stroke

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (sports) the act of swinging or striking at a ball with a club or racket or bat or cue or hand
  2. noun the maximum movement available to a pivoted or reciprocating piece by a cam
  3. noun a sudden loss of consciousness resulting when the rupture or occlusion of a blood vessel leads to oxygen lack in the brain

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English strok, stroke (“blow from a weapon, cut”), from Old English strāc, from Proto-West Germanic *straik, from Proto-Germanic *straikaz (“stroke”), from Proto-Indo-European *streyg- (“to rub, stroke; to shear; to strike”). Sense 3.6.2.2 (“the oblique, slash, or virgule (‘/’)”) is a contraction of oblique stroke, a variant of oblique which was originally used in telegraphy. The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * German Streich (“stroke”) * Middle Low German strēk (“stroke, trick, prank”) * Scots strak, strake, straik (“blow, stroke”)

In classic literature

Synonyms

shot

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