stroke (strokes plural & 3rd person present) (stroking present participle) (stroked past tense & past participle )
1 verb If you stroke someone or something, you move your hand slowly and gently over them.
Carla, curled up on the sofa, was smoking a cigarette and stroking her cat... V n
She walked forward and embraced him and stroked his tousled white hair. V n
2 n-count If someone has a stroke, a blood vessel in their brain bursts or becomes blocked, which may kill them or make them unable to move one side of their body.
usu sing
He had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly paralysed.
3 n-count The strokes of a pen or brush are the movements or marks that you make with it when you are writing or painting.
usu pl
Fill in gaps by using short, upward strokes of the pencil.
4 n-count When you are swimming or rowing, your strokes are the repeated movements that you make with your arms or the oars.
usu pl
I turned and swam a few strokes further out to sea...
5 n-count A swimming stroke is a particular style or method of swimming.
usu sing, supp N
She spent hours practising the breast stroke.
6 n-count The strokes of a clock are the sounds that indicate each hour.
On the stroke of 12, fireworks suddenly exploded into the night.
7 n-count In sports such as tennis, baseball, cricket, and golf, a stroke is the action of hitting the ball.
Compton was sending the ball here, there, and everywhere with each stroke.
8 n-sing A stroke of luck or good fortune is something lucky that happens.
a N of n
It didn't rain, which turned out to be a stroke of luck.
9 n-sing A stroke of genius or inspiration is a very good idea that someone suddenly has.
a N of n
At the time, his appointment seemed a stroke of genius.
10 If something happens at a stroke or in one stroke, it happens suddenly and completely because of one single action.
at a stroke phrase PHR after v
The disease wiped out 40 million rabbits at a stroke..., How can Britain reduce its prison population in one stroke?
11 If someone does not do a strokeof work, they are very lazy and do no work at all. INFORMAL
do a stroke phrase with brd-neg, V inflects (emphasis)
I never did a stroke of work at college.
heat stroke , heatstroke
Heat stroke is the same as sunstroke. n-uncount
