden attack of disease or affliction; calamity.
At this one stroke the man lookd dead in law.
4. Fatal attack; as the stroke of death.
5. The sound of the clock.
What is t oclock? Upon the stroke of four.
6. The touch of a pencil.
Oh, lasting as those colors may they shine, free as thy stroke, yet faultless as thy line.
Some parts of my work have been brightened by the strokes of your lordshipss pencil.
7. A touch; a masterly effort; as the boldest strokes of poetry.
He will give one of the finishing strokes to it.
8. An effort suddenly or unexpectedly produced.
9. Power; efficacy.
He has a great stroke with the reader, when he condemns any of my poems, to make the world have a better opinion of them.
[I believe this sense is obsolete.]
10. A dash in writing or printing; a line; a touch of the pen; as a hair stroke.
STROKE, v.t. [See Strike and Strict.]
1. To rub gently with the hand by way of expressing kindness or tenderness; to soothe.
He dried the falling drops, and yet more kind, he strokd her cheeks--
2. To rub gently in one direction.
3. To make smooth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: (sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand; "it took two strokes to get out of the bunker"; "a good shot requires good balance and tempo"; "he left me an almost impossible shot" [syn: stroke, shot]
2: the maximum movement available to a pivoted or reciprocating piece by a cam [syn: throw, stroke, cam stroke]
3: a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain [syn: stroke, apoplexy, cerebrovascular accident, CVA]
4: a light touch
5: a light touch with the hands [syn: stroke, stroking]
6: (golf) the unit of scoring in golf is the act of hitting the ball with a club; "Nicklaus won by three strokes"
7: the oarsman nearest the stern of the shell who sets the pace for the rest of the crew
8: anything that happens suddenly or by chance without an apparent cause; "winning the lottery was a happy accident"; "the pregnancy was a stroke of bad luck"; "it was due to an accident or fortuity" [syn: accident, stroke, fortuity, chance event]
9: a punctuation mark (/) used to separate related items of information [syn: solidus, slash, virgule, diagonal, stroke, separatrix]
10: a mark made on a surface by a pen, pencil, or paintbrush; "she applied the paint in careful strokes"
11: any one of the repeated movements of the limbs and body used for locomotion in swimming or rowing
12: a single complete movement v
1: touch lightly and repeatedly, as with brushing motions; "He stroked his long beard"
2: strike a ball with a smooth blow
3: row at a particular rate
4: treat gingerly or carefully; "You have to stroke the boss"

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (stroked; stroking) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English str?cian; akin to Old High German str?hhan to stroke — more at strike Date: before 12th century 1. to rub gently in one direction; also caress 2. to flatter or pay attention to in a manner designed to reassure or persuade • stroker noun II. noun Etymology: Middle English; akin to Old English str?can to stroke — more at strike Date: 13th century 1. the act of striking; especially a blow with a weapon or implement 2. a single unbroken movement; especially one of a series of repeated or to-and-fro movements 3. a. a controlled swing intended to hit a ball or shuttlecock; also a striking of the ball b. such a stroke charged to a player as a unit of scoring in golf 4. a. a sudden action or process producing an impact <a stroke of lightning> b. an unexpected result <a stroke of luck> 5. sudden diminution or loss of consciousness, sensation, and voluntary motion caused by rupture or obstruction (as by a clot) of a blood vessel of the brain — called also apoplexy, cerebrovascular accident 6. a. one of a series of propelling beats or movements against a resisting medium <a stroke of the oar> b. a rower who sets the pace for a crew 7. a. a vigorous or energetic effort by which something is done, produced, or accomplished <a stroke of genius> <a brilliant diplomatic stroke> b. a delicate or clever touch in a narrative, description, or construction 8. heartbeat 9. the movement in either direction of a mechanical part (as a piston) having a reciprocating motion; also the distance of such movement 10. the sound of a bell being struck <at the stroke of twelve>; also the specific time indicated by or as if by such a sound 11. [stroke (I)] an act of stroking or caressing 12. a. a mark or dash made by a single movement of an implement b. one of the lines of a letter of the alphabet III. verb (stroked; stroking) Date: 1597 transitive verb 1. a. to mark with a short line <stroke the t's> b. to cancel by drawing a line through <stroked out his name> 2. to set the stroke for (a rowing crew); also to set the stroke for the crew of (a rowing boat) 3. hit; especially to propel (a ball) with a controlled swinging blow intransitive verb 1. to execute a stroke 2. to row at a certain number of strokes a minute

Britannica Concise

