Obs. exc. dial. [app. f. OTeut. root *strak- whence *strakjan to STRETCH. Cf. NFris. straake, to stretch oneself.]
1. intr. To move, go, proceed.
13[?]. Bonaventura’s Medit., 661. To hys fete anon þan þey straked.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 1312. And with that worde, ryght anoon They gan to strake forth [Skeat conjectures They gon forth straken (or striken)], al was doon For that tyme the herte huntynge.
1394. P. Pl. Crede, 82. Wiþ sterne staues and stronge þey ouer lond strakeþ.
1860. Miss Yonge, Hopes & Fears, I. 290. Some villanous slander, of course, there is, but it is no business of yours to be straking off to make it worse.
† 2. To extend, stretch. Obs.
1594. R. C[arew], Tasso (1881), 74. A beard bigge, bushy, knotted gristelly: From wrapped muzzle down his rough bosom strakes.
