strike

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To hit someone or something hard.

   The ball struck him on the head.

2. 2
   noun

   A time when workers refuse to work in protest at pay or conditions.

   The strike lasted more than a month before it was settled.

3. 3
   verb

   To suddenly come into someone's mind or give an impression.

   It struck me that we had met before.

4. 4
   noun

   A sudden military attack.

   The air strike was scheduled to begin at dawn.

Multiword verbs with strike

• strike off Phrasal verb A2

  to remove a name or item from an official list

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Strike is an Old English word whose earliest senses included “go or flow” and “rub lightly”; it shares a Germanic root with stroke. By the Middle Ages it had developed the more forceful sense “hit.” The labor sense arose through strike meaning “lower a sail or flag,” with the noun for a work stoppage recorded in 1810.

From Middle English stryken, from Old English strīcan, from Proto-West Germanic *strīkan, from Proto-Germanic *strīkaną, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to stroke, rub, press”). Cognate with Dutch strijken, German streichen, Danish stryge, Icelandic strýkja, strýkva.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary