stroke
Pluralstrokes
Verbstrokes, stroking, stroked
Pluralstrokes
Formsstrokes, stroking, stroked
- 1A sudden interruption of the blood supply to the brain, causing brain damage that ranges from minor to major, and possibly death.
She suffered a stroke at fifty-two and spent months learning to speak again.
Smoking and untreated high blood pressure are major risk factors for stroke.
Note
Doctors' formal name for it is cerebrovascular accident, shortened to CVA. Two main kinds are told apart by cause: ischemic, when a clot or a narrowed artery blocks the flow of blood, and hemorrhagic, when a vessel in or around the brain bursts. In everyday speech people have a stroke or suffer one.
- 2To move a hand, or an object such as a brush or broom, lightly along a surface in one direction; to caress.
He stroked his beard thoughtfully as he read the contract.
Groomers stroke the horse's coat with a soft brush to bring up the shine.
Note
The gentle verb comes from Middle English stroken, “to caress, fondle, pat, rub, smooth.” What sets it apart from rubbing is direction: the hand travels one way along the surface, down a cat's back or along a beard. John Evelyn's diary for 1660 shows it in ceremony, the king stroking the kneeling sick as he touched them for “the evil.”
- 3
- 4A movement of the arms and legs that propels a swimmer through the water; also, a swimming style made up of a particular combination of arm and leg movements.
Swimmers in a medley relay each swim a different stroke.
She pulled away from the pack with long, powerful strokes.
Note
Swimmers use both halves of the meaning every day. The style meaning gives the names they learn, from the butterfly stroke to the one-word backstroke, breaststroke and sidestroke; the movement meaning is the one a coach counts, as when a swimmer tries to cover a length of the pool in fewer strokes.
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- 6One hit of a clock's hammer or clapper on its bell or a similar part; also, the sound it makes, or the moment when it happens.
The New Year's fireworks began on the stroke of twelve.
She lay awake and heard each stroke as the hall clock struck three.
Similarchime
Note
Clocks gave English an exact phrase: on the stroke of midnight means at that very moment, not around it. The phrase has outgrown the clock, so a goal can come on the stroke of halftime with no bell anywhere. The sound itself is what Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (1843) waits for, “when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to vibrate.”
- 7An act of moving a hand or an object lightly along a surface in one direction; a caress.
She gave the old dog a stroke on the head as she passed.
With long strokes of her hand, she smoothed the wrinkled tablecloth.
Similarcaress
- 8The act of hitting the ball with a racket; also, the swing of the arm and racket that produces the hit.
Her two-handed backhand is the most reliable stroke in her game.
The tennis coach filmed his strokes in slow motion to fix his follow-through.
Similarshot
Note
Tennis players use the word for the whole swing as much as the moment of contact, which is why a stroke can be taught, filmed and rebuilt. They sort strokes by when the ball is met: a groundstroke after it bounces, a volley before it lands. The serve is the stroke that starts each point, hit from the server's own toss.
- 9A single attempt to hit the ball with a club; also, in match play, a shot deducted from a player's score at a hole under a handicapping system.
He won the tournament by two strokes after a birdie on the final hole.
With her higher handicap, Maria gets a stroke on the three hardest holes.
Similarshot
Note
Golf counts a stroke by intent, not contact: a swing meant to hit the ball goes on the card even when it misses. In match play the handicap meaning works the other way, as an allowance: a weaker player receives a stroke on certain holes, and it comes off their score there.
- 10To influence a person by persuading or flattering them.
Party leaders stroke big donors with private dinners and personal phone calls.
The governor's aides stroked wavering legislators for weeks before the budget vote.
Note
American political talk carries the gentle touch of the caressing verb into persuasion: a donor or a wavering colleague is stroked much as a nervous horse is, with attention and kind words that keep them friendly and willing to go along.
- 11An act of hitting someone or something; a single blow.
The door rattled under the heavy strokes of his fists.
Each stroke of the hail on the tin roof rang like a drumbeat.
Note
The broadest of the hitting senses goes back through Old English strāc to an Indo-European root that covered rubbing and stroking as well as striking. Older prose built an idiom on it: to win without striking stroke, meaning without any fighting at all, as Francis Bacon wrote in 1622 of the conquest of Naples.
- 12A single movement or thrust of a part that moves back and forth, such as a piston or connecting rod; also, the distance it travels.
During the intake stroke, the piston moves down and draws air into the cylinder.
Engineers lengthened the stroke to give the engine more pulling power at low speeds.
Note
A piston's stroke is measured two ways, as a pass along the cylinder and as the distance that pass covers. The four-stroke engine is named for the first: four passes make up its cycle, among them the intake, power and exhaust strokes. The second is quoted beside the bore, the cylinder's width.
