strike
 I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a band strikes up (=starts playing)
▪ We were on the dance floor waiting for the band to strike up.
a bullet hits/strikes sb
▪ The first bullet hit him in the back.
a clock strikes eight/nine etc (=makes eight/nine etc sounds according to the hour)
▪ In the distance I heard a church clock strike eleven.
a disaster strikes (=happens suddenly)
▪ Congress often gives millions of dollars in foreign aid when natural disasters strike.
a distinctive/striking appearance (=unusual and interesting)
▪ The unusual leaves give the plant a distinctive appearance.
a lightning strike (=an occasion when lightning hits something)
▪ A lightning strike sent a surge through the electricity supply system.
a marked/striking contrast (=very noticeable)
▪ I noticed a marked contrast in his behaviour before and after treatment.
a remarkable/striking/marked similarity (=one that is very noticeable)
▪ This ape's facial expressions show remarkable similarities to ours.
a storm hits/strikes (a place)
▪ We should try to get home before the storm hits.
a striking aspect
▪ This is one of the most striking aspects of life in Tokyo.
a striking characteristic
▪ Its canals are one of Amsterdam’s most striking characteristics.
a striking feature (=an unusual or interesting feature)
▪ Her long blonde hair is her most striking feature.
a striking resemblance (=very strong and noticeable)
▪ There's a striking resemblance between the two boys.
a thought occurs to/comes to/strikes sb (=someone suddenly has a thought)
▪ The thought occurred to him that she might be lying.
air strike
an earthquake hits/strikes a place (=happens in a particular place)
▪ The region was struck by a major earthquake last year.
come out on strike
▪ We decided to come out on strike.
first strike
forge/strike a compromiseformal (= make a compromise)
▪ They met again Wednesday night to try to forge a compromise.
general strike
hit/strike oil (=to find oil when you are digging for it)
▪ The engineers drilled down a few hundred metres until they hit oil.
▪ The Ohio Oil Company struck oil on May 3rd.
hunger strike
▪ A total of 300 students occupied the building and over 50 went on hunger strike.
industrial/strike action (=that workers take in order to protest about pay, working conditions etc)
▪ The miners voted in favour of industrial action.
lightning hits/strikes sth
▪ The house had been hit by lightning.
lightning strike
pre-emptive strike/attack
▪ a series of pre-emptive strikes on guerrilla bases
reach/strike a deal (=agree a deal after a lot of discussions)
▪ The US and North Korea reached a deal about North Korea's nuclear development program.
rent strike
(sound/strike/toll) the death knell for/of sth
▪ The loss of Georgia would sound the death knell of Republican hopes.
stage a strike/demonstration/sit-in etc
▪ Activists staged a protest outside the parliament.
strike a happy medium
▪ I always tried to strike a happy medium between having a home that looked like a bomb had hit it and becoming obsessively tidy.
strike (it) luckyinformal (= be lucky)
▪ I applied for twenty jobs before I struck lucky.
strike pay
strike terror into sb’s heart
▪ His fearsome appearance strikes terror into the hearts of his enemies.
strike up a friendship
▪ He and Matthew struck up a friendship.
strike/achieve/find a balance (=succeed in getting the right balance)
▪ It is necessary to strike a balance between the needs of employers and employees.
▪ Find the right balance between enough exercise and enough rest.
strikes a discordant note
▪ The modern decor strikes a discordant note in this old building.
striking originality (=used about something so new and different that it makes you notice it)
▪ Any visitor will admire the striking originality of the building's architecture.
struck a pose (=stood or sat in a particular position)
▪ Ann struck a pose and smiled for the camera.
struck by...bolt of lightning
▪ There’s not much left of his house after it was struck by a bolt of lightning.
struck dumb
▪ She was struck dumb with terror.
struck...mine
▪ The ship struck a mine and sank.
surgical strike
tragedy strikes (=happens suddenly)
▪ Just when it looked as though everything would turn out right, tragedy struck and Jenny developed a fatal illness.
went on hunger strike
▪ A total of 300 students occupied the building and over 50 went on hunger strike.
wildcat strike
within striking distance of sth (=not far from something, especially something you are going to attack)
▪ Their troops had advanced to within striking distance of the town.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
 ADVERB
again
▪ I felt my sword bite flesh, a scream, then I struck again.
▪ Back on the mainland she was again struck by the beauty of the scene.
▪ If his body jerked when he was struck again, and fatally, it was no more than an instant's convulsion.
▪ The Great White Shark has struck again.
▪ He waited until I was almost asleep and struck again, just above my ear.
▪ The reader will not find lurid accounts of a vast, secret conspiracy coiled and ready to strike again.
▪ The murderer may well strike again.
▪ Then the Richardson charm struck again.
home
▪ Some of the things Edgar had said had struck home.
▪ And then those two words struck home.
▪ That was a shot in the dark, but judging from the expression on his face it struck home.
▪ It must have struck home in some way.
▪ The flinty look in Pargeter's face told Dexter that Blanche had struck home in some way.
▪ The simple idea that resources ought to be concentrated in areas where unemployment is highest has struck home.
▪ Young soccer star Stephen Kilgour strikes home a penalty shot during the interval at Darlington's home match on Saturday.
NOUN
balance
▪ How they strike a balance between the two is at the heart of corporate strategy.
▪ Effective organizations will strike a balance that allows them not only to accept uncertainty but to take advantage of it.
▪ No one can insure against all eventualities and so you strike a balance between the re- and pro- active aspects of your work.
▪ Barnett, however, has been able to strike a rare balance as a broadcaster.
▪ U S West Inc. knows all too well how difficult striking the right balance can be.
