STRIKE, v.t. pret. struck; pp. struck and stricken; but struck is in the most common use. Strook is wholly obsolete. [G., to pass, move or ramble, to depart, to touch, to stroke, to glide or glance over, to lower or strike, as sails, to curry; L., to sweep together, to spread, as a plaster, to play on a violin, to card, as wool, to strike or whip, as with a rod; a stroke, stripe or lash.]

1. An instrument with a straight edge for leveling a measure of grain, salt and the like, for scraping of what is above the level of the top. – America.
2. A bushel; four pecks. [Local.] – Tusser.
3. A measure of four bushels or half a quarter. [Local.] – Encyc.
4. The act of combining and demanding higher wages for work. [Modern English.]
5. In geology, the direction in which the edge of a stratum appears at the surface. Strike of flax, a handful that may be hackled at once. [Local.]

1. To make a quick blow or thrust. It pleas'd the king / To strike at me upon his misconstruction. – Shak.
2. To hit; to collide; to dash against; to clash; as, a hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
3. To sound by percussion; to be struck. The clock strikes.
4. To make an attack. A puny subject strikes / At thy great glory. – Shak.
5. To hit; to touch; to act on by appulse. Hinder light from striking on it, and its colors vanish. Locke.
6. To sound with blows. Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up. – Shak.
7. To run upon; to be stranded. The ship struck at twelve, and remained fast.
8. 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.
9. To lower a flag or colors in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of the ship to an enemy.
10. To break forth; as, to strike into reputation. [Not in use.] To strike in, to enter suddenly also, to recede from the surface, as an eruption; to disappear. To strike in with, to conform to; to suit itself to; to join with at once. – South. To strike out, to wander; to make a sudden excursion; as to strike out into an irregular course of life. – Collier. To strike, among workmen in manufactories, in England, is to quit work in a body or by combination, in order to compel their employers to raise their wages.

1. To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand an instrument; to give a blow to, either with the open hand, hand, the fist, a stick, club or whip, or with a pointed instrument, or with a ball or an arrow discharged. An arrow struck the shield; a ball strikes a ship between wind and water. He at Philippi kept / His sword e'en like a dancer, while I struck / The lean and wrinkled Cassius. – Shak.
2. To dash; to throw with a quick motion. They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts. – Exod. xii.
3. To stamp; to impress; to coin; as, to strike coin at the mint; to strike dollars or sovereigns; also, to print; as, to strike five hundred copies of a book.
4. To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; as, a tree strikes its root deep.
5. To punish; to afflict; as smite is also used. To punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. – Prov. xvii.
6. To cause to sound; to notify by sound; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march. – Shak. Knolles.
7. In seamanship, to lower; to let down; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or ensign; to strike a yard or a top-mast in a gale; [that is, to run or slip down.] – Mar. Dict.
8. 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. They please as beauties, here as wonders strike. – Pope.
9. To make and ratify; as, to strike a bargain, L. fœdus ferire. This expression probably arose from the practice of the parties striking a victim when they concluded a bargain.
10. To produce by a sudden action. Waving wide her myrtle wand, / She strikes a universal peace through sea and land. – Milton.
11. To affect in some particular manner by a sudden impression or impulse; as, the plan proposed strikes me favorably; to strike one dead; to strike one blind; to strike one dumb. – Shak. Dryden.
12. To level a measure of grain, salt or the like, by scraping off with a straight instrument what is above the level of the top.
13. To lade into a cooler. – Edwards' W. Indies.
14. To be advanced or worn with age; used in the participle; as, he was stricken in years or age; well struck in years. – Shak.
15. To run on; to ground; as a ship. To strike up, to cause to sound; to begin to beat. Strike up the drums. – Shak. #2. To begin to sing or play; as, to straw up a tune. To strike off, to erase from an account; to deduct; as, to strike off the interest of a debt. #2. To impress; to print; as, to strike off a thousand copies of a book. #3. To separate by a blow or any sudden action; as, to strike off a man's head with a cimiter; to strike off what is superfluous or corrupt. To strike out, to produce by collision; to force out; as, to strike out sparks with steel. #2. To blot out; to efface; to erase. To methodize is as necessary as to strike out. – Pope. #3. To form something new by a quick effort; to devise; to invent; to contrive; as, to strike out a new plan of finance.

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

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

2. To deliver a quick blow or thrust; to give blows.
   
   

   And fiercely took his trenchant blade in hand,
   With which he stroke so furious and so fell. Spenser.

   Strike now, or else the iron cools. Shak.

3. The act of striking.
4. A sudden finding of rich ore in mining; hence, any sudden success or good fortune, esp. financial.
5. To come in collision with; to strike against; as, a bullet struck him; the wave struck the boat amidships; the ship struck a reef.
6. To hit; to collide; to dush; to clash; as, a hammer strikes against the bell of a clock.
7. 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; a strickle.
8. Act of leveling all the pins with the first bowl; also, the score thus made. Sometimes called double spare.
9. To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a force to; to dash; to cast.
   
   

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

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

10. To sound by percussion, with blows, or as with blows; to be struck; as, the clock strikes.
    
    

    A deep sound strikes like a rising knell. Byron.

