EnglishMain Dictionary
stroke
Universal Words
noun, verb
noun
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.
seealsoBACKSTROKE, BREASTSTROKE
5 the person who sets the speed at which everyone in a boat rows
gentle touch
6 [usuallysing.] (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).
seealsoMASTERSTROKE
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.
IDIOMS
at a (single) stroke