Sudden impairment of brain function due to hypoxia, which may cause death of brain tissue. Hypertension, arteriosclerosis, smoking, high cholesterol, diabetes, old age, atrial fibrillation, and genetic defects are risk factors. Strokes due to thrombosis (the most common cause), embolism, or arterial spasm, which cause ischemia (reduced blood supply) must be distinguished from those due to hemorrhage (bleeding), which are usually severe and often fatal. Depending on its site in the brain, a stroke's effects may include aphasia, ataxia, local paralysis, and/or disorders of one or more senses. A massive stroke can produce one-sided paralysis, inability to speak, coma, or death within hours or days. Anticoagulants can arrest strokes caused by clots but worsen those caused by bleeding. If the cause is closure of the major artery to the brain, surgery may clear or bypass the obstruction. Rehabilitation and speech therapy should begin within two days to retain and restore as much function as possible, since survivors may live many more years. Transient ischemic attacks ("mini-strokes"), with short-term loss of function, result from blockage of blood flow to small areas. They tend to recur and may worsen, leading to multi-infarct dementia (see senile dementia) or stroke.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the act or an instance of striking; a blow or hit (with a single stroke; a stroke of lightning). 2 a sudden disabling attack or loss of consciousness caused by an interruption in the flow of blood to the brain, esp. through thrombosis; apoplexy. 3 a an action or movement esp. as one of a series. b the time or way in which such movements are done. c the slightest such action (has not done a stroke of work). 4 the whole of the motion (of a wing, oar, etc.) until the starting-position is regained. 5 (in rowing) the mode or action of moving the oar (row a fast stroke). 6 the whole motion (of a piston) in either direction. 7 Golf the action of hitting (or hitting at) a ball with a club, as a unit of scoring. 8 a mode of moving the arms and legs in swimming. 9 a method of striking with the bat etc. in games etc. (played some unorthodox strokes). 10 a specially successful or skilful effort (a stroke of diplomacy). 11 a a mark made by the movement in one direction of a pen or pencil or paintbrush. b a similar mark printed. 12 a detail contributing to the general effect in a description. 13 the sound made by a striking clock. 14 (in full stroke oar) the oar or oarsman nearest the stern, setting the time of the stroke. 15 the act or a spell of stroking. --v.tr. 1 pass one's hand gently along the surface of (hair or fur etc.); caress lightly. 2 act as the stroke of (a boat or crew). Phrases and idioms: at a stroke by a single action. finishing stroke a coup de grâce; a final and fatal stroke. off one's stroke not performing as well as usual. on the stroke punctually. on the stroke of nine etc. with the clock about to strike nine etc. stroke a person down appease a person's anger. stroke of business a profitable transaction. stroke of genius an original or strikingly successful idea. stroke of luck (or good luck) an unforeseen opportune occurrence. stroke play Golf play in which the score is reckoned by counting the number of strokes taken for the round (cf. match play (see MATCH(1))). stroke a person (or a person's hair) the wrong way irritate a person. Etymology: OE stracian f. Gmc, rel. to STRIKE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Split shot Split shot or stroke stroke . In croquet, etc., a shot or stroke in which one drives in different directions one's own and the opponent's ball placed in contact.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stroke Stroke, obs. imp. of Strike. Struck.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stroke Stroke, n. [OE. strok, strook, strak, fr. striken. See Strike, v. t.] 1. The act of striking; a blow; a hit; a knock; esp., a violent or hostile attack made with the arm or hand, or with an instrument or weapon. His hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree. --Deut. xix. 5. A fool's lips enter into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes. --Prov. xviii. 6. He entered and won the whole kingdom of Naples without striking a stroke. --Bacon. 2. The result of effect of a striking; injury or affliction; soreness. In the day that Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. --Isa. xxx. 26. 3. The striking of the clock to tell the hour. Well, but what's o'clock? - Upon the stroke of ten. -- Well, let is strike. --Shak. 4. A gentle, caressing touch or movement upon something; a stroking. --Dryden. 5. A mark or dash in writing or printing; a line; the touch of a pen or pencil; as, an up stroke; a firm stroke. O, lasting as those colors may they shine, Free as thy stroke, yet faultless as thy line. --Pope. 6. Hence, by extension, an addition or amandment to a written composition; a touch; as, to give some finishing strokes to an essay. --Addison. 