- 13To suffer a loss of brain function when the blood supply to the brain is suddenly interrupted; to have a stroke. Usually followed by out.
The patient stroked out on the operating table, and the surgery was stopped.
Without blood thinners, patients like her can stroke out with little warning.
Note
This is the brain-injury noun used as a verb, and it usually takes out: the patient stroked out during surgery. The missing object keeps it apart from the crossing-out verb: an editor strokes out a line, but a patient simply strokes out, with nothing after it.
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- 15The movement of an oar or paddle through the water, either the whole cycle or only the propelling phase; also, the way the movements are made, or a rowing style.
The crew raised the rate to thirty-six strokes a minute for the final sprint.
Her stroke is long and clean, and her oar leaves the water with almost no splash.
Note
Rowers break the stroke into the catch, when the blade enters the water, the drive that moves the boat, and the recovery back to the start; whether stroke means the whole cycle or only the drive depends on who is talking. A crew's pace is its stroke rate, counted in strokes per minute.
- 16The slash or oblique (/), a slanting line used in writing and printing.
Please quote reference 4471 stroke B in all future correspondence.
He styles himself a singer-stroke-songwriter, though he mostly plays other people's songs in pubs.
Note
This is the name the slash goes by when it is read aloud in the UK, Ireland and the Commonwealth, which is why it turns up spelled out in dictated letters: Dear Sir-stroke-Madam. Between two nouns it offers alternatives or names a double role, as in owner-stroke-manager, and written out like that the word is hyphenated into the phrase.
- 17One of the lines that together make up a written character, such as a letter.
In calligraphy class, students practice each stroke of a character until it is smooth and even.
Many Chinese dictionaries arrange characters by the number of strokes they contain.
Note
Letterforms are built from strokes and described by them. Type designers call the main upright stroke the stem, and the contrast between thick and thin strokes does much to set a typeface's character. In handwriting and calligraphy, the order and direction in which the strokes are drawn are taught as part of the character itself.
- 18A flattering or friendly act or remark directed at someone in order to influence them.
A handwritten thank-you note from the CEO is the kind of stroke that keeps big clients loyal.
Lobbyists know that a few well-timed strokes, like a dinner invitation or a mention in a speech, can win a senator's vote.
Note
The noun partners the verb of political flattery and, like it, is chiefly American. It looks just like the therapist's unit of recognition, but the two point in opposite directions: that stroke is given for the receiver's sake, this one for the giver's.
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- 20A blow struck with a weapon, as in a fight or as a punishment.
With a single stroke of his saber, the cavalry officer cut the flag from its pole.
Under the old school rules, a pupil caught fighting could receive four strokes of the cane.
Note
Middle English strok already meant exactly this, “a blow from a weapon, a cut.” Because each stroke is a single blow that lands, the word suits counting, which is why a sentence of caning is still given as a number of strokes. It also pairs naturally with the weapon that delivers it: a stroke of the sword, of the saber, of the cane.
- 21An amount of work done, and in particular a sizable volume of business or labor.
Half the team hasn't done a stroke of work since the merger was announced.
The holiday rush brought the print shop a welcome stroke of business.
- 22To move through water by swimming with coordinated movements of the arms and legs.
Open-water swimmers stroke steadily through the waves, lifting their heads every few breaths to find the buoys.
He stroked past the leader on the final lap and touched the wall first.
Similarswim
Note
The verb keeps the swimmer's arms and legs in view, so it suits steady progress toward a point rather than swimming in general: she stroked for the shore. It usually comes with a word of direction, such as toward, across or past; on its own, stroked tends to suggest a gentle touch instead.
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- 24To hit or kick the ball with a smooth, flowing motion; also, to score a goal or point with a shot made that way.
Good hitters stroke the ball to every part of the field instead of trying to pull it.
With ten minutes left, she calmly stroked the penalty home to tie the game.
Note
A word of praise as much as description: to stroke the ball is to place it with timing and touch rather than force, so that the shot looks easy. A ball smashed or blasted into the net is not stroked, even when it counts.
- 25A single discharge of lightning, especially one that causes damage.
A single stroke of lightning knocked out power to the whole neighborhood.
Investigators believe a lightning stroke started the fire in the dry hills.
Note
Scientists separate the stroke from the flash. What the eye takes for one flash of lightning can be several strokes in quick succession, and when the gaps between them are long enough to notice, the lightning seems to flicker.
- 26To give someone reassurance and confidence by offering them encouragement.
Good managers stroke their staff with honest praise after a hard week.
The therapist stroked her anxious client through each small step, pointing out what had gone well.
Note
Encouragement offered as a kind of touch is an old idea: Shakespeare's The Tempest has “Thou stroakst me, & made much of me.” In psychoanalysis and psychology it has become a working word for the steady encouragement a therapist, parent or manager gives, aimed at the other person's confidence.
