stroke

1 noun (C)

1 ILLNESS an occasion when a blood tube in your brain suddenly bursts or is blocked: He was paralyzed by a severe stroke | have/suffer a stroke: I'm afraid your aunt has had a slight stroke.

2 SWIMMING/ROWING

a) one of a set of movements in swimming or rowing in which you move your arms or the oar forward and then back repeatedly: She swam with strong steady strokes.

b) a style of swimming or rowing: the back stroke

c) the person who sets the speed at which everyone in the boat rows

3

a) at a/one stroke with a single sudden action: Brian saw a chance of solving all his problems at one stroke.

b) a bold stroke something that someone does to achieve something that seems very brave

4 A HIT an action in which you hit someone with something such as a whip or thin stick: He cried out at each stroke of the whip.

5 on the stroke of seven/nine etc at exactly seven o'clock etc: She arrived punctually on the stroke of five.

6 CLOCK/BELL a single sound made by a clock giving the hours, or by a bell, gong etc: Maria appeared on the final stroke of the dinner gong.

7 a stroke of luck/fortune something lucky that happens to you unexpectedly: By an amazing stroke of luck, I ran into her that very evening.

8 a stroke of lightning a bright flash of lightning, especially one that hits something

9 a stroke of genius/inspiration etc a very good idea about what to do to solve a problem: It was a stroke of genius to make her the party chairman.

10 SPORT a hitting of the ball in games such as tennis, golf and cricket: learn to play the basic backhand strokes

11 A MOVEMENT OF YOUR HAND a gentle movement of your hand over something: give sth a stroke: She gave the dog a stroke.

12 PEN/BRUSH

a) a single movement of a pen or brush when you are writing or painting: Max made a few quick decisive strokes with his brush.

b) a line made by doing this: the thick downward strokes of the characters

13 with/at a stroke of the pen if you do something with a stroke of the pen, you do it by signing a piece of paper: You cannot wipe out a thousand years of history at the stroke of a pen.

14 not do a stroke (of work) informal to not do any work at all

15 put sb off their stroke informal to make someone stop giving all their attention to what they are doing: Seeing Frank watching me put me off my stroke.

16 IN NUMBERS BrE used when you are saying a number written with the mark (/) in it: The serial number is seventeen stroke one. (=17/1)

2 verb (T)

1 to move your hand gently over something: He reached out and stroked her cheek tenderly.

2 (always + adv/prep) to move something somewhere with gentle movements of your hand