The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Strike \Strike\, v. t. [imp. Struck; p. p. Struck,
Stricken(Stroock, Strucken, Obs.); p. pr. & vb. n.
Striking. Struck is more commonly used in the p. p. than
stricken.] [OE. striken to strike, proceed, flow, AS.
str[imac]can to go, proceed, akin to D. strijken to rub,
stroke, strike, to move, go, G. streichen, OHG.
str[imac]hhan, L. stringere to touch lightly, to graze, to
strip off (but perhaps not to L. stringere in sense to draw
tight), striga a row, a furrow. Cf. Streak, Stroke.]
1. To touch or hit with some force, either with the hand or
with an instrument; to smite; to give a blow to, either
with the hand or with any instrument or missile.
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He at Philippi kept
His sword e'en like a dancer; while I struck
The lean and wrinkled Cassius. --Shak.
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2. To come in collision with; to strike against; as, a bullet
struck him; the wave struck the boat amidships; the ship
struck a reef.
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3. To give, as a blow; to impel, as with a blow; to give a
force to; to dash; to cast.
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They shall take of the blood, and strike it on the
two sideposts. --Ex. xii. 7.
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Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.
--Byron.
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4. To stamp or impress with a stroke; to coin; as, to strike
coin from metal: to strike dollars at the mint.
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5. To thrust in; to cause to enter or penetrate; to set in
the earth; as, a tree strikes its roots deep.
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6. To punish; to afflict; to smite.
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To punish the just is not good, nor strike princes
for equity. --Prov. xvii.
26.
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7. To cause to sound by one or more beats; to indicate or
notify by audible strokes; as, the clock strikes twelve;
the drums strike up a march.
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8. To lower; to let or take down; to remove; as, to strike
sail; to strike a flag or an ensign, as in token of
surrender; to strike a yard or a topmast in a gale; to
strike a tent; to strike the centering of an arch.
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9. To make a sudden impression upon, as by a blow; to affect
sensibly with some strong emotion; as, to strike the mind,
with surprise; to strike one with wonder, alarm, dread, or
horror.
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Nice works of art strike and surprise us most on the
first view. --Atterbury.
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They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.
--Pope.
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10. To affect in some particular manner by a sudden
impression or impulse; as, the plan proposed strikes me
favorably; to strike one dead or blind.
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How often has stricken you dumb with his irony!
--Landor.
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11. To cause or produce by a stroke, or suddenly, as by a
stroke; as, to strike a light.
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Waving wide her myrtle wand,
She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.
--Milton.
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12. To cause to ignite; as, to strike a match.
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13. To make and ratify; as, to strike a bargain.
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Note: Probably borrowed from the L. foedus ferrire, to strike
a compact, so called because an animal was struck and
killed as a sacrifice on such occasions.
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14. To take forcibly or fraudulently; as, to strike money.
[Old Slang]
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15. To level, as a measure of grain, salt, or the like, by
scraping off with a straight instrument what is above the
level of the top.
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16. (Masonry) To cut off, as a mortar joint, even with the
face of the wall, or inward at a slight angle.
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17. To hit upon, or light upon, suddenly; as, my eye struck a
strange word; they soon struck the trail.
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18. To borrow money of; to make a demand upon; as, he struck
a friend for five dollars. [Slang]
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19. To lade into a cooler, as a liquor. --B. Edwards.
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20. To stroke or pass lightly; to wave.
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Behold, I thought, He will . . . strike his hand
over the place, and recover the leper. --2 Kings v.
11.
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21. To advance; to cause to go forward; -- used only in past
participle. "Well struck in years." --Shak.
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To strike an attitude, To strike a balance. See under
Attitude, and Balance.
To strike a jury (Law), to constitute a special jury
ordered by a court, by each party striking out a certain
number of names from a prepared list of jurors, so as to
reduce it to the number of persons required by law.
--Burrill.
To strike a lead.
(a) (Mining) To find a vein of ore.
(b) Fig.: To find a way to fortune. [Colloq.]
To strike a ledger or To strike an account, to balance
it.
To strike hands with.
(a) To shake hands with. --Halliwell.
(b) To make a compact or agreement with; to agree with.
To strike off.
(a) To erase from an account; to deduct; as, to strike
off the interest of a debt.
(b) (Print.) To impress; to print; as, to strike off a
thousand copies of a book.
(c) To separate by a blow or any sudden action; as, to
strike off what is superfluous or corrupt.