▪ We have made our plans; they involve change; they involve striking a balance.
▪ Accounts receivable management requires striking a balance between the cost of extending credit and the benefit received from extending credit.
bargain
▪ The plant strikes a bargain with its emissary.
▪ The town has struck a Faustian bargain, they contend -- trading something of its small-town soul for success.
▪ Historically, an exchange was a physical thing; a room or building where people met to gather information and strike bargains.
▪ So we struck a bargain, or at least I thought we had.
▪ Buyer and seller strike a bargain with each individual purchase.
▪ In order to strike the best possible bargain on setting-day the men might invent stories of difficulty and adverse conditions.
▪ This should enable prosecutors to strike bargains at an appropriate penalty level.
▪ Alternatively, defendants might be able to strike favourable bargains and get off more lightly than they deserve.
blow
▪ Tommaso had called for action, for striking a blow.
▪ They were certainly striking a blow for short people.
▪ When we did, the enemy almost always had the opportunity of striking the first blow.
▪ Eventually, one of them attacked it with a large branch, striking it a damaging blow.
▪ Let us strike the blow which is to restore peace and union to this distracted land.
▪ We think the killer went in there to clean up immediately after striking the blow.
▪ The guard made a point of gazing into the distance as he struck his blows.
chord
▪ One young man of John's age wrote to say that the pointlessness of his captivity had struck a chord with him.
▪ The plight of Gerald McClellan struck a chord in Jones.
▪ The film was immensely popular and had so clearly struck a chord that Hammer carried out a rethink of its production policy.
▪ Her language may be a bit highbrow, but it strikes a chord with many of Britain's state school heads.
▪ I believe that most of the incidents that I have described will strike a chord with the vast majority of black people.
▪ Obviously Nunn had struck a responsive chord.
clock
▪ Then, above the screams of the wind, he heard the great clock striking in the market place.
▪ Starting at midnight, he would begin his routine, closing his eyes and falling asleep before the clock had struck twelve.
▪ A clock had just struck seven.
▪ There was that unmistakable sound of the clock striking thirteen about this unexpected turn of events.
▪ Somewhere downstairs a clock struck a quarter to nine.
▪ He heard a clock strike eight.
▪ And, just like in the fairytale, her fabulous pumpkins spring to life just as the clock strikes midnight.
▪ When they reached the top of the hill, they heard the town clocks strike eight.
conversation
▪ He struck up a conversation, first asking his name.
▪ Demonstrators will attempt to surround the police, strike up conversations and present them with letters.
▪ I recalled he had struck up an intimate conversation with her in the lobby after breakfast.
▪ Others prefer to strike up a conversation with table mates.
▪ Besides, Anna had struck up a conversation with a young girl who'd been swimming in the pool.
▪ I was clueless, of course, but it was an opportunity to strike up an amusing conversation.
▪ However, on striking up a conversation, Chalk, a little the worse for drink, became talkative and boastful.
▪ I, of course, had no choice but to strike up a conversation with the girl who sat next to me.
court
▪ It arced across the well of the court, striking the smaller of the two in the back.
▪ Earlier this year federal appellate courts struck down the New York and Washington laws.
▪ The Supreme Court, however, struck down a similar law in Louisiana the following year.
▪ S Court of Appeals struck down on Tuesday the voter-approved Proposition 140.
▪ The court struck down limits on expenditures by candidates themselves, or those made independently on behalf of candidates.
▪ The Court was unanimous in striking down the law but was badly divided over the reasons.
▪ What bothers us more is the seeming predisposition of the federal courts to strike down term-limit laws on just about any pretext.
deal
▪ In the end, after much to-ing and fro-ing between the labour and liberal democrat camps, a deal was struck.
▪ The plea was part of a deal struck with the Dallas County district attorney.
▪ This means he now has to take any deal struck back to the council.
▪ But the deal is most striking in the way it reshapes Raytheon, based in Lexington, Mass.
▪ But a deal may be struck.
▪ The deal struck has been to raise the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65, starting early in the next century.
▪ All these questions must be answered before a deal can be struck.
▪ In most bargaining circumstances a deal can be struck that will satisfy all sides.
disaster
▪ His lead had stretched to half a minute on the soaking track when disaster struck.
▪ In November of 1974, because of the oil crisis, disaster struck Tarrytown.
▪ If in doubt, ask your insurance agent - and read your policy before disaster strikes.
▪ In the midst of all this wandering, family disaster strikes but the travelers continue onward.
▪ Most of us live with that possibility because it is part of the human condition to know that disaster can strike.
▪ Whenever I did this and substituted whoever was handy for the person I was attracted to, disaster struck.
▪ By the late seventies the middle class had expanded beyond the point of safety and disaster did strike.
▪ Once again, disaster struck the party, with nothing but benefits for Daley.
friendship
▪ He and Matthew struck up a friendship - they had something in common; their attitude to life.
▪ At that time Worsley, who is married to Moody, had also struck up a friendship with Nance.
▪ Alone and friendless, she had struck up a casual friendship with Dermot as he showed her Dublin.
▪ Peggy and James strike up a friendship.
▪ Eleanor wrote back wittily and they struck up a friendship.
▪ He appeared to have struck up a useful friendship with the minister for industry, Sean McEntee, among others.
head
▪ They struck you on the head and left you locked inside.
▪ He was struck on the head with a club.
▪ She was unconscious as if she had struck her head in the fall.
▪ In the first case, a 17-year-old high school football player struck his head on the ground while being tackled.
▪ His uncle's axe was striking at his head.
▪ It may be quite striking, with the head and extremities exhibiting gross, irregular oscillations exaggerated by voluntary movements.
