transcription, транскрипция: [ stroʊk ]
( strokes, stroking, stroked)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
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...
She walked forward and embraced him and stroked his tousled white hair.
VERB : V n , V n
2.
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.
He had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly paralysed.
N-COUNT : usu sing
3.
The strokes of a pen or brush are the movements or marks that you make with it when you are writing or painting.
Fill in gaps by using short, upward strokes of the pencil.
N-COUNT : usu pl
4.
When you are swimming or rowing, your strokes are the repeated movements that you make with your arms or the oars.
I turned and swam a few strokes further out to sea...
N-COUNT : usu pl
5.
A swimming stroke is a particular style or method of swimming.
She spent hours practising the breast stroke.
N-COUNT : usu sing , supp N
6.
The strokes of a clock are the sounds that indicate each hour.
On the stroke of 12, fireworks suddenly exploded into the night.
N-COUNT
7.
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.
N-COUNT
8.
A stroke of luck or good fortune is something lucky that happens.
It didn’t rain, which turned out to be a stroke of luck.
N-SING : a N of n
9.
A stroke of genius or inspiration is a very good idea that someone suddenly has.
At the time, his appointment seemed a stroke of genius.
N-SING : a N of n
10.
If something happens at a stroke or in one stroke , it happens suddenly and completely because of one single action.
The disease wiped out 40 million rabbits at a stroke...
How can Britain reduce its prison population in one stroke?
PHRASE : PHR after v
11.
If someone does not do a stroke of work, they are very lazy and do no work at all. ( INFORMAL )
I never did a stroke of work at college.
PHRASE : with brd-neg , V inflects [ emphasis ]