7. A sudden attack of disease; especially, a fatal attack; a severe disaster; any affliction or calamity, especially a sudden one; as, a stroke of apoplexy; the stroke of death. At this one stroke the man looked dead in law. --Harte. 8. A throb or beat, as of the heart. --Tennyson. 9. One of a series of beats or movements against a resisting medium, by means of which movement through or upon it is accomplished; as, the stroke of a bird's wing in flying, or an oar in rowing, of a skater, swimmer, etc.; also: (Rowing) (a) The rate of succession of stroke; as, a quick stroke. (b) The oar nearest the stern of a boat, by which the other oars are guided; -- called also stroke oar. (c) The rower who pulls the stroke oar; the strokesman. 10. A powerful or sudden effort by which something is done, produced, or accomplished; also, something done or accomplished by such an effort; as, a stroke of genius; a stroke of business; a master stroke of policy. 11. (Mach.) The movement, in either direction, of the piston plunger, piston rod, crosshead, etc., as of a steam engine or a pump, in which these parts have a reciprocating motion; as, the forward stroke of a piston; also, the entire distance passed through, as by a piston, in such a movement; as, the piston is at half stroke. Note: The respective strokes are distinguished as up and down strokes, outward and inward strokes, forward and back strokes, the forward stroke in stationary steam engines being toward the crosshead, but in locomotives toward the front of the vehicle. 12. Power; influence. [Obs.] ``Where money beareth [hath] all the stroke.'' --Robynson (More's Utopia). He has a great stroke with the reader. --Dryden. 13. Appetite. [Obs.] --Swift. To keep stroke, to make strokes in unison. The oars where silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Stroke Stroke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strokeed; p. pr. & vb. n. Strokeing.] [OE. stroken, straken, AS. str[=a]cian, fr. str[=i]can to go over, pass. See Strike, v. t., and cf. Straggle.] 1. To strike. [Obs.] Ye mote with the plat sword again Stroken him in the wound, and it will close. --Chaucer. 2. To rib gently in one direction; especially, to pass the hand gently over by way of expressing kindness or tenderness; to caress; to soothe. He dried the falling drops, and, yet more kind, He stroked her cheeks. --Dryden. 3. To make smooth by rubbing. --Longfellow. 4. (Masonry) To give a finely fluted surface to. 5. To row the stroke oar of; as, to stroke a boat.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(strokes, stroking, stroked) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you stroke someone or something, you move your hand slowly and gently over them. Carla, curled up on the sofa, was smoking a cigarette and stroking her cat... She walked forward and embraced him and stroked his tousled white hair. VERB: V n, V n 2. If someone has a stroke, a blood vessel in their brain bursts or becomes blocked, which may kill them or make them unable to move one side of their body. He had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly paralysed. N-COUNT: usu sing 3. The strokes of a pen or brush are the movements or marks that you make with it when you are writing or painting. Fill in gaps by using short, upward strokes of the pencil. N-COUNT: usu pl 4. When you are swimming or rowing, your strokes are the repeated movements that you make with your arms or the oars. I turned and swam a few strokes further out to sea... N-COUNT: usu pl 5. A swimming stroke is a particular style or method of swimming. She spent hours practising the breast stroke. N-COUNT: usu sing, supp N 6. The strokes of a clock are the sounds that indicate each hour. On the stroke of 12, fireworks suddenly exploded into the night. N-COUNT 7. In sports such as tennis, baseball, cricket, and golf, a stroke is the action of hitting the ball. Compton was sending the ball here, there, and everywhere with each stroke. N-COUNT 8. A stroke of luck or good fortune is something lucky that happens. It didn't rain, which turned out to be a stroke of luck. N-SING: a N of n 9. A stroke of genius or inspiration is a very good idea that someone suddenly has. At the time, his appointment seemed a stroke of genius. N-SING: a N of n 10. If something happens at a stroke or in one stroke, it happens suddenly and completely because of one single action. The disease wiped out 40 million rabbits at a stroke... How can Britain reduce its prison population in one stroke? PHRASE: PHR after v 11. If someone does not do a stroke of work, they are very lazy and do no work at all. (INFORMAL) I never did a stroke of work at college. PHRASE: with brd-neg, V inflects [emphasis]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Blow, knock, rap, pat, hit, thump. 2. Attack, shock. 3. Affliction, reverse, calamity, hardship, misfortune, visitation. 4. Touch, dash, sudden effort, sudden effect. II. v. a. Rub gently (with the hands, in one direction).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To take a stroke: to take a bout with a woman.