▪ He flew through the air and struck his head against a tree, his life being saved by the helmet.
▪ Rocio Martinez was one of two Tijuana children struck in the head by stray rounds during the most recent holiday season.
heart
▪ I predicted that a dramatic event would soon strike at the heart of the Royal Family.
▪ We want to set up an event that will make it appear they have struck at the heart of our government.
▪ The Slav opposition collapsed almost immediately, as if the very name of Charles had struck terror into their hearts.
▪ Every crisis would strike terror into the hearts of people everywhere.
▪ If there is a single subject guaranteed to strike fear in the hearts of parents, it is drugs.
▪ The very physical description of the Huns proved sufficient in and of itself to strike terror into the hearts of their enemies.
▪ Those two little hyphenated words struck terror in the heart of some one eager for a weekend of yoga classes and silent breakfasts.
▪ The man whose very name struck terror in the hearts of managing directors?
lightning
▪ Until then, Ted is staying in temporary accommodation and praying that lightning never strikes 3 times in the same place.
▪ Another bolt of lightning struck behind him, and Eugene felt the air seared into ozone on either side of him.
▪ How long did it take lightning to strike?
▪ He asks why, and lightning strikes him.
▪ If the lightning had struck me like it had Ben, it would have meant no hope for me.
▪ If lightning did strike me in the same minute, it would be treated as a miracle.
match
▪ He took one of the smaller candles and, striking a match, held it to the wick.
▪ She was so cold that she struck a match for warmth.
▪ It's like striking a match, Meg.
▪ Eulah Mae saw her sharply strike a match against a square match box to light a cigarette over a fresh beer.
▪ She had so obviously struck a match with some one else.
▪ She struck a match and blew it out.
▪ Some one struck a match at the open door of the landing bedroom.
▪ She saw these things when she struck her matches that she was supposed to sell.
note
▪ William Yes-might make it hard to strike a really romantic note.
▪ The book is written in spare prose that seems to want to strike a note of manly reticence.
▪ In such moments of confession he frequently strikes a prophetic note about his future life as a writer.
▪ The name, and the music, struck a note with the local indie community and the festival began to grow.
▪ That would have the merit of simplicity, but would it strike the right note socially?
▪ That straw yellow struck a bass note that I had forgotten, that was deep in my memory.
▪ Edward Johnston's 1915 sanserif lettering for the Underground still strikes an efficient modern note amidst the dirt and gloom.
▪ Mrs Margaret Thatcher has struck three notes since the Communist world began to disintegrate.
pose
▪ This is shown vividly when, left finally alone, she strikes a dramatic pose of complete withdrawal from love and happiness.
▪ He struck the same pose on the sideline during overtime.
▪ And then, striking a dramatic pose she announced that she was terribly ashamed.
▪ They strike beautiful poses that could go unaltered into glossy magazines but tell us little about them.
thing
▪ The first thing which strikes one is the speed with which bodies are expected to respond or to change.
▪ For that very reason, perhaps, distant things often struck his vision with intensity.
▪ Palin never says this himself but talking to him and reading through previous interviews, one thing is striking.
▪ Two things about the Alto struck Raskin as brilliant.
▪ The thing that struck me most about the room was its symmetry.
▪ The thing that really struck me about her is how serious she was, how those big eyes soaked everything in.
▪ That was the first thing that struck me when I asked you to dance.
▪ The first thing that struck them was the color.
thought
▪ To be honest, the same thought had struck me.
▪ But I felt their whispers and thoughts striking me in the chest.
▪ Just as Howard is scraping the last spoonful of apple crumble out of the bowl, a thought strikes him.
▪ A thought struck me, bringing fear with it.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be struck all of a heap
be struck on sb/sth
▪ A fight breaks out and one man is struck on the head by a stick.
▪ A midday balance should be struck on the tabular ledger. 13.
▪ He was struck on the head with a club.
▪ I was struck on one of my artificial legs, damaging the calliper.
▪ In most cases, the balance is struck on the basis of judgement and experience.
▪ Profit is struck on an annual basis, and the time-frame and weighting of anticipated returns can vary greatly.
drive/strike a hard bargain
▪ Don't become despondent just because it seems that your employer is keen to drive a hard bargain.
▪ It could also be that Reilly, who has never knowingly sold himself short, is driving a hard bargain.
▪ So he was right to drive a hard bargain.
▪ The farmer had grown used to billeting troops and drove a hard bargain.
hit/strike home
▪ The reality of the war didn't hit home until someone from the neighborhood was killed.
▪ All of a sudden the hollowness of our triumph over nature hit home with striking effect.
▪ And to go back to your start-up page hit Home.
▪ By the early 1970s, this realization had already hit home.
▪ His comment hit home for me, as both therapist and layperson.
▪ It must have struck home in some way.
▪ She could see that her remark had hit home.
▪ They spend much of the book showing how various companies have used them to hit home runs or strike out.
▪ Within hours, the reality of the situation had hit home.
hit/strike paydirt
hit/strike the right/wrong note
▪ He reworked everything he wrote until he had hit the right note of Gailic pedantry.
▪ So are buskers in Gloucester striking the right note with their audience?
▪ That would have the merit of simplicity, but would it strike the right note socially?
lightning never strikes twice
sit-down strike/protest
▪ Nearly 1,000 fans staged a sit-down protest calling for Branfoot's head, despite the victory sealed by Richard Hall's header.
strike/touch a chord (with sb)
▪ Clearly, what they do touches a chord in more than a few listeners.
▪ Her language may be a bit highbrow, but it strikes a chord with many of Britain's state school heads.
▪ His declarations have struck a chord on both sides of the House.
