strokes

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of stroke.

   She won the tournament by two strokes after a steady final round.

   The carpenter drove the nail home with a few sharp strokes of the hammer.

   Note

   Counting is where this regular plural does its work: a few strokes of a hammer, the strokes of a clock telling the hour. In golf the strokes are the score itself, so a player wins or trails by two strokes; in matchplay, strokes are also the shots a handicap deducts from a player's score at a hole.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of stroke.

   The striker calmly strokes the penalty into the bottom corner.

   The lead crew strokes thirty-six a minute through the opening stretch.

   Note

   The verb adds -s for he, she or it and keeps its object close: a crew strokes thirty-two a minute, a striker strokes the ball home, and in rare, poetic use a clock strokes the hour. To cancel words it needs out or through, as in "she strokes out the clause." The same spelling serves the plural noun, so the object is what marks the verb.

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