| Front | stroke |
|---|---|
| Back | stroke noun, verb BrE /strəʊk/ NAmE /stroʊk/ noun word origin example bank hitting movement 1 an act of hitting a ball, for example with a bat or racket What a beautiful stroke! He won by two strokes (= in golf, by taking two fewer strokes than his opponent). 2 a single movement of the arm when hitting sb/sth His punishment was six strokes of the cane. in swimming/rowing 3 any of a series of repeated movements in swimming or rowing She took a few more strokes to reach the bank. He swam with long powerful strokes. 4 (often in compounds) a style of swimming Butterfly is the only stroke I can't do. see also backstroke, breaststroke 5 the person who sets the speed at which everyone in a boat rows gentle touch 6 [usually singular] (especially BrE) an act of moving your hand gently over a surface, usually several times He gave the cat a stroke. of pen/brush 7 a mark made by moving a pen, brush, etc. once across a surface to paint with fine brush strokes At the stroke of a pen (= by signing sth) they removed thousands of people from the welfare system. action 8 ~ (of sth) a single successful action or event Your idea was a stroke of genius. It was a stroke of luck that I found you here. It was a bold stroke to reveal the identity of the murderer on the first page. She never does a stroke (of work) (= never does any work). see also masterstroke of clock 9 each of the sounds made by a clock or bell giving the hours At the first stroke it will be 9 o'clock exactly. on the stroke of three (= at 3 o'clock exactly) illness 10 a sudden serious illness when a blood vessel (= tube) in the brain bursts or is blocked, which can cause death or the loss of the ability to move or to speak clearly to have/suffer a stroke The stroke left him partly paralysed. at a (single) ˈstroke| at one ˈstroke with a single immediate action They threatened to cancel the whole project at a stroke. put sb off their ˈstroke (BrE) to make sb make a mistake or hesitate in what they are doing My speech was going well until I was put off my stroke by an interruption. verb verb forms word origin thesaurus example bank touch gently 1 ~ sth (especially BrE) to move your hand gently and slowly over an animal's fur or hair He's a beautiful dog. Can I stroke him? see also pet 2 ~ sth/sb to move your hand gently over a surface, sb's hair, etc He stroked her hair affectionately. move sth gently 3 ~ sth + adv./prep. to move sth somewhere with a gentle movement She stroked away his tears. He stroked the ball between the posts. be nice to sb 4 ~ sb (informal, especially NAmE) to be very nice to sb, especially to get them to do what you want |
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