▪ Obviously, their messages have struck a chord among voters in Arizona and New Hampshire.
▪ One young man of John's age wrote to say that the pointlessness of his captivity had struck a chord with him.
▪ Somewhere, he touched a chord in his son.
▪ The film was immensely popular and had so clearly struck a chord that Hammer carried out a rethink of its production policy.
▪ The plight of Gerald McClellan struck a chord in Jones.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ A house nearby had been struck by a falling tree.
▪ Evidence shows that the victim had been struck several times with an iron bar.
▪ Female workers are often more reluctant than men to strike in order to get what they want.
▪ He struck her across the face and broke her nose.
▪ Her husband had never struck her before.
▪ I looked around the glittering room and it struck me that I was probably the poorest person there.
▪ In anger, he struck the wall with a stick.
▪ It struck her one day, when she was walking home from school, that she hadn't thought about her weight for over a month.
▪ It is always devastating when this illness strikes.
▪ It just struck me - you must have been in the same class as my brother.
▪ Lightning struck the barn and set it on fire.
▪ Morris struck his drum, and the band started to march down the street.
▪ Most people were fast asleep when the hurricane struck at 4.05 pm.
▪ My mother was always asking questions, and it struck me as odd that she didn't ask one on this occasion.
▪ Teachers were not striking for higher pay, but for higher standards in education.
▪ The ball struck him in the face.
▪ The Cardinals struck first with two touchdowns in the first quarter.
▪ The clock had just struck two.
▪ The court heard that the defendant had struck Payne repeatedly in the face, causing serious bruising.
▪ The flight attendants are threatening to strike.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He began with the departure from Troy and the storm that struck the Fleet.
▪ Her arrow was the first to strike it.
▪ In the final analysis, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision struck down the first display and upheld the second one.
▪ It's like striking a match, Meg.
▪ The gang has struck at several homes in Monaghan, Cavan and Armagh stealing money from pensioners.
▪ The London Planetarium no longer strikes one with quite the same sense of awe, because planetariums are no longer new.
▪ This strikes me as just as arrogant and insular as would be a judgment pronounced on a ghetto kid.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
ADJECTIVE
general
▪ The Front subsequently suspended a general strike order issued on June 6.
▪ The unions threatened a further general strike on Aug. 22-23 if basic food subsidies and wages were not increased.
▪ Timisoara and Arad were reported to be on a general strike.
▪ A further 24-hour general strike on May 22 severely disrupted transport and services.
▪ With output recovering, the prime minister, Hanna Suchocka decided to stand up to Solidarity's threat to call a general strike.
▪ A general strike, however, organized on June 19 by the National Confederation Union, attracted little support.
▪ The main focus of attention was, however, preparations for a general strike to be held on Aug. 3-4.
▪ Early in November it called a second general strike.
long
▪ Trade unions are spreading: teachers staged a long strike last year.
▪ Here you go, fans, the longest strike in the history of the game.
▪ Third, since supplementary benefit can be paid indefinitely, long strikes are prolonged into longer strikes.
▪ We spared no expense in preparing ourselves for a long strike and the decertification of the unions.
▪ It was a long, bitter strike, 119 days, and at the end of it the men had gotten nothing.
▪ In another study, Gennard and Lasko interviewed fifty workers from each of two long and large strikes in 1971 and 1973.
▪ Just over the mountain in Kentucky is Harlan County, where in 1973 the miners fought a long and bitter strike.
national
▪ Time allowed 00:19 Read in studio Office staff at Gloucester Prison have joined a one-day national strike against the privatisation of jails.
▪ Soon it would be a national strike, burning wild and out of control.
▪ Their first real test by the unions was the 12-week national steel strike, commencing January 1980.
▪ Public and congressional rejection of the market-oriented model was at the heart of a 48-hour national strike.
▪ Last year's results were lower because of the national postal strike and because of the pay increases, the Post Office said.
▪ Earlier in the dispute, calls for all-out national strike action had been rejected on Jan. 23 by national union leaders.
▪ In February 1974, there was a second national miners' strike.
▪ Union leader Arthur Scargill's dream of political victory crumbled with the collapse of the national miners' strike.
nationwide
▪ Industrial action On June 6, 1990, there was a 24-hour nationwide strike to protest against the latest austerity measures.
▪ Since nearly all passenger trains included Pullmans, a nationwide strike resulted.
▪ May 24 saw further nationwide strikes and demonstrations in 12 cities.
unofficial
▪ But unions would be effectively debarred from holding a strike ballot in support of workers already sacked for taking part in unofficial strikes.
▪ All 96 staff are out on unofficial strike.
▪ The unofficial strike of oil-rig workers in 1990 had as one of its major aims an improvement in safety.
▪ There's an unofficial strike to try and stop them closing the line.
NOUN
action
▪ The country was on a 3-day working week and the mineworkers were solidly in favour of strike action in support of their pay claim.
▪ Interfax reported on May 13 that the health unions would postpone strike action until Aug. 1.
▪ Workers backed up their claims with strike action.
▪ At the end of October, egged on by rank-and-file demands for an eight-hour day, the Soviet endorsed renewed strike action.
▪ A notable example among many of government intervention to avoid strike action occurred in the 1954 pay negotiations.
▪ Moreover, strike action could be counterproductive.
▪ Earlier in the dispute, calls for all-out national strike action had been rejected on Jan. 23 by national union leaders.
▪ The cost is more than made up for by the fact that virtually no man-hours are lost through strike action.
air
▪ Only after barely-veiled threats of a resumption of air strikes did Baghdad agree to co-operate.
▪ When we decided we had them pinned down, they called in an air strike.
▪ If air strikes are launched, what will become of them?