- 27A gesture of encouragement that reassures someone; in transactional analysis, a reaction to a person, usually a positive one, that meets their desires or needs.
The counselor offered a stroke each time the patient spoke honestly about his feelings.
Children who get few positive strokes at home may misbehave just to be noticed.
Note
In transactional analysis a stroke is the basic unit of recognition: any word, look or touch showing that one person has noticed another. Strokes may be positive or negative, and the theory holds that people will seek negative strokes rather than get none. Mark Widdowson's Transactional Analysis: 100 Key Points and Techniques (2009) notes that withholding a stroke can bring a client's need for approval to the surface.
- 28The rower seated nearest the stern, whose oar sets the rhythm for the rest of the crew; also, the seat in the boat that rower occupies.
As stroke, he had to hold a steady rhythm even when the crew behind him began to tire.
The coach moved her from the bow seat to stroke because she had the steadiest timing in the eight.
Note
The seat takes its name from the pull of the oar: the rest of the crew keeps time with this rower's pull, so the rower is simply called the stroke. As a position it usually goes without an article (she rows stroke, he sat at stroke), and in a boat steered from the stern, the stroke sits face to face with the cox.
- 29A distinctive touch or turn of expression in a piece of writing.
The editor admired the final stroke of the essay, a single line that turned the whole argument around.
A few deft strokes of irony lift the memoir above the usual celebrity fare.
Similartouch
- 30In cricket, the act of hitting the ball with the bat, or a single shot played in that way.
With a crisp stroke through the covers, the opener reached his half-century.
His range of strokes on both sides of the wicket made him hard to bowl to.
Similarshot
Note
A batter plays a stroke, and cricketers name each kind by the path of the bat and where the ball goes: the drive, the cut, the pull, the sweep. A defensive stroke protects the wicket rather than scoring, while a batter with a full range of strokes can score all around the ground.
- 31In squash, a point given to a player when the opponent interferes with or blocks their shot.
- 32One of a repeated series of pushes against water or air that moves a swimmer, rower, bird or similar forward.
- 33One pulsing beat, such as the heart makes.
- 34A single forward movement made with the penis during sex.
- 35A blow of misfortune bringing injury or death, especially one believed to be sent by God as punishment.
- 36In Unicode character names, the term for a horizontal line struck through a character, as in A̶.
- 37The power to sway or affect things.
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, A Fatal Thaw (A Kate Shugak Mystery) - 38Influence exerted quietly behind the scenes.
- 39In transactional analysis, a unit of attention or recognition given by one person to another.
- 40The damage left by a blow, such as a bruise, a wound or lingering pain.
- 41A desire to eat, mainly found in the phrase have a good stroke.
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” - 42Any illness that strikes without warning, particularly one that leaves a person senseless or paralyzed, or ends in death.
- 43A single draw of the bow or pluck on a violin, harp or similar, or someone's style of playing music, and by extension a tune.
Or can he desire a nobler or a fuller Argument either for the softest Aires or the loudest Echoes, for the smoothest or briskest strokes of his Pindaric Lyre?
1667, John Evelyn, “[Epistolary Correspondence.] To Abraham Cowley, Esq.” - 44To cross the letter t with its horizontal bar.
- 45Of a clock or bell, to ring out the hour or time.
- 46To put lines, bands, or stripes on a surface.
- 47Of a rower or crew, to keep up a stated rowing rate, measured in strokes each minute.
- 48To serve as the rower nearest the stern for a crew or boat, setting the rhythm the others follow.
- 49To portray a subject by applying color with brushes.
- 50To stimulate oneself sexually by hand.
- 51To put someone or something into a particular state by gently rubbing or caressing.
- 52To draw milk from a dairy animal, especially squeezing its teats to get out the final drops left in the udder.
- 53To carve fine flutes or grooves into a stone surface with a tool.
- 54To put an edge on a blade by drawing it repeatedly across a whetstone or steel.
- 55To calm someone down, or to win them over with flattery or pampering.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
The noun comes from Middle English strok or stroke ("a blow from a weapon, a cut"), from Old English strāc, which goes back through Proto-West Germanic *straik and Proto-Germanic *straikaz to the Proto-Indo-European root *streyg- ("to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike"); it is related to German Streich, Middle Low German strēk and Scots strak. The sense "slash (/)" is short for oblique stroke, a name for the mark first used in telegraphy, and the verb comes from the noun.
The verb comes from Middle English stroken or straken ("to caress, pat, rub, smooth, stroke"), from Old English strācian ("to stroke"), from Proto-West Germanic *straikōn ("to caress, stroke"), formed from *straik ("a line, stroke; a dash") with a verb-forming suffix. It is related to German streicheln ("to stroke, fondle") and West Frisian streakje ("to stroke; caress"), and the noun comes from the verb.