Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A term sometimes applied to the induction effects of lightning. Since lightning is frequently oscillatory, violent surgings of current are induced in conductors near the path of the discharge.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag, for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or his lip.
The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001
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He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra.
The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told Underwood, Lamar 2001
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Then Bjarke, who was to deal the return-stroke, leaned his foot against a stock, in order to give the freer poise to his steel, and passed his fine-edged blade through the midst of Agnar's body.
The Danish History, Books I-IX Grammaticus Saxo
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If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag, for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or lip.
The Kipling Reader Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling Rudyard Kipling 1900
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He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra.
The Kipling Reader Selections from the Books of Rudyard Kipling Rudyard Kipling 1900
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If Rikki-tikki had only known, he was doing a much more dangerous thing than fighting Nag for Karait is so small, and can turn so quickly, that unless Rikki bit him close to the back of the head, he would get the return-stroke in his eye or lip.
The Jungle Book. 1893
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He came down almost across her back, and if he had been an old mongoose he would have known that then was the time to break her back with one bite; but he was afraid of the terrible lashing return-stroke of the cobra.
The Jungle Book. 1893
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You find it hard work to row yourself at anything like speed, though your impulse-stroke is given in a heavy element, and your return-stroke in a light one.
Love's Meinie Three Lectures on Greek and English Birds John Ruskin 1859
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