To strike oil, to find petroleum when boring for it;
figuratively, to make a lucky hit financially. [Slang,
U.S.]
To strike one luck, to shake hands with one and wish good
luck. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.
To strike out.
(a) To produce by collision; to force out, as, to strike
out sparks with steel.
(b) To blot out; to efface; to erase. "To methodize is as
necessary as to strike out." --Pope.
(c) To form by a quick effort; to devise; to invent; to
contrive, as, to strike out a new plan of finance.
(d) (Baseball) To cause a player to strike out; -- said
of the pitcher. See To strike out, under Strike,
v. i.
To strike sail. See under Sail.
To strike up.
(a) To cause to sound; to begin to beat. "Strike up the
drums." --Shak.
(b) To begin to sing or play; as, to strike up a tune.
(c) To raise (as sheet metal), in making diahes, pans,
etc., by blows or pressure in a die.
To strike work, to quit work; to go on a strike.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Balance \Bal"ance\ (b[a^]l"ans), n. [OE. balaunce, F. balance,
fr. L. bilanx, bilancis, having two scales; bis twice (akin
to E. two) + lanx plate, scale.]
1. An apparatus for weighing.
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Note: In its simplest form, a balance consists of a beam or
lever supported exactly in the middle, having two
scales or basins of equal weight suspended from its
extremities. Another form is that of the Roman balance,
our steelyard, consisting of a lever or beam, suspended
near one of its extremities, on the longer arm of which
a counterpoise slides. The name is also given to other
forms of apparatus for weighing bodies, as to the
combinations of levers making up platform scales; and
even to devices for weighing by the elasticity of a
spring.
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2. Act of weighing mentally; comparison; estimate.
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A fair balance of the advantages on either side.
--Atterbury.
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3. Equipoise between the weights in opposite scales.
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4. The state of being in equipoise; equilibrium; even
adjustment; steadiness.
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And hung a bottle on each side
To make his balance true. --Cowper.
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The order and balance of the country were destroyed.
--Buckle.
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English workmen completely lose their balance. --J.
S. Mill.
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5. An equality between the sums total of the two sides of an
account; as, to bring one's accounts to a balance; --
also, the excess on either side; as, the balance of an
account. "A balance at the banker's." --Thackeray.
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I still think the balance of probabilities leans
towards the account given in the text. --J. Peile.
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6. (Horol.) A balance wheel, as of a watch, or clock. See
Balance wheel (in the Vocabulary).
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7. (Astron.)
(a) The constellation Libra.
(b) The seventh sign in the Zodiac, called Libra, which
the sun enters at the equinox in September.
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8. A movement in dancing. See Balance, v. t., 8.
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Balance electrometer, a kind of balance, with a poised
beam, which indicates, by weights suspended from one arm,
the mutual attraction of oppositely electrified surfaces.
--Knight.
Balance fish. (Zool.) See Hammerhead.
Balance knife, a carving or table knife the handle of which
overbalances the blade, and so keeps it from contact with
the table.
Balance of power (Politics), such an adjustment of power
among sovereign states that no one state is in a position
to interfere with the independence of the others;
international equilibrium; also, the ability (of a state
or a third party within a state) to control the relations
between sovereign states or between dominant parties in a
state.
Balance sheet (Bookkeeping), a paper showing the balances
of the open accounts of a business, the debit and credit
balances footing up equally, if the system of accounts be
complete and the balances correctly taken.
Balance thermometer, a thermometer mounted as a balance so
that the movement of the mercurial column changes the
inclination of the tube. With the aid of electrical or
mechanical devices adapted to it, it is used for the
automatic regulation of the temperature of rooms warmed
artificially, and as a fire alarm.
Balance of torsion. See Torsion Balance.
Balance of trade (Pol. Econ.), an equilibrium between the
money values of the exports and imports of a country; or
more commonly, the amount required on one side or the
other to make such an equilibrium.
Balance valve, a valve whose surfaces are so arranged that
the fluid pressure tending to seat, and that tending to
unseat, the valve, are nearly in equilibrium; esp., a
puppet valve which is made to operate easily by the
admission of steam to both sides. See Puppet valve.
Hydrostatic balance. See under Hydrostatic.
To lay in balance, to put up as a pledge or security.
[Obs.] --Chaucer.
To strike a balance, to find out the difference between the
debit and credit sides of an account.
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