# streak

Pronunciation: say "STREEK" /stɹiːk/

## Noun

1. An irregular line or mark left by smearing or by motion.
   - Simple: A long, uneven line or mark left by rubbing or by something moving.
   - _The worn wiper blades left greasy streaks across the windshield._
   - _A passing car turned into a bright streak of light in the long-exposure photo._
2. An unbroken run of similar events.
   - Simple: A time when the same kind of thing keeps happening again and again.
   - _The team's winning streak finally ended at eleven games._
   - _She's been on a lucky streak at the card table all week._
3. A trait or tendency that shows consistently in someone's personality without dominating it.
   - Simple: A part of someone's character that is always there but is not the main part.
   - _Underneath all the charm, he has a mean streak his friends rarely see._
   - _There's a competitive streak in her that even board games bring out._
5. A running count of consecutive days on which a user has interacted with another user or with a service, used as a game-like way to keep people engaged.
   - Simple: A count of how many days in a row you have used an app or sent something to a friend on it.
   - _He sends his best friend a photo every night just to keep their streak alive._
   - _The language app warned her that her 200-day streak would end at midnight._
8. The act of running naked through a public place.
   - Simple: Running naked through a public place.
   - _His streak across the stadium made the evening news._
   - _The college finally banned the annual streak through the library during exam week._
10. The color of a mineral in powdered form, so called because a simple field test is to rub the mineral across unglazed white porcelain.
   - Simple: The color of a mineral's powder, seen when the mineral is rubbed on plain white tile.
   - _Hematite can look black or silvery, but its streak is reddish brown._
   - _Pyrite leaves a greenish-black streak, which helps tell it apart from real gold._
11. In shipbuilding, a strake: one continuous line of planking or plating running along a ship's hull.
   - Simple: A long row of boards or metal plates along the side of a ship.
   - _The shipwright replaced a rotten streak just above the waterline._
   - _On a clinker-built boat, each streak overlaps the one below it._
12. The moth species Chesias legatella, which belongs to the family Geometridae.
   - Simple: A kind of moth, known to scientists as Chesias legatella.
   - _This year's moth survey added a streak to the reserve's list for the first time._
   - _The recorder photographed the streak before releasing it at the edge of the heath._

## Verb

4. To move very swiftly, or to run very fast.
   - Simple: To move or run very fast.
   - _The express streaked through the station without slowing down._
   - _At dusk we watched the swifts streak over the rooftops._
6. To mark something with streaks.
   - Simple: To put streaks on something.
   - _Tears streaked her makeup as she listened to the news._
   - _Cleaning windows in direct sunlight can streak the glass._
7. To run naked through a public place.
   - Simple: To run without any clothes on in a public place.
   - _A fan streaked across the field at halftime before security caught him._
   - _Seniors dared each other to streak through the quad on the last night of classes._
9. To have or develop streaks.
   - Simple: To get or show streaks, long uneven lines or marks.
   - _Cheap paint tends to streak when you roll it on too thin._
   - _Her waterproof mascara didn't streak, even after she cried at the wedding._

## Verb

13. To stretch or extend; by extension, to lay out a dead body. *(obsolete, Scotland, UK)*
   - Simple: To stretch something out, or to lay out the body of a dead person.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A rung or round of a ladder.

## Origin

From Middle English streke, from Old English strica, from Proto-Germanic *strikiz, from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“line”). It is related to Dutch streek, German Strich, Swedish streck, Danish streg and Gothic striks.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/streak (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).