strike

Pronunciation

• IPA: /straɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English striken,^[2][3] inherited from Old English strīcan (“to pass lightly over, stroke, rub; to go, proceed”) (past tense strāc),^[4][2] from Proto-Germanic *strikanan,^[4][2] the source also of Old Frisian strīka, Dutch strijken and German streichen “to stroke”,^[4][2] from Proto-Indo-European *strig- (“to stroke, rub, press”),^[4][2] represented also by Latin striga “row” and stria “furrow”.^[2][3] It is related to stroke and streak, and its development was perhaps influenced by Old Norse strjúka.^[4][5] The noun is from the verb.^[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To make one's way, go”: about 1200 in the OED.^[6] Old English strīcan meant “to go or flow” and “to rub lightly”, close to stroke.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to go, advance” survives in strike for, “to head toward”.^[4] The transitive “to deal a blow” developed by the early 14th century,^[4] before 1325 in Barnhart.^[2] “To collide, impinge on” and “to hit with a hammer” are from the mid-14th century,^[4] and “to cancel”, as with the stroke of a pen, from the late 14th century.^[4] “To reach an agreement” is from the mid-15th century,^[4] partly from Latin foedus ferire, “to strike a treaty”,^[7] and to stamp a coin by a stroke also by the mid-15th century.^[4] Of lightning it is from the late 14th century and of disease from the 1520s.^[4] To strike while the iron is hot is quoted by Chaucer in 1386.^[5] “To lower a sail or flag” is Middle English, which led to “to stop work” in protest (mid-18th century);^[5] the noun in this sense is from 1810.^[4][5] In baseball a strike is from 1841,^[4] and three strikes and you're out is early 20th-century.^[5] The bowling strike is by 1859.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – to go.^[6]
• early 14th century – to deal a blow.^[4]
• late 14th century – to cancel; of lightning.^[4]
• 1386 – strike while the iron is hot.^[5]
• mid-15th century – to conclude an agreement.^[4]
• mid-18th century – to stop work.^[5]
• 1810 – noun, a work stoppage.^[4]
• 1841 – in baseball.^[4]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To hit sharply, as with the hand or a weapon.
2. To collide with or crash into.
3. To attack suddenly.
4. To stop work in protest against an employer.
5. To make an impression on; to occur to: it struck me as odd.
6. To produce a light by friction: strike a match.
7. To find, as oil or gold.
8. To reach an agreement: strike a deal.
9. To remove or cancel: struck from the record.
10. Of a clock, to sound the hour.

Noun

1. A refusal to work by employees, to force an employer to meet demands.
2. A sudden military attack, especially from the air.
3. In baseball, a pitch counted against the batter.
4. In bowling, the knocking down of all the pins with the first ball.
5. A discovery of oil or ore.

Word family

• strikeless
• misstrike
• outstrike
• overstrike
• restrike
• striker
• grief-stricken
• panic-stricken

Related words

• stroke
• streak
• strickle
• striking
• strigil

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press