Moby Thesaurus

Jacksonian epilepsy, Rolandic epilepsy, abdominal epilepsy, abuse, access, accomplished fact, accomplishment, ache, achievement, aching, act, acta, action, activated epilepsy, ad hoc measure, adventure, affect epilepsy, akinetic epilepsy, aneurysm, angina, angina pectoris, answer, aortic insufficiency, aortic stenosis, apoplectic stroke, apoplexy, approach, arrest, arrhythmia, arteriosclerosis, artifice, assay, atherosclerosis, atrial fibrillation, attack, attempt, auricular fibrillation, autonomic epilepsy, band, bang, bar, bash, bat, beat, beating, belt, beriberi heart, bid, biff, bit, blarney, bleed, bleed white, blockage, blow, bonk, breakup, breath, brush, butter, butter up, cardiac arrest, cardiac epilepsy, cardiac insufficiency, cardiac shock, cardiac stenosis, cardiac thrombosis, carditis, caress, cataclysm, catalepsy, cataplexy, chop, climax, clip, clonic spasm, clonus, clout, clump, congenital heart disease, contact, contrivance, convulsion, cor biloculare, cor juvenum, cor triatriatum, coronary, coronary insufficiency, coronary thrombosis, cortical epilepsy, countermove, coup, course of action, crack, cramp, cross-hatching, cursive epilepsy, cut, cutaneous sense, dash, dealings, deed, delineation, demarche, device, diagonal, diastolic hypertension, diastrophism, dig, dint, diplegia, dirty work, disaster, distress, diurnal epilepsy, dodge, doing, doings, dolor, donkeywork, dotted line, drain, drub, drubbing, drudgery, drumming, eclampsia, effort, embolism, employment, encased heart, endeavor, endocarditis, enterprise, epilepsia, epilepsia gravior, epilepsia major, epilepsia minor, epilepsia mitior, epilepsia nutans, epilepsia tarda, epilepsy, epitasis, essay, example, expedient, experiment, exploit, extrasystole, fag, fait accompli, falling sickness, fatigue, fatty heart, feat, feel, feel up, feeling, fibroid heart, fingertip caress, fit, flash, flask-shaped heart, flick, fling, flourish, focal epilepsy, fondle, frenzy, frictionize, frosted heart, fusillade, gambit, gest, gesture, get around, gimmick, glance, go, grand mal, graze, grief, grind, grip, hachure, hairline, hairy heart, half a jiffy, half a mo, half a second, half a shake, hand, hand-mindedness, handiwork, handwork, happening, hatching, haute mal, heart attack, heart block, heart condition, heart disease, heart failure, hemiplegia, high blood pressure, hint, hit, honey, hurt, hypertension, hypertensive heart disease, hysterical epilepsy, ictus, ill-use, impose upon, improvisation, industry, infantile paralysis, injury, instant, iota, ischemic heart disease, jab, jiff, jiffy, job, jolly, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, kid along, kiss, knead, knock, labor, lambency, lap, larval epilepsy, laryngeal epilepsy, laryngospasm, last expedient, last resort, last shift, latent epilepsy, lay it on, lesion, lick, lick of work, light touch, line, lineation, lockjaw, make use of, makeshift, maneuver, manipulate, manual labor, mark, massage, matter, matutinal epilepsy, means, 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disease, rotatoria, round heart, rub, rub against, rub down, rub noses, sclerosis, score, scrap, scut work, sec, second, seizure, sense of touch, sensory epilepsy, sensory paralysis, serial epilepsy, sexual climax, shake, shake-up, shift, shock, shot, slam, slash, slavery, slog, slug, smack, smash, soap, sock, soft-soap, soften up, solution, soothe, sore, sore spot, spadework, spasm, splash, split second, stab, step, stitch, stony heart, stopgap, stoppage, stratagem, streak, streaking, stress, stress of life, striation, strike, string along, strip, stripe, striping, stroke of policy, stroke of work, strong bid, stunt, sublineation, suck dry, suffering, suggestion, swat, sweat, swing, swipe, tachycardia, tactic, tactile sense, taction, take advantage of, tap, tardy epilepsy, task, tattoo, temblor, temporary expedient, tender spot, tentative, tentative poke, tetanus, tetany, thing, thing done, throb, throes, thromboembolism, thrombosis, thump, thwack, tick, tidal wave, tiresome work, toil, tonic epilepsy, tonic spasm, torsion spasm, touch, tour de force, transaction, traumatic epilepsy, travail, treadmill, trial, trial and error, trice, trick, tricuspid insufficiency, tricuspid stenosis, trismus, trump, try, tsunami, turn, turtle heart, twink, twinkle, twinkling, twitch, two shakes, ucinate epilepsy, underline, underlining, underscore, underscoring, undertaking, upheaval, use, use ill, varicose veins, varix, ventricular fibrillation, virgule, visitation, wallop, whack, whisper, whop, wink, work, work on, work upon, working hypothesis, working proposition, works, wound, wrench, yerk