▪ At this point a majority on the Ex Comm agreed on the necessity of an air strike the next morning.
▪ There were many choices available, including continued air strikes, further ground attacks and increased special warfare actions.
▪ The streets of Baghdad functioned as normal Saturday, but people expressed fear of more air strikes.
▪ They called in air strikes all around us.
call
▪ A strike call by the Sacred Union on Feb. 3 was taken up by workers across the country.
▪ The ejection came after Joyner questioned a strike call.
▪ Twenty factories obeying Yeltsin's strike call were asked to return to work by Sobchak.
▪ The strike call, however, was reportedly not widely observed.
▪ The strike call was endorsed and Local Councils of Action were set up throughout the country, to await events.
▪ According to local reports an opposition strike call was widely observed on Oct. 26.
committee
▪ Three students were killed in clashes with the police on Nov. 22, and several members of the strike committee were arrested.
▪ Following worker demonstrations in 1970 he was elected chairman of the workshop strike committee and spent several days in detention.
▪ On April 10 the strike committee brought up to 100,000 people on to the streets of Minsk.
▪ I am resigning from the strike committee.
hunger
▪ Both Tom and Terry decided to go on hunger strike.
▪ During a hunger strike she asked to go to Confession.
▪ Miners and workers held hunger strikes and marches, and blocked roads in the following weeks.
▪ Brady collapsed on Boxing Day, three months into a hunger strike in protest at his transfer to a tougher ward.
▪ Her old tutor is horrified, but her husband says he supports the hunger strike -- even if it claims her life.
▪ Former political prisoners had gone on hunger strike on Sept. 20 in Tirana, demanding recognition of their innocence and economic compensation.
▪ One judge began a hunger strike in protest.
lightning
▪ Energy was released into the building by a lightning strike.
▪ The tactic was the old reliable one: the lightning strike.
▪ Owing to the random nature of lightning strikes, it is unlikely that lying down offers any protection.
▪ As with most valuable electronic equipment, surge protection is recommended against possible lightning strikes and power surges.
▪ Holly's hand moved, the lightning strike of the cobra.
▪ I believe that there was a lightning strike on the car.
▪ Gilbert waited for the lightning strike that would finally find them, and began to babble a hopeless prayer.
▪ The probability of my inviting a lightning strike in any particular minute is also very low.
rent
▪ But the rent strikes brought her out to the world with her small fists clenched in a white-knuckle fury.
▪ She organised a rent strike and got her whole street rehoused.
▪ There could be a rent strike, a rates strike, or both.
zone
▪ Glossary of popular terms Ball: called by the umpire when a pitch misses the strike zone.
▪ After all, Greg Maddux enjoyed the same strike zone and struck out nine in seven innings.
▪ The strike zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.
▪ Gregg was called into the postgame interview room and asked about his strike zone.
▪ I never thought there was a question how low a strike zone is.
▪ Better be ready to expand that strike zone, Robbie.
▪ He expects to profit from the high strike mostly when he throws his overhand curve which breaks late into the strike zone.
▪ How about starting with the strike zone, fellas?
VERB
break
▪ In any event, I doubt if you could break the strike without considerable violence.
▪ He expects to profit from the high strike mostly when he throws his overhand curve which breaks late into the strike zone.
▪ All round there was a lack of shared will to break the strike and maintain Faulkner's executive.
▪ In most cases, members of the state militias sympathized with the strikers and thus failed to break the strike.
▪ All the same it is far from true that they were used to break the strike.
▪ When talks with government and presidential staff broke down, the strike was declared illegal.
▪ Brutal repression broke the strike, and mobilization for the war initially subdued the labour movement.
end
▪ Producers of commercials resisted, but granted some concessions to end the strike.
▪ The settlement came after a week of escalating pressures on both sides to end the strike.
▪ Madani and Belhadj, citing this concession, asked their followers at evening prayers in Algiers to end the strike.
▪ They ended their strike on Dec. 13.
▪ The teachers had suddenly ended their strike, and the four youngest children had gone back to school.
▪ Meanwhile, talks aimed at ending the strike remain at a standstill.
▪ On Dec. 31 the government and Solidarity reached agreement on ending the strike.
▪ Baggage handlers at Manchester Airport voted last night to end their three-week strike after management and unions agreed on a peace settlement.
go
▪ Last year miners went on strike, demanding to be dismissed.
▪ We get together, start whining, and then we go on strike.
▪ Both Tom and Terry decided to go on hunger strike.
▪ Are teachers allowed to go on strike?
▪ Her knees seemed to have gone on strike.
▪ First they had gone on strike.
▪ Three branches went out on strike in South Tyneside, Walsall, and Hackney.
▪ Finally, the courts have ruled that school boards can impose economic sanctions on teachers who go on strike.
launch
▪ From Bourges Capetian forces could launch a quick strike against Tours and Poitiers.
lead
▪ He had also been a trade union official, once leading a strike of railway workers in 1989.
▪ Thirty years ago, she would have been leading a strike.
▪ Low morale among poorly paid health workers has led to strikes and lessened the quality of care.
▪ Northwest Airlines' mechanics are in the final stage of negotiations that could lead to a strike there next month.
▪ But these guys probably thought they would lead strikes or something.
▪ She held regular converse with her husband, who had died twenty-three years previously when leading a dockworkers' strike.
▪ They also started the 30-day countdown that could lead to a strike March 26 unless a contract is approved sooner.
stage
▪ He reportedly staged a hunger strike on May 24 in support of the demand for a Constitutional Assembly.
▪ Unemployed workers staged strikes, and hungry peasants in many areas seized estates and took over village councils.