11. A bushel; four pecks.
    
    
    [Prov. Eng.] Tusser.
12. Any actual or constructive striking at the pitched ball, three of which, if the ball is not hit fairly, cause the batter to be put out; hence, any of various acts or events which are ruled as equivalent to such a striking, as failing to strike at a ball so pitched that the batter should have struck at it.
13. To stamp or impress with a stroke; to coin; as, to strike coin from metal: to strike dollars at the mint.
14. To make an attack; to aim a blow.
    
    

    A puny subject strikes
    At thy great glory. Shak.

    Struck for throne, and striking found his doom. Tennyson.

15. An old measure of four bushels.
    
    
    [Prov. Eng.]
16. Same as Ten- strike.
17. To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; to set in the earth; as, a tree strikes its roots deep.
18. To touch; to act by appulse.
    
    

    Hinder light but from striking on it [porphyry], and its colors vanish. Locke.

19. Fullness of measure; hence, excellence of quality.
    
    

    Three hogsheads of ale of the first strike. Sir W. Scott.

20. To punish; to afflict; to smite.
    
    

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

21. To run upon a rock or bank; to be stranded; as, the ship struck in the night.
22. An iron pale or standard in a gate or fence.
    
    
    [Obs.]
23. To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or notify by audible strokes; as, the clock strikes twelve; the drums strike up a march.
24. To pass with a quick or strong effect; to dart; to penetrate.
    
    

    Till a dart strike through his liver. Prov. vii. 23.

    Now and then a glittering beam of wit or passion strikes through the obscurity of the poem. Dryden.

25. The act of quitting work; specifically, such an act by a body of workmen, done as a means of enforcing compliance with demands made on their employer.
    
    

    Strikes are the insurrections of labor. F. A. Walker.

26. To lower; to let or take down; to remove; as, to strike sail; to strike a flag or an ensign, as in token of surrender; to strike a yard or a topmast in a gale; to strike a tent; to strike the centering of an arch.
27. To break forth; to commence suddenly; -- with into; as, to strike into reputation; to strike into a run.
28. A puddler's stirrer.
29. To make a sudden impression upon, as by a blow; to affect sensibly with some strong emotion; as, to strike the mind, with surprise; to strike one with wonder, alarm, dread, or horror.
    
    

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

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

30. To lower a flag, or colors, in token of respect, or to signify a surrender of a ship to an enemy.
    
    

    That the English ships of war should not strike in the Danish seas. Bp. Burnet.

31. The horizontal direction of the outcropping edges of tilted rocks; or, the direction of a horizontal line supposed to be drawn on the surface of a tilted stratum. It is at right angles to the dip.
32. 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 stricken you dumb with his irony! Landor.

33. To quit work in order to compel an increase, or prevent a reduction, of wages.
34. The extortion of money, or the attempt to extort money, by threat of injury; blackmailing.
    
    

    Strike block (Carp.), a plane shorter than a jointer, used for fitting a short joint. Moxon. -- Strike of flax, a handful that may be hackled at once. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Chaucer. -- 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.

35. To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a stroke; as, to strike a light.
    
    

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

36. To become attached to something; -- said of the spat of oysters.
37. To cause to ignite; as, to strike a match.
38. To steal money.
    
    
    [Old Slang, Eng.] Nares.

    To strike at, to aim a blow at. -- To strike for, to start suddenly on a course for. -- To strike home, to give a blow which reaches its object, to strike with effect. -- To strike in. (a) To enter suddenly. (b) To disappear from the surface, with internal effects, as an eruptive disease. (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. (d) To join in after another has begun,as in singing. -- 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. (a) To start; to wander; to make a sudden excursion; as, to strike out into an irregular course of life. (b) To strike with full force. (c) (Baseball) To be put out for not hitting the ball during one's turn at the bat. -- 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.

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

    * Probably borrowed from the L. fœdus ferrire, to strike a compact, so called because an animal was struck and killed as a sacrifice on such occasions.

40. To take forcibly or fraudulently; as, to strike money.
    
    
    [Old Slang]
41. 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.
42. To cut off, as a mortar joint, even with the face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
43. To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly; as, my eye struck a strange word; they soon struck the trail.
44. To borrow money of; to make a demand upon; as, he struck a friend for five dollars.
    
    
    [Slang]
45. To lade into a cooler, as a liquor.
    
    
    B. Edwards.
46. To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
    
    

    Behold, I thought, He will . . . strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 2 Kings v. 11.

47. To advance; to cause to go forward; -- used only in past participle.
    
    
    "Well struck in years." Shak.

    To strike an attitude, To strike a balance. See under Attitude, and Balance. -- 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. Burrill. -- To strike a lead. (a) (Mining) To find a vein of ore. (b) Fig.: To find a way to fortune. [Colloq.] -- 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 what is superfluous or corrupt. -- To strike oil, to find petroleum when boring for it; figuratively, to make a lucky hit financially. [Slang, U.S.] -- To strike one luck, to shake hands with one and wish good luck. [Obs.] Beau. *** Fl. -- 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. (d) (Baseball) To cause a player to strike out; -- said of the pitcher. See To strike out, under Strike, v. i. -- To strike sail. See under Sail. -- 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. (c) To raise (as sheet metal), in making diahes, pans, etc., by blows or pressure in a die. -- To strike work, to quit work; to go on a strike.