stroke: The verb stroke [OE] and the noun stroke [13] are different words, but they come ultimately from the same source – the prehistoric Germanic base *strīk-, *straik- ‘touch lightly’ (from which English also gets streak and strike). The verb has stayed very close semantically to its source, whereas the noun has followed the same path as its corresponding verb strike. => streak, strike
stroke (n.)
"act of striking," c. 1300, probably from Old English *strac "stroke," from Proto-Germanic *straik- (cognates: Middle Low German strek, German streich, Gothic striks "stroke"); see stroke (v.).
The meaning "mark of a pen" is from 1560s; that of "a striking of a clock" is from mid-15c. Sense of "feat, achievement" (as in stroke of luck, 1853) first found 1670s; the meaning "single pull of an oar or single movement of machinery" is from 1731. Meaning "apoplectic seizure" is from 1590s (originally the Stroke of God's Hand). Swimming sense is from 1800.
stroke (v.)
"pass the hand gently over," Old English stracian "to stroke," related to strican "pass over lightly," from Proto-Germanic *straik-, from PIE root *streig- "to stroke, rub, press" (see strigil). Figurative sense of "soothe, flatter" is recorded from 1510s. The noun meaning "a stroking movement of the hand" is recorded from 1630s. Related: Stroked; stroking.
实用例句
1. The disease wiped out 40 million rabbits at a stroke.
该疾病一下子就使4,000万只兔子丧命。
来自柯林斯例句
2. He had a minor stroke in 1987, which left him partly paralysed.
他1987年曾患轻度中风，之后就半身不遂了。
来自柯林斯例句
3. It didn't rain, which turned out to be a stroke of luck.
天没下雨，结果成了件幸事。
来自柯林斯例句
4. I never did a stroke of work at college.
我在上大学时懒得要命。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Compton was sending the ball here, there, and everywhere with each stroke.