▪ Trade unions are spreading: teachers staged a long strike last year.
▪ Not till ten years later, however, did the London dockers stage their great historic strike.
▪ They've already staged four one day strikes and this lunchtime they took their campaign to Downing Street.
▪ To prevent them being expressed, you stage a pre-emptive strike.
▪ For instance, when the political prisoners staged their hunger strike during the Pope's visit, we broadcast their demands.
threaten
▪ Judges are receiving firearms training from police but have threatened to go on strike as promised protection has not materialised.
▪ Students and unions threatened a general strike.
▪ The unions threatened a further general strike on Aug. 22-23 if basic food subsidies and wages were not increased.
▪ The trade union representing the workforce at these plants had threatened to go on strike if their jobs are put at risk.
▪ They have threatened strikes, boycotts and demonstrations if the sale and break-up go ahead.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be struck all of a heap
be struck on sb/sth
▪ A fight breaks out and one man is struck on the head by a stick.
▪ A midday balance should be struck on the tabular ledger. 13.
▪ He was struck on the head with a club.
▪ I was struck on one of my artificial legs, damaging the calliper.
▪ In most cases, the balance is struck on the basis of judgement and experience.
▪ Profit is struck on an annual basis, and the time-frame and weighting of anticipated returns can vary greatly.
break a strike
▪ The company has threatened to hire 700 new workers in order to break the 10-month-old strike.
drive/strike a hard bargain
▪ Don't become despondent just because it seems that your employer is keen to drive a hard bargain.
▪ It could also be that Reilly, who has never knowingly sold himself short, is driving a hard bargain.
▪ So he was right to drive a hard bargain.
▪ The farmer had grown used to billeting troops and drove a hard bargain.
hit/strike home
▪ The reality of the war didn't hit home until someone from the neighborhood was killed.
▪ All of a sudden the hollowness of our triumph over nature hit home with striking effect.
▪ And to go back to your start-up page hit Home.
▪ By the early 1970s, this realization had already hit home.
▪ His comment hit home for me, as both therapist and layperson.
▪ It must have struck home in some way.
▪ She could see that her remark had hit home.
▪ They spend much of the book showing how various companies have used them to hit home runs or strike out.
▪ Within hours, the reality of the situation had hit home.
hit/strike paydirt
lightning never strikes twice
sit-down strike/protest
▪ Nearly 1,000 fans staged a sit-down protest calling for Branfoot's head, despite the victory sealed by Richard Hall's header.
strike/touch a chord (with sb)
▪ Clearly, what they do touches a chord in more than a few listeners.
▪ Her language may be a bit highbrow, but it strikes a chord with many of Britain's state school heads.
▪ His declarations have struck a chord on both sides of the House.
▪ Obviously, their messages have struck a chord among voters in Arizona and New Hampshire.
▪ One young man of John's age wrote to say that the pointlessness of his captivity had struck a chord with him.
▪ Somewhere, he touched a chord in his son.
▪ The film was immensely popular and had so clearly struck a chord that Hammer carried out a rethink of its production policy.
▪ The plight of Gerald McClellan struck a chord in Jones.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ Following a general strike and calls for his resignation, the President was arrested on 26 March.
▪ nuclear strike capability
▪ Shipbuilders and dockers were solidly in favour of strike action in support of their claim.
▪ Since the miners' strike, thirty of the mines in the area have been closed.
▪ The administration has officially asked transportation workers to call off their strike.
▪ The bomb strike took place on a camp near Krek.
▪ The offices were closed by a strike that lasted two months.
▪ The rebels launched a retaliatory strike.
▪ The roads were a nightmare as commuters were hit by a rail strike.
▪ When union bosses called a strike in protest over low pay, the response was overwhelming.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A memorable strike from Paul Scholes and a deserved goal for the influential David Beckham completed a routine day for the champions.
▪ At first, they hated the strike.
▪ Barnett ruled a two-strike pitch from Shawn Boskie was a called third strike.
▪ In the long run, the outcome of the Delphi Chassis strike could be less important than the walkout itself.
▪ The settlement came after a week of escalating pressures on both sides to end the strike.
▪ Typical damage caused by a boom strike.
strike
I. strike1 S3 W3 /straɪk/ verb (past tense and past participle struck /strʌk/)
[Word Family: noun: strike, striker; verb: strike; adverb: strikingly; adjective: striking]
[Language : Old English; Origin : strican 'to touch lightly, go']
1. HIT [TRANSITIVE] written to hit or fall against the surface of something:
▪ She fell heavily, striking her head against the side of the boat.
▪ A snowball struck him on the back of the head.
▪ Several cars were struck by falling trees.
▪ The last rays of the setting sun struck the windows.
REGISTER
In everyday English, people usually say hit rather than strike:
▪ I hit my head on the shelf.
▪ He was hit by a rock.
2. HIT WITH HAND/WEAPON ETC [TRANSITIVE] formal to deliberately hit someone or something with your hand or a weapon:
▪ She struck him hard across the face.
strike something with something
▪ The victim had been struck with some kind of wooden implement.
▪ Paul struck him a blow to the head.
▪ The assassin’s bullet struck home (=hit exactly where it should).
3. THOUGHT/IDEA [TRANSITIVE NOT IN PROGRESSIVE]if something strikes you, you think of it, notice it, or realize that it is important, interesting, true etc:
▪ A rather worrying thought struck me.
▪ The first thing that struck me was the fact that there were no other women present.
it strikes somebody that
▪ It struck her that losing the company might be the least of her worries.
be struck by something
▪ You can’t help being struck by her kindness.
