Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A single continuous line of planking or metal plating extending on a vessel's hull from stem to stern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To move; go; proceed.
  • A dialectal (Scotch) form of stroke.
  • noun An obsolete preterit of strike.
  • noun A streak; a stripe.
  • noun A strip; a narrow tract.
  • noun A reef in a sail.
  • noun A rut in a road.
  • noun A crack in a floor.
  • noun A breadth of plank or planking; specifically, a continuous line of planking or plates on a vessel's side, reaching from stem to stern. Also streak and shutter-in. See cut under clincher-built.
  • noun The iron band used to bind the fellies of a wheel; the hoop or tire of a wheel.
  • noun A piece of board or metal used for scraping off the skimpings in handjigging or tozing.
  • noun Same as lye.
  • noun A bushel: more commonly strike (which see).
  • noun In hunting, a particular signal with a horn.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • imp. of strike.
  • noun obsolete A streak.
  • noun An iron band by which the fellies of a wheel are secured to each other, being not continuous, as the tire is, but made up of separate pieces.
  • noun (Shipbuilding) One breadth of planks or plates forming a continuous range on the bottom or sides of a vessel, reaching from the stem to the stern; a streak.
  • noun (Mining) A trough for washing broken ore, gravel, or sand; a launder.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete An iron fitting of a medieval cart wheel.
  • noun aviation A type of aerodynamic surface mounted on an aircraft fuselage to fine-tune the airflow.
  • noun nautical, archaic A continuous line of plates or planks running from bow to stern that contributes to a vessel's skin. (FM 55-501).
  • noun engineering a shaped piece of wood used to level a bed or contour the shape of a mould, as for a bell
  • noun A trough for washing broken ore, gravel, or sand; a launder.
  • noun obsolete A streak.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun thick plank forming a ridge along the side of a wooden ship

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, probably from Old English *straca.]

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Examples

  • Her garboard strake is three inches thick; her planking two and one-half inches thick; her deck - planking two inches thick and in all her planking there are no butts.

    Chapter 2 1913

  • Her garboard strake is three inches thick; her planking two and one-half inches thick; her deck - planking two inches thick and in all her planking there are no butts.

    Chapter 2 1911

  • Fig. 9, A side view of rimmed hoop wh A strake, which is the short ifoi with which the common wheel is rung.

    A Treatise on Carriages: Comprehending Coaches, Chariots, Phaetons ... William Felton , coachmaker William Felton 1794

  • According to Wikipedia, there are three meanings of "strake": 1. a strip of planking between them on the turn of the bilge; 2. a device for controlling air flow over an aircraft; and 3. a tool for tamping down and leveling semi-fluid materials into a mould (such as poured concrete, for example).

    Divine Strake��Find another name . . . or Give It Up 2006

  • The clear metallic sound of the "strake" or sharpening strop, covered with pure white Loch Skerrow sand set in grease, which scythemen universally use in Galloway, cut through the slumberous hum of the noonday air like the blade itself through the grass.

    The Lilac Sunbonnet 1887

  • "strake," made a keen top-note to the mood of summer.

    The Dew of Their Youth 1887

  • In both cars a single strake of brightwork divides the grille and midlines the prominent, enamel-like Mercedes star.

    When Vroom Conquers Cuteness Dan Neil 2011

  • The Countryman debuts some tasteful updates to the styling language—the strake at the front fender, the turned-down corners of the of the grille—but at a glance, the Countryman looks like a Mini Cooper S that was Xeroxed at 130%.

    What Part of 'Mini' Did You Not Grasp, BMW? Dan Neil 2011

  • But Cadfael counted what he took to be oar-ports in the third strake of the hull, twelve of them in this steerboard side.

    His Disposition 2010

  • A strake, by the way, is a metal strap that holds boats or planes together.

    Firedoglake » Sneaking in Another Debt Ceiling Rise 2006

Comments

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  • Seen in editing: "A week later, a strake leaves him largely incapacitated."

    January 7, 2009

  • What, did it slap him upside the head?

    January 7, 2009

  • That's what can happen when you fail to gluppit the prawling strangles properly.

    January 7, 2009

  • It was about Woodrow Wilson, who, I understand, was not particularly adept at gluppiting strangles, whether prawling or no.

    January 7, 2009

  • Hmph. And they made him president? In all my born days....

    January 7, 2009