4. strike somebody as (being) something
to seem to have a particular quality or feature:
▪ His jokes didn’t strike Jack as being very funny.
it strikes somebody as strange/odd etc that
▪ It struck me as odd that the man didn’t introduce himself before he spoke.
5. STOP WORK [INTRANSITIVE]if a group of workers strike, they stop working as a protest against something relating to their work, for example how much they are paid, bad working conditions etc:
▪ In many countries, the police are forbidden to strike.
strike for
▪ They’re striking for the right to have their trade union recognized in law.
6. ATTACK [INTRANSITIVE]to attack someone, especially suddenly:
▪ The killer might strike again.
▪ Guerrillas struck a UN camp, killing 75.
▪ Opponents of the war say that civilian villages have been struck several times.
7. HARM [INTRANSITIVE AND TRANSITIVE]to damage or harm someone or something
strike at
▪ The law would strike at the most basic of civil rights.
▪ Such prejudices strike right at the heart of any notions of a civilized society.
strike a blow at/against/to something
▪ The scandal seemed to have struck a mortal blow to the government’s chances of re-election.
8. SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS [INTRANSITIVE AND TRANSITIVE]if something bad strikes, it suddenly happens or suddenly begins to affect someone:
▪ The plague struck again for the third time that century.
▪ Everything seemed to be going fine when suddenly disaster struck. ⇨ stricken
9. strike a balance (between something)
to give the correct amount of importance or attention to two separate things:
▪ He was finding it difficult to strike a balance between his family and his work.
▪ It isn’t always easy to strike the right balance.
10. strike a bargain/deal
to agree to do something for someone if they do something for you:
▪ There are rumors that the president struck a private deal with the corporation’s chairman.
11. strike a happy/cheerful/cautious etc note
to express a particular feeling or attitude:
▪ The article struck a conciliatory note.
▪ Moderate Republicanism appeared to strike exactly the right note with the voters (=be what the people wanted).
12. strike a chord
to say or do something that other people agree with or have sympathy with
strike a chord with
▪ Their story is bound to strike a chord with all parents.
13. strike a match
to produce a flame from a match by rubbing it hard across a rough surface
14. strike gold/oil etc
to find a supply of gold, oil etc in the ground or under the sea:
▪ If they strike oil, drilling will begin early next year.
15. strike gold
informal to do something that makes you a lot of money:
▪ Jackie eventually struck gold with her third novel.
16. LIGHTNING [INTRANSITIVE AND TRANSITIVE]if lightning strikes something, it hits and damages it:
▪ The temple burned down after it was struck by lightning last year. ⇨ lightning never strikes twice at lightning1
17. strike a blow for somebody/something
to do something to help achieve a principle or aim:
▪ It’s time we struck a blow for women’s rights.
18. be within striking distance
a) to be close enough to reach a place easily:
▪ By now, they were within striking distance of the shore.
b) to be very close to achieving something:
▪ The French team are within striking distance of the world record.
19. strike it rich
to suddenly make a lot of money
20. strike it lucky
British English to be very lucky, especially when you were not expecting to:
▪ We struck it lucky in Bangkok, where we were told there were some extra seats on the plane that night.
21. CLOCK [INTRANSITIVE AND TRANSITIVE]if a clock strikes one, two, six etc, its bell makes a sound once, twice, six times etc according to what time it is:
▪ The church clock began to strike twelve.
strike the hour (=strike when it is exactly one o'clock, two o'clock etc)
22. GAIN ADVANTAGE [INTRANSITIVE]to do something that gives you an advantage over your opponent in a fight, competition etc:
▪ Brazil struck first with a goal in the third minute.
23. strike home
if something that you say strikes home, it has exactly the effect on someone that you intended:
▪ She saw the emotion in her father’s face and knew her words had struck home.
24. strike terror/fear into sb’s heart
to make someone feel very frightened:
▪ The word ‘cancer’ still strikes terror into many hearts.
25. strike a pose/attitude
to stand or sit with your body in a particular position:
▪ Malcolm struck his usual pose: hands in pockets, shoulders hunched.
26. be struck dumb
to suddenly be unable to talk, usually because you are very surprised or shocked ⇨ dumbstruck
27. be struck with horror/terror/awe etc
to suddenly feel very afraid, shocked etc:
▪ As she began to speak to him, she was struck with shyness.
28. strike while the iron is hot
to do something immediately rather than waiting until a later time when you are less likely to succeed
29. strike somebody dead
to kill someone:
▪ May God strike me dead if I’m telling a lie!
strike back phrasal verb
to attack or criticize someone who attacked or criticized you first:
▪ We instruct our staff never to strike back, however angry they feel.
strike back at
▪ The prime minister immediately struck back at his critics.
strike somebody ↔ down phrasal verb
1. [USUALLY PASSIVE]
to kill someone or make them extremely ill:
▪ Over 50 nurses at the clinic have been struck down with a mystery virus.
▪ They would rob the bodies of those struck down in battle.
2. formal to hit someone so hard that they fall down
3. law to say that a law, decision etc is illegal and officially end it
strike somebody/something ↔ off phrasal verb
1. be struck off
British English if a doctor, lawyer etc is struck off, their name is removed from the official list of people who are allowed to work as doctors, lawyers etc
2. to remove someone or something from a list:
▪ Terri was told to strike off the names of every person older than 30.
strike on/upon something phrasal verb
formal to discover something or have a good idea about something ⇨ be struck on somebody/something at struck2
strike out phrasal verb
1. to attack or criticize someone suddenly or violently
strike out at
▪ Unhappy young people will often strike out at the people closest to them.
2. strike something ↔ out
to draw a line through something written on a piece of paper
3. [ALWAYS + ADVERB/PREPOSITION]
to start walking or swimming in a particular direction, especially in a determined way:
▪ She struck out for the side of the pool.
4. strike out on your own
to start doing something or living independently
5. to not hit the ball in baseball three times, so that you are not allowed to continue trying, or to make someone do this
strike somebody ↔ out
▪ He struck out the first batter he faced. ⇨ strikeout
6. American English informal to not be successful at something:
▪ ‘Did she say she’d go out with you?’ ‘No, I struck out.’
7. strike something ↔ out
law to say officially that something cannot be considered as proof in a court of law
strike up phrasal verb
1. strike up a friendship/relationship/conversation etc
to start to become friendly with someone, to start talking to them, etc:
▪ I struck up a conversation with the girl sitting next to me.
2. strike up (something)
to begin playing a piece of music:
▪ The band struck up a tango.
II. strike2 S3 W2 noun
[Word Family: noun: strike, striker; verb: strike; adverb: strikingly; adjective: striking]
1. NOT WORKING [UNCOUNTABLE AND COUNTABLE]a period of time when a group of workers deliberately stop working because of a disagreement about pay, working conditions etc:
▪ The government has promised that the army will be called in to help if there is a firemen’s strike.
strike by
▪ a six-week strike by railway workers
strike over
▪ a strike over pay cuts
strike against
▪ a national strike against mine closures
2. ATTACK [COUNTABLE]a military attack, especially by planes dropping bombs
strike against/on
▪ a surprise air strike on military targets
▪ American aircraft carriers have launched several strikes. ⇨ first strike
3. DISCOVERY [COUNTABLE USUALLY SINGULAR]the discovery of something valuable under the ground:
▪ an oil strike
4. two/three strikes against somebody/something
American English a condition or situation that makes it extremely difficult for someone or something to be successful:
▪ Children from poor backgrounds have two strikes against them by the time they begin school.
5. BASEBALL [COUNTABLE]an attempt to hit the ball in baseball that fails, or a ball that is thrown to the batter in the correct area but is not hit
6. BOWLING [COUNTABLE]a situation in bowling in which you knock down all the pins (=bottle-shaped objects) with a ball on your first attempt
⇨ hunger strike, lightning strike
• • •
COLLOCATIONS
verbs
▪be (out) on strike
▪ Teachers are on strike again this week.
▪go on strike/come out on strike (=start a strike)
▪ An estimated 70,000 public sector workers went on strike.
▪begin a strike
▪ Dock workers began a 24-hour strike last night.
▪call a strike (=tell people to strike)
▪ The union threatened to call a strike.
▪stage a strike (=organize a short strike)
▪ Health workers will stage a two-day strike next week.
▪end/call off a strike (=decide not to continue with it)
▪ The strike was called off two days later.
▪break a strike (=force workers to end it)
▪ Attempts to break the strike failed.
ADJECTIVES/NOUN + strike
▪a one-day/two-week etc strike
▪ A three-day strike is planned for next week.
▪an indefinite strike (=with no end planned)
▪ Workers at the processing plant have begun an indefinite strike.
▪a long strike
▪ Most teachers wouldn’t be in favour of a long strike.
▪a general strike (=when workers from most industries strike)
▪ They threatened to call a general strike.
▪a national/nationwide strike (=all over the country)
▪ In April 1984 the National Union of Mineworkers called a national strike.
▪an all-out strike British English (=when all the workers in a factory, industry etc strike)
▪ The dockers voted for an all-out strike.
▪a rail/coal/postal etc strike (=affecting the rail/coal etc industry)
▪ A rail strike would cause enormous public inconvenience.
▪a miners’/teachers’/pilots’ etc strike (=by miners, teachers etc)
▪ The transport workers’ strike inflicted serious damage on the economy.
▪an unofficial strike (=not organized by a trade union)
▪ Some workers had been sacked for taking part in unofficial strikes.
▪a wildcat strike (=without any warning)
▪ Legislation to curb wildcat strikes will be introduced during the coming parliamentary session.
▪an all-out strike (=in which all the workers have stopped working completely)
▪ The company faces an all-out strike next month.
▪a bitter strike (=with angry feelings between workers and managers)
▪ The miners finally returned to work at the end of a long, bitter strike.
▪a damaging/crippling strike (=having a bad effect on an industry)
▪ The company now faces the prospect of a crippling strike.
strike + NOUN
▪strike action (=a strike)
▪ Hospital workers have voted in favour of strike action.
▪a strike call (=when a group asks people to strike)
▪ The ANC estimated that more than 4,000,000 people heeded its strike call.
▪a strike ballot British English (=when workers vote on whether to strike)
▪ The union is going to hold a strike ballot.
COMMON ERRORS
► Do not say 'go on a strike'. Say go on strike.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪strike [COUNTABLE]a period of time when a group of workers stop working because of a disagreement about pay, working conditions etc :
▪ A teachers’ strike has been announced for next week.
▪ The rail strike has resulted in major delays on roads across the country.
▪industrial action [UNCOUNTABLE] British English activities such as strikes, or doing less work than usual, as a way of trying to persuade an employer to improve pay, conditions etc :
▪ Lecturers voted to take industrial action over their workload.
▪ Prison officers have threatened industrial action.
▪stoppage [COUNTABLE] British English, work stoppage American English a short strike, especially one that lasts for one day :
▪ Customs officers will return to work today after a twenty-four hour stoppage.
▪go-slow [COUNTABLE] British English a period of time when a group of workers deliberately work more slowly than usual as a way of protesting about pay, conditions etc :
▪ The hospital go-slow comes into effect tomorrow.
▪ The union carried out strikes and go-slows in support of a